Diocese of Mid-America

Last updated
REC Diocese of Mid-America
Seal of the REC Diocese of Mid-America.png
Location
Ecclesiastical province Anglican Church in North America
Statistics
Parishes41 (2023) [1]
Members3,040 (2023) [1]
Information
Rite Anglican
Cathedral Church of the Holy Communion, Dallas, Texas
Current leadership
Bishop ordinary Ray Sutton
Suffragans Walter Banek, Charlie Camlin
Website
Diocese of Mid-America Official Website

The REC Diocese of Mid-America, with the Convocation of the West and Western Canada, is a Reformed Episcopal Church and an Anglican Church in North America diocese, since its foundation in 2009. The REC Diocese of Mid-America is distinct from a diocese of the same name of the Anglican Province of America, which is not affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America. It has 34 congregations, 32 in 12 American states, which are Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin, and 2 congregations in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Its headquarters are located in Dallas, Texas. The Bishop Ordinary was the late Royal U. Grote, Jr., [2] [3] replaced upon his death by the Bishop Coadjutor, Ray R. Sutton.

Contents

History

The origin of the Diocese of Mid-America goes back to 1990, when the Reformed Episcopal Church at its General Council decided to create the Special Jurisdiction of North America (SJNA) to cover parishes located west of the Mississippi River. The original territory covered 27 states. Their first Missionary Bishop elected was Royal U. Grote Jr, who moved to Houston, Texas, in July 1991. [4] In 1996, the merger of the Special Jurisdiction of North America with the Synod of Chicago, the oldest of the Reformed Episcopal Church, led to the creation of the Diocese of Mid-America. A portion of the Diocese of Mid-America was combined with portions of the Diocese of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and the Diocese of the Southeast to form the Missionary Diocese of the Central States. Another portion of the Diocese of Mid-America was also split off to help form the Diocese of the West.

The Reformed Episcopal Church took part in the Anglican realignment movement that led to the birth of the Anglican Church of North America, of which it was a founding member. The then six jurisdictions, including the Diocese of Mid-America, were in their original founding dioceses.

On 2 December 2012, the Church of the Holy Communion, in Dallas, was declared a Pro-Cathedral by Royal U. Grote, Jr. [5]

The Diocese of Western Canada and Alaska, created in 1996, had two parishes in British Columbia, led by the Rt. Rev. Charles Dorrington, and also included the Missionary District of Cuba. Due to its small size, the diocese was extinct and incorporated in the Diocese of Mid-America, of which is now a part as the Convocation of the West and Western Canada, with Charles Dorrington as Assisting Bishop for Canada and Cuba. [6]

List of bishops ordinary

Bishops from 1873 to 1995 were bishops of the Chicago synod; bishops from 1996 to the present were bishops of the Diocese of Mid-America.

  1. Charles E. Cheney (1875–1916)
  2. Samuel Fallows (1916–1922)
    Willard Brewing (acting bishop in charge under the REC presiding bishop, 1922–1929)
    Robert Livingston Rudolph (as REC presiding bishop, 1922–1930)
    Robert Westly Peach (as REC presiding bishop, 1930–1931)
  3. Frank V.C. Cloak (1931–1953)
    Joseph E. Kearny (as REC presiding bishop, 1953–1957)
    Howard D. Higgins (as REC presiding bishop, 1957–1974)
  4. Franklin Sellers (1974–1996)
  5. Royal U. Grote, Jr. (1996–2016; ordinary of the Special Jurisdiction of North America, 1990–1996)
  6. Ray Sutton (2016–present)

Parishes

As of 2022, the Diocese of Mid-America had 41 parishes. Notable parishes in the diocese include:

ChurchImageCityYear foundedYear completedNotes
Mariners' Church Old Mariner Church, Detroit.jpg Detroit, Michigan 18421849Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Living Word Reformed Episcopal Church Courtenay, British Columbia 18772001Canadian Register of Historic Places
Church of the Holy Communion Church of the Holy Communion in North Dallas, Texas.jpg Dallas, Texas 19632006Diocesan cathedral

Related Research Articles

The Anglican Communion Network was a theologically conservative network of Anglican and Episcopalian dioceses and parishes in the United States that was working toward Anglican realignment and developed into the Anglican Church in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reformed Episcopal Church</span> Anglican church of Episcopalian heritage

The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) is an Anglican Church. It was founded in 1873 in New York City by George David Cummins, a former bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church.

The Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe is a jurisdiction of the United States-based Episcopal Church created in 1859 by an action of its general convention. The convocation includes all Episcopal congregations in continental Europe. Along with dioceses in New York, New Jersey, Haiti, Cuba, and the Virgin Islands it belongs to Province II of the Episcopal Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Episcopal Church</span>

The Christian Episcopal Church (XnEC) is a Continuing Anglican jurisdiction consisting of parishes in Canada and the United States and with oversight of several parishes in the Cayman Islands. Its bishops claim apostolic succession through the Right Rev. A. Donald Davies. Davies was formerly the bishop-in-charge of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe and the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church in North America</span> Anglican realignment province

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported more than 1,000 congregations and more than 128,000 members in 2023. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014. In June 2024, the College of Bishops elected Steve Wood as the third archbishop of the ACNA. Authority was transferred to him during the closing Eucharist at the ACNA Assembly 2024 conference in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

The Bartonville Agreement came from a meeting held in May 1999 by bishops representing both the Anglican Communion's American province and a number of Continuing Anglican jurisdictions in North America. As such, it was an early effort made by conservative Episcopal bishops and Continuing Anglican bishops to voice a common set of principles which might become the basis of future cooperation between their churches or dioceses. The schism that had divided these church bodies had occurred in 1977 at the Congress of St. Louis when "Continuers" met and formed a new Anglican church in reaction to changes in doctrine and practice that had been approved by the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wes Nolden</span> US Air Force officer and Anglican clergy

Wes Nolden is a United States Air Force officer and disputed bishop in the Reformed Episcopal Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Sutton</span> American Anglican bishop

Raymond Ronny Sutton is an American Anglican bishop. He was bishop coadjutor in the Diocese of Mid-America of the Reformed Episcopal Church, since 1999, a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America, in 2009. He is the former Rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in Dallas, Texas, president and Professor of Scripture and Theology at Cranmer Theological House in Houston, Texas, and headmaster of Holy Communion Christian Academy. Sutton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to Dallas at age thirteen.

Royal Upton Grote Jr. was an American Anglican bishop. He served as the Presiding Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC), from 2014 to 2016, which was a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America in June 2009. He also served as bishop ordinary of the REC Diocese of Mid-America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic</span> Reformed Episcopal church in the United States

The Diocese of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, with the Convocation of Eastern Canada, formerly known as the New York and Philadelphia Synod, is a founding jurisdiction of the Reformed Episcopal Church in 1873 and, more recently, a founding diocese of the Anglican Church in North America in 2009. It comprises 27 parishes, 26 of them in five American states – Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York – and one in the Canadian province of Ontario. The headquarters are located in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. The current bishop is R. Charles Gillin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diocese of the Southeast (Reformed Episcopal Church)</span> Reformed Episcopal diocese in the United States

The Diocese of the Southeast is a Reformed Episcopal Church diocese and as such an Anglican Church in North America founding diocese. The diocese comprises 32 parishes, 30 in South Carolina and 2 in Georgia, in the United States. Its headquarters are located in Summerville, South Carolina. The current bishop ordinary is Willie J. Hill Jr., who was installed in September 2022.

The Diocese of Western Canada and Alaska was a diocese of the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church in North America. It also included the Missionary District of Cuba. The diocese was formed in 1996 when the Canadian and American branches of the Reformed Episcopal Church were reunited. It was, at the time, composed of parishes extending back to the founding of the REC in the 1870s. As a part of the Reformed Episcopal Church, the diocese became part of the Anglican Church in North America upon its creation in 2009. It was the smallest of both denominations' dioceses, comprising only two parishes in British Columbia, Canada. Despite its name, the diocese was inactive in Alaska. The diocese also had the Missionary District of Cuba, which was launched in 2003, currently with 20 parishes. Its headquarters were located in Victoria, British Columbia. The first bishop ordinary was E. A. "Ted" Follows, followed by Charles Dorrington.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of the Holy Communion (Dallas)</span> Reformed Episcopal Church cathedral in Dallas, Texas, U.S.

The Cathedral Church of the Holy Communion is an Anglican church in Dallas, Texas. It is the cathedral of the Reformed Episcopal Church Diocese of Mid-America, which is led by Holy Communion's former longtime rector, Bishop Ray Sutton. Holy Communion is a traditional Anglican parish using the 1928 Book of Common Prayer in its worship services.

The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE) is a small Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition with churches in Europe. Formed as part of the worldwide Anglican realignment, it is a member jurisdiction of the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON) and is under the primatial oversight of the chairman of the GAFCON Primates Council. ANiE runs in parallel with the Free Church of England (RECUK). GAFCON recognizes ANiE as a "proto-province" operating separately from the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales and other Anglican Communion jurisdictions in Great Britain and the European continent. ANiE is the body hierarchically above the preexisting Anglican Mission in England; the former is the equivalent of a province whilst the latter is a convocation, the equivalent of a diocese.

Raul Willians Mendez Suarez is a Cuban Anglican bishop. He served from 2014 to 2023 as bishop suffragan of the Missionary Diocese of Cuba in the Reformed Episcopal Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missionary Diocese of Cuba</span>

The Missionary Diocese of Cuba is a Cuba-based diocese of the Reformed Episcopal Church. Based in Holguín, the diocese currently has approximately 40 congregations with a combined average attendance of 1,000.

Charles William Dorrington is a retired Canadian Anglican bishop and church musician of the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC). From 1996 to 2016, he was bishop ordinary of the Diocese of Western Canada and Alaska. He also initiated and oversaw the REC's work in Cuba, which led to the formation of the Missionary Diocese of Cuba.

Daniel Rogan Morse is an American Anglican bishop currently serving as bishop ordinary of the Reformed Episcopal Church's Diocese of the Central States.

Edward Arthur "Ted" Follows was a Canadian Anglican bishop and pastor in the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC). From 1993 to 1996, he was bishop ordinary of the Diocese of Western Canada and Alaska.

Michael Fedechko was a Canadian Anglican bishop and pastor in the Reformed Episcopal Church (REC). From 1993 to 2011, he was bishop ordinary of the Diocese of Central and Eastern Canada.

References

  1. 1 2 "Congregational Reporting: 2023 in Review" (PDF). Anglican Church in North America. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  2. "News - Reformed Episcopal Church". www.rechurch.org. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
  3. "Anglican Church in North America". www.anglicanchurch.net. Retrieved 2016-11-25.
  4. Diocese of Mid-America History [ permanent dead link ]
  5. DALLAS, TX: REC Church of the Holy Communion proclaimed a Pro Cathedral, Virtue Online Website
  6. Diocese of Mid-America at the Reformed Episcopal Church Official Website

32°59′24″N96°49′22″W / 32.9899°N 96.8227°W / 32.9899; -96.8227