One Episcopal diocese once served western Pennsylvania.
Then, growth in church membership led to a division in the early 1900s into two dioceses: Erie and Pittsburgh.
Now, with numbers declining, some members of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh are interested in studying a reunion with its northern neighbor, known today as the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania.
But the Erie-based diocese isn’t in any rush to rejoin with Pittsburgh.
“It’s something we might be willing to discuss in this diocese eventually,” said the Right Rev. Sean W. Rowe, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania.
The motivation for the original division was not simply population growth but a growing sense that the northern region of the Diocese was completely detached from life in the Pittsburgh-dominated portion. Reunion, while defensible from the point of view of numbers, would have to still have to overcome this problem.
[url=http://catholicandreformed.blogspot.com]Catholic and Reformed[/url]
Jeremy, I agree. As a matter of fact, I’m working on a substitute resolution that aims to work toward a bottom-up building of relationship rather than a perhaps premature, more top-down move toward an institutional change. The lack of that kind of work may be what led to the failure of these initiatives in the past. We might say that we need to re-vision ourselves as a community gathered in the I-79 corridor rather than as two communities divided by I-80 . . . .
Bruce Robison
Let’s face it, the joining of dioceses would obligate more churches to participate financially in somebody else’s legal struggle. Who would want to sign on to that? Some communities in the area–Slippery Rock, for instance–already have an Anglican presence and the NW diocese already has a lot of conservative communities, such as Grove City and Franklin.
Not to be cynical, but I sincerely doubt that 815 is going to agree to this. If enacted, the number of Episcopal dioceses would be reduced by 1. They would essentially have to admit to having ‘lost’ Pittsburgh. No, they’d rather exhaust every last endowment pouring money into the rump diocese than admit to that.
I could be wrong, however, the folks that live in the DioNWPA are a stubborn bunch. From historical documents, I have read, they welcomed the original split of the diocese. They would be hard pressed to rejoin. They are a fiercely independant group who like to assert the differences between them and Pittsburgh.
+Rowe and his circle of influence are very content with their small numbers. It means they have better control over the people…er, I mean churches. Allows them to keep, or attempt to keep (they are not as successful as they seem to think), everyone in line with the TEC philosophy. I’ve seen it, and heard it, first hand.
Thanks be to God! I have left TEC!