Archbishop Emeritus

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Frederick Morrison

     In the spring of 1984 a group of Tulsans – 9 in number, comprising Businessmen, a Physician, a Lawyer, a Journalist, Wives/Mothers - met with Bishop Robert Sherwood Morse of the Anglican Diocese of Christ the King. They expressed a desire to look closer at the Anglican Diocese in America with a view to possibly founding a church in Tulsa. The main issue at hand was the availability of Priests, the Bishop having several parishes around the USA at the same stage. The Bishop’s focus had already turned to the UK and the Church of England – advertisements for interested Priests had been placed in the ‘Church Times’. It seemed the picture was not a lot different, there was always a shortage of Priests and cracks were appearing between the Anglo Catholic wing – regarded as traditionalists and the more evangelical wing – considered ‘low’ church. Several men wrote back and in November 1984 a C of E Priest – Frederick Morrison was the first to visit the USA and speak with groups in several States and to celebrate a Mass for the people assembled.

     The rest is history – on May 31st, 1985 Father Frederick Morrison, his wife Jennifer, two small sons and a large golden Labrador (the boys having declared they were NOT leaving without their dog) arrived and All Saints Anglican Church in Tulsa had begun. Going south in 1985 Tulsa one had the impression of driving into the country, even Broken Arrow was in its early stages. The congregation grew steadily, filling rental accommodation 

to capacity, in 1988 wooded land was gifted to the Church a little further south, Tulsa architect Gene Starr was engaged, Oakridge builders were contracted and the debt free first stage of All Saints was completed. The worship space - later converted into the Parish Hall filled up – the fully funded second and final stage of building the actual church began - the whole was completed within two more years.  

     All Saints Tulsa was firmly on the map, the daily office of the Clergy was said come snow, ice, rain, shine and tornadoes. Over arching all - the Mass (Eucharist) was offered on 5 days a week, whether it was for 200 or just 2  ‘... Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there am I among them’. The People were ministered to 24/7: at home, in hospital, the workplace if necessary. Echoing lifespan literally from cradle to grave the ages of the church family spanned from the new born to senior citizens - typical in the living Church. Babies, children and adults were baptized, adolescents and adults were confirmed, marriages took place, anniversaries were celebrated, confessions were heard and sins forgiven, the troubled were counseled, the dying were ministered to and buried – and just like any family we grieved as we celebrated a life and said goodbye to another dear friend. The seasons of the Church year were fully studied and celebrated, bible study, church school, family events including summer camp, bake sales, craft sales & ‘garage’ sales were all on the ‘menu’. There was music and choir including concerts at various times of the year. We had an active Women’s group, Acolytes Guild, and Altar & Sacristy Guild. Charity was funneled through the Downtown Shelters, the Food Bank, DVIS, Catholic Charities and John 3:16 Mission. Various men came forward and offered themselves to test for the disciplines of the ordained ministry of the Church. The life of a busy parish was ongoing. 

     As the years moved on other Dioceses across the USA and western Canada began to form under the protections of the Anglican Diocese of Christ the King, more Bishops were consecrated to oversee them and Senior Bishop Robert Sherwood Morse the founder was made the first Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Christ the King. 

known thereafter as the APCK in short.

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In May of 2002 Father Morrison was elected and consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of the South West States (he remained as Bishop of the DSWS until July of 2015). All Saints was designated a Pro-Cathedral of the Southwestern Diocese and other Clergy were appointed to the daily running of All Saints Parish.

Archbishop Emeritus Robert Morse – terminally ill died aged 91yrs in June 2015.  Archbishop Morse had 7 years earlier appointed as his successor Archbishop James Provence who resigned due to ill health in June of 2015.

The College of Bishops APCK elected Archbishop Frederick Morrison as successor in July 2015; Archbishop Morrison retired in December 2019.

The College of Bishops APCK elected Archbishop John E. Upham Jr. as successor, APCK in January 2020.

     Over the years changes have taken place at All Saints Anglican Church. Tulsa has grown exponentially: to the north the subdivision of Owasso began forming and is still growing, in the South the subdivision of Bixby is currently breaking all records for growth and to the South East Broken Arrow has almost used up all available space. Like areas to the north of All Saints the young population of families has moved to fill up these previously mentioned areas – new churches of all denominations have been built including the new age ‘mega churches’, all with exciting new family facilities and support programs. Churches in the older parts of Tulsa (with the exclusion of downtown) have seen a downturn in membership – All Saints is one of those churches.

     So now we are morphing to accommodate a change in population, demographics and nationalities. Still the Church offers Mass 5 days a week, we still offer ALL the sacraments of the church, we have our own cemetery & columbarium – both for members only! Many of our smaller membership have been with the church from the beginning and we find ourselves with a much more diverse group of parishioners including young children. We have a strong mission to the Hispanic community – all of whom are adjusting to their new lives in this country. We are alive but in a different way – it reminds us of a former member of our church who announced he was going to leave because we did not have enough outreach – he felt he wanted to conduct a mission to north Tulsa! No idea whether he did that or not – BUT – we have followed his example, we have a mission based on the multinational population of Tulsa, a mission of bringing new people to Christ through the old traditions which many of them are used to. Our Priest and his family are from Peru in South America and we practice bi-lingual churchmanship. 

All Saints is still alive and still following Christ’s commandment to  ‘...Do this in remembrance of me...’.   We say Amen!