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The Diocese of the Great Lakes (DGL) traces its origins to a Canadian jurisdiction, the Independent Anglican Church (IAC). That church body owes its existence to an administrative dispute of the 1930s that involved two priests of the Church of England in Canada. None of the famous doctrinal disputes that led to schisms in other Christian denominations were involved, nothing for example like the issues that in 1978 produced the so-called “Continuing Anglican” churches.
Nevertheless, the IAC experienced its own split late in the century. Several bishops, along with a number of presbyters, were opposed to certain doctrinal innovations proposed for the church and so founded the Diocese of the Great Lakes. This new diocese was led by The Rt. Rev. Julius A. Neeser, the IAC’s bishop of Ontario. Negotiations followed, with the new diocese remaining in the parent body provisionally, but these efforts eventually failed.
During the following years, our diocese worked with a number of other church bodies to advance Anglican unity. To that end, the DGL was a member of the Anglican Church, Inc. prior to the dissolution of that body and was a member of the North American Anglican Conference whose purpose was to promote mutual assistance among the traditionalist Anglican churches.
Bishop Neeser (above) was succeeded by Bishop Jackson D. Worsham (center), the diocese’s suffragan bishop. His cooperation with the United Episcopal Church of North America laid the foundation for an “Agreement of Intercommunion” which was signed in 2001. The UECNA, one of the original Continuing Anglican churches, had long been known for its affirmation of the historic Thirty-nine Articles of Religion.
However, it was in 2014 with The Rt. Rev. David T. Hustwick (below) that the DGL joined the UECNA formally, becoming its diocese for the Great Lakes states and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario.
Under Bishop Hustwick the work of the DGL expanded in Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Meanwhile, he’s welcomed a number of clergy transferring to us from other jurisdictions, and also oversaw the restoration of the nineteenth-century “mother church” of our diocese–Saints Andrew and Matthias Church in Hastings, Michigan.
The Diocese of the Great Lakes 