From The Quad Cities Times via Stand Firm:
By Deirdre Cox Baker | Saturday, October 18, 2008 5:58 PM CDT
The Episcopal Church of the United States dates back almost as far as the Revolutionary War. In Illinois, it was organized 173 years ago. And the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, Ill., has existed for well more than a century.
But if all goes as expected, the Diocese of Quincy will soon leave the parent church and align itself with the Anglican community based in South America.
A rift that has existed for decades broke open in 2003 after the Episcopal Church of the United States consecrated its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
“This is an example of how far the Episcopal Church has moved to a contemporary liberal theology,” said the Rev. John Spencer, a spokesman for the diocese that includes Christ Church, Moline; Trinity Church, Rock Island; and St. Mark’s Church, Silvis, Ill. “It’s just not grounded in Scripture anymore.”
A formal vote is scheduled Nov. 7-8. If approved, the western Illinois diocese would join others — based in Fresno, Calif., Pittsburgh and 15 parishes in Virginia — that have found a new home with the conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone in Argentina. A diocese in Fort Worth, Texas, also will vote on realignment in November.
The Episcopal Diocese of Iowa has no intention of leaving the American church, according to the Rev. James Harris of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Davenport.
Spencer said members of the Quincy Diocese view holy Scripture as authoritative and that the breakaway congregations have centered the ongoing dispute on several issues, including homosexuality and the definition of marriage.
“The Episcopal Church has a much more liberal view of Scripture,” added Spencer, who serves St. Francis Church in Dunlap, Ill., near Peoria.
The conflict has driven away many of the faithful, said Spencer, the son of an Episcopalian minister, who added that he is heartbroken over the controversy.
“We see ourselves as members of a Christian family,” he said, adding that 1,000 people a week, both individuals and clergy, have left the Episcopal Church in recent years. The Episcopal Church of the United States says less than 100 of its more than 7,000 parishes have voted to split off since Robinson was elected.
The Quincy Diocese includes 24 churches and about 3,000 members spread over a 19-county area between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Spencer believes a more rooted, conservative approach will lead to increased church attendance.
On the Iowa side of the Quad-Cities, Harris sees more positive numbers. “Our youth programs are thriving, and we are growing,” he said. “A lot of that is because we haven’t allowed ourselves to be bogged down in affairs we can’t control.
“We understand ourselves to be part of the Anglican community, but only through the Episcopal Church. We have no intent whatsoever of leaving,” he said.
The Iowa Episcopal churches located in Davenport and Bettendorf may be a destination point for some who worship in the affected western Illinois congregations. “People are torn, some will need time to rest. But if they wish to continue to worship, we’ll be their place if they want us to be,” Harris added.
This type of conflict is not limited to Episcopalians and Anglicans. Leaders of several mainstream Protestant churches, including Presbyterians, United Methodists and Lutherans, have experienced philosophical splits among the faithful. They are monitoring the Episcopalians’ actions for any lessons that may be learned.
(This story includes reports from The Associated Press.)
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