The Rev. Canon Philip Ashey, Chief Operating & Development Officer of the American Anglican Council, addressed a SEWAAC gathering on Saturday, November 12, 2011, on “How to Form an Anglican Diocese.”  Representatives of Anglican congregations throughout Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and Iowa met at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Nashotah, WI, for what proved to be a highly-informative meeting.

Fr. Ashey has a distinguished history both with the development of the Anglican Church in North America and as a consultant with groups across the country seeking to form new ACNA dioceses. He has been a member of the Governance Task Force which drafted the Constitution and Canons of the Anglican Church in North America. He currently serves on its Provincial Council.

To see a slideshow from this event, click here.  (Slideshow will open in a new window.)

Individuals who are interested in finding an orthodox Anglican congregation in Wisconsin can consult SEWAAC's Anglican Church Finder.  For more information on SEWAAC, please contact President Bill Chapin, via the contact us page or call him at (414) 352-4586.

Approximately 70 people representing 15 congregations and fellowships gathered on Saturday, October 29 as Archbishop Robert Duncan visited his "Wisconsin flock."  The Archbishop has been a speaker at SEWAAC events in prior years, but this gathering was his first visit since he began oversight of Anglican congregations in Wisconsin.  Archbishop Duncan spoke of events in the Anglican Communion, including his participation in the GAFCON primates meeting in London, and expressed his joy at the work being undertaken to plant vibrant, orthodox Anglican congregations in the Upper Midwest.

The next day (Sunday, October 30), Archbishop Duncan made his first episcopal visitation to St. Michael's Anglican Church.  130 people gathered for worship, with a dozen individuals being confirmed or received into the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh.  More than two thirds of the congregation took the opportunity to renew their Baptismal vows with their new Bishop. 

The October 29 meeting was the first of many such future SEWAAC-sponsored gatherings to form a strong fellowship among Anglican churches wanting to be part of the movement to form an Anglican diocese in Wisconsin.  SEWAAC's mission is to act as a facilitator by drawing churches together for education and mutual encouragement so that they may act together as a united body with a common purpose of being an orthodox Anglican witness and planting new congregations in Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest.