Another Episcopal Church diocese appears poised to enact same-sex marriage rites following the announcement of a change in leadership.
The Episcopal Diocese of North Dakota will be led by retired Bishop of Vermont Thomas Ely, a long-standing advocate of same-sex marriage rites. Ely will serve first as Assisting Bishop and, following an expected vote of approval by the diocesan convention on February 6, as Provisional Bishop according to a January 2 announcement made by the diocesan standing committee. Ely will be the only nominee on the ballot. Provisional Bishops are customarily retired diocesan bishops that serve in a transitional capacity until a new diocesan can be elected.
According to the diocesan newsletter The Sheaf, Ely was asked to interview for the position by Bishop Todd Ousley, who serves on Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s staff.
“I’m a person who tries to be open to the working of the Holy Spirit, even when she confuses me with unexpected invitations,” Ely said in an Epiphany video greeting to the diocese. “As I prayed about this and talked with members of the interview team, my discernment became clear.”
(A tip of the hat to Kirk Petersen of The Living Church who first reported the change on January 5).
North Dakota has been without a diocesan bishop since May of 2019 when the Rt. Rev. Michael Smith retired from the role to serve as Assisting Bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas.
Smith is among the Communion Partner bishops who espouse traditional church teaching on marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman. Following the official passage of same-sex marriage rites by the Episcopal General Convention in 2015, Smith was among eight diocesan bishops in domestic U.S. dioceses to proscribe use of the rites within his diocese.
General Convention passed a resolution in 2018 effectively requiring diocesan bishops to designate another bishop to oversee parishes that wished to perform same-sex rites if they themselves objected. Albany Bishop William H. Love declined to permit diocesan clergy to conduct the rites, leading to charges before a Hearing Panel and a negotiated agreement to step down in early February.
It is unclear if anyone in North Dakota is pursuing a same-sex marriage within the Episcopal Church at this time.
According to the Religious Landscape Study of the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life, 28 percent of North Dakota residents identify as Mainline Protestant, with 18% of those affiliating with a Lutheran church. Fewer than 1% identify as Anglican/Episcopal.
Episcopal Church statistics list an average Sunday attendance of 573 persons in North Dakota in 2019, the smallest diocese in Province VI. Of the Episcopal Church’s domestic dioceses, only Navajo Missions, Western Kansas and Northern Michigan report smaller attendance.
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Fargo made news in 2017 when it installed a stained glass window dedicated to the gay community.
According to the parish web site, St. Stephen’s had been operating in an accommodation known as Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight (DEPO) under the authority of Assistant Bishop Carol Gallagher of the neighboring Diocese of Montana in order to celebrate same-sex marriage rites. Gallagher departed the region in 2018 to take a position in the Diocese of Massachusetts. It is unclear if or when DEPO concluded, but diocesan records list Deacon John Anderson, who serves at St. Stephens, as Vice President of the Diocesan Council, implying that the parish’s status within the diocese has since regularized. John Baird, chair of the Diocesan Discernment Task Force, is a lay member at St. Stephen’s and is an elected Deputy to General Convention. Anderson is an Alternate Deputy.
Comment by td on January 12, 2021 at 11:27 am
Coming soon to a UMC near you! You won’t have to be embarassed any longer that your church follows christianity!
Comment by David Stewart on January 12, 2021 at 12:16 pm
“she” ??? (I’m a person who tries to be open to the working of the Holy Spirit, even when she confuses me with unexpected invitations….)
Can we just flat out state that ECUSA/TEC, whatever they choose to be called next, hasn’t just rejected orthodoxy on particular points, but is just really no longer a Christian denomination, though there may be some hold out actual Christian members, who are called to be a light in the midst of the profound, spiritual darkness and confusion advocated within it by a leadership that is either not Christian, or if individuals are, said individuals have sorely compromised themselves with the pablum of man.
Comment by Loren J Golden on January 12, 2021 at 1:36 pm
For over a century, the Mainline Protestant denominations have held to the philosophy that claims, “If we loosen our standards (of theology, polity, sexual purity standards, etc.), then people will flock to us. Even if they don’t, at least we will retain our young people.”
That might have worked during the Modern Era, when there was cultural pressure to attend church at least once in a while and to be thought of as Christian. However, the loosening of Biblical standards had a deleterious effect on the Gospel. Indeed, those advocating most strongly for these changes had that precisely in mind. They accused those who gave great credence to theology, evangelism, and the spiritual disciplines of being “too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.” They wanted the men and the women in the Church to pay less attention to these things, so they could focus all their energy on serving the poor, the needy, the immigrant, the marginalized, the oppressed etc. The Good News of the Gospel, namely salvation from sin and death through the atoning work of Christ on the Cross, was replaced by the “good news” of the Social Gospel, that is, liberation from poverty, discrimination, marginalization, oppression, etc. Thus, when the Lord Jesus read Isaiah 61.1-2 and announced, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk. 4.16-21), they believe that He meant to lead His followers primarily in liberating men, women, and children from the maladies that afflict this fallen world (only they did not believe sin to be all that serious, nor that the world was fallen in the sense of being alienated from God on the account of sin). Thus, the Lord Jesus’ finished work on the Cross of reconciling men and women to God on account of His atoning sacrifice and bodily resurrection from the dead were deemed of little account, especially compared to His commandments and examples of ministering to the poor, the needy, and the outcast.
The problem is, that sin is a lot more serious than Mainline Protestant pastors, bureaucrats, and seminary professors believe it is, to put it mildly. Scripture teaches that apart from the atoning work of Christ, we are “dead in (our) trespasses and sins, … living in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and (are) by nature children of wrath.” (Eph. 2.1-3) And again, “if there is no resurrection from the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. … And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” (I Cor. 15.13,17) Men and women still need to be delivered from their sins and the penalty for their sins, which is death (Rom. 6.23), even if they are not aware of it. More than this, the Church needs to be proclaiming it from every pulpit. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom. 10.13-14)
Thus, no one is coming to the Mainline Protestant churches from the world, because they have no compelling reason to. Young people are leaving the Mainline Protestant churches, because they have no compelling reason to stay. Genuine believers are leaving the Mainline Protestant churches to fill the pews in Evangelical churches, because the message preached from the Mainline Protestant churches is utterly failing to nourish them with the Word preached, for what is preached from most Mainline Protestant churches is the word of man, not the Word of God. And Evangelical churches are leaving Mainline Protestant denominations, because these denominations are making it difficult for them to recruit and retain pastors who will unashamedly preach the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, rather than the word of man and the Social Gospel.
In short, most pastors, bureaucrats, and seminary professors in the Mainline Protestant denominations today believe that the primary mission of the Church is to minister to the poor, the needy, and the outcast, rather than the proclamation of the Gospel of Salvation from sin and death through the Atoning Death and Bodily Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. To them, Jesus of Nazareth is an inspirational mascot to be admired and emulated in His works on behalf of the downtrodden, not the Master who commands them to know, believe, trust, obey, and preach all things taught in His Word, not just ministry to the poor, needy, and outcast (although this is incredibly important, as He has commanded us in His Word, even if it is of only secondary importance). Thus, these Mainline Protestant pastors, bureaucrats, and seminary professors have become too earthly minded to be of any heavenly good.
Comment by Thomas F Neagle on January 12, 2021 at 4:17 pm
573 people attending Sunday services in an entire state (granted it is a small state)???
Why on earth does a diocese still exist for so few people? How top-heavy do you have to be relative to a tiny and shrinking base before you just cease to exist?
Comment by Jeffrey Walton on January 13, 2021 at 11:22 am
Thomas, part of the reason is historical inertia: people within a diocese seek to maintain what they’ve inherited. There is no reassessment about how ministry resources might be better deployed following juncture with a neighboring diocese. General Convention also disincentivizes juncture. As presently constituted, each diocese is allocated a deputation of four clergy and four laity, regardless of the size of their attendance or membership. If a diocese like ND were to juncture into South Dakota or Minnesota, they would lose that deputation. Instead, incredibly small dioceses seek to share bishops provisionally with another diocese, rather than juncture. Northern Michigan has fewer than 400 people attending on an average Sunday, and I believe that only four clergy in the entire diocese are employed full-time. It’s ludicrous, but they are still a diocese.
Comment by senecagriggs on January 13, 2021 at 7:39 am
There appear to be 22 Episcopal congregations in North Dakota. I doubt most of them can pay their bills, almost none of them can pay the salary of a full time pastor.
They cannot support a bishop so establishing Ely as a bishop is really window dressing for an empty diocese.
Comment by Jeffrey Walton on January 13, 2021 at 11:09 am
Ely plans to keep his residence in Vermont and visit North Dakota monthly, which I agree is not a full investment in the life of the diocese. It’s not unusual for Provisional Bishops to be part-time, however.
Comment by Paul Zesewitz on January 16, 2021 at 4:32 am
And just where is Ely’s Scriptural backing to allow him to address the Holy Spirit a ‘she’? I guess even gender neutral terms aren’t good enough for liberals anymore. I
Comment by Ryan Schwarz on January 16, 2021 at 4:06 pm
In addition to the inertia explanation, isn’t it also likely that for some of these micro dioceses, one of the major attractions for a significant number of the remaining regular attender members is the trappings of being a diocese? The cathedral, the bishop, the rites, the role within TEC? As you note, if you are a regular attender layperson in ND or N MI, you have something like a 1 in 100 chance of being a deputy to General Convention (probably much higher if limited to those who want to go). If you are clergy, you probably are guaranteed of going to GC if you want. That sort of thing is powerful disincentive to support consolidation (unless you are unusually mission-driven).