A report from Episcopal News Service about the Diocese of Eau Claire which is actually smaller than the reorganized Diocese of Pittsburgh.
The Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire, without a sitting bishop since April and unable to afford the expenses of full-time episcopal oversight, has launched a process aimed at charting a course for the future.
A resolution passed at the recent 80th annual convention of the diocese, held November 7-8 at Christ Church, La Crosse, commits the diocese to consider five options for Episcopal oversight ranging from the election of a part-time, bi-vocational bishop to merging with another diocese, to dissolving the Diocese of Eau Claire.
The Right Rev. Keith B. Whitmore, elected Bishop of Eau Claire in 1998, announced his resignation in March 2008 in order to become assisting bishop in the Diocese of Atlanta.
The Diocese of Eau Claire, originally carved out of the dioceses of Fond du Lac and Milwaukee in 1927, has historically been a small diocese. Today it is home to 22 congregations with combined average Sunday attendance in 2007 of 952 persons, 45 percent of whom worship in three congregations. Seven churches have Sunday attendance below 20 persons; eight between 20 and 50; and four between 50 and 60. Average Sunday attendance dropped by five percent from 2006 to 2007.
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_102845_ENG_HTM.htm
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