Welcome

“The Christian religion” author Kathleen Norris has written, “asks us to put our trust not in ideas, and certainly not in ideologies, but in a God who was vulnerable enough to become human and die, and who desires to be present to us in our ordinary circumstances.”

The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago welcomes anyone who believes in—or simply wants to know more about—that God. We are a vital community of 40,000 people in 124 congregations across northern Illinois. Through the work of parishes and missions, social outreach agencies and campus ministries we devote ourselves to three simple goals: Grow the Church. Form the faithful. Change the world. Join us in our worship and our work as we share the bread of life with a hungry world.

  We Are Hope
We Are Hope

Bishop Lee: From Epiphany to Easter

Bishop Lee preached on Friday, January 6, at The Great Awakening, an Epiphany event hosted by Seabury Western Theological Seminary with support from the Diocese of Chicago. Find more event videos on Seabury's website.

 

News

Bishop Lee on Sudan and the Gift of Relationship

On December 19, Bishop Lee issued a statement in response to a recent letter from Archbishop Daniel Deg Bul, primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan.

"The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago and the Episcopal Diocese of Renk in the Church of Sudan have enjoyed a highly collaborative and deeply enriching mission relationship for ten years. We have visited frequently with them, and they with us. More than two dozen of our congregations work directly in partnership with parishes in Renk to build and support schools, churches and hospitals that provide essential services to people whose country was torn by war for decades and is now newly independent and fragile." Read more.

Calendar Highlights

Absalom Jones Celebration

The Diocese of Chicago and The Union of Black Episcopalians, Chicago Chapter will sponsor an evensong service on Sunday, February 12 at 3 pm at St. James Cathedral to celebrate the life and ministry of Absalom Jones.

Bishop Lee will officiate and the Rev. Juan Y. Reed, Bishop's Preaching Fellow, will preach, and Jonita Lattimore, Soprano in the Lyric Opera of Chicago will be the featured soloist.

Holy Week March Against Gun Violence

On the evening of Monday, April 2--the Monday of Holy Week--the Diocese of Chicago, St. James Cathedral, and All Saints' Episcopal Church will hold CrossWalk, a four-mile march to raise awareness about gun violence and equip people to do something about it. The Rev. Carol Reese of Stroger Hospital and Bishop Lee were recently quoted in an ENS article that announced the march and highlighted the diocese's work against the epidemic of gun violence in Chicago.

Save the date of April 2 for the march. If you'd like to get involved, attend a planning meeting on February 7 at 8 am at Grace Episcopal Church. Email Jack Clark to learn more.

A WORK IN PROGRESS

Of Calendars and Church Finders

We had an excellent question from the Rev. Martha Gillette in response to our last blog post. It concerned calendars. We’re building a few, and are interested in your advice. It is our sense that showing you everything that is going on across the diocese at a single glance isn’t possible. The list would be too cluttered. The information might all be there, but it would be extremely difficult to find the tree you were looking for in a forest of events. The solution that we are leaning toward is multiple calendars—all of which can be viewed individually, and some of which will feed into an extensive “events around the diocese” calendar.

Visit the blog to read more and join the conversation.