Rev. Jacob Worley has been elected bishop of the Diocese of Caledonia. He was to replace Bishop William Anderson, one of the few remaining conservative bishops in the Anglican Church of Canada and is probably a good fit for the position.
Provided the wolves don’t eat him first.
There aren’t many things a person can do or believe that would make him ineligible for a bishopric in the Anglican Church of Canada. Disbelief in the Resurrection, Virgin Birth or Divinity of Jesus is not a problem; being actively homosexual is probably an advantage; and being able to pull off a pitch-perfect impression of Marvin the Robot will catapult you straight to the top.
But Rev. Jacob Worley has managed it; he has unearthed the unforgivable Anglican sin – indeed, it may be the only sin left in North American Anglicanism: he holds
that it is acceptable and permissible for a priest of one church of the Anglican Communion to exercise priestly ministry in the geographical jurisdiction of a second church of the Anglican Communion without the permission of the Ecclesiastical Authority of that second church.
Worley was ordained in TEC, left to join AMiA and then ACNA. Therein lies the problem: during the North American Anglican realignment in 2007-2008, ACNA was associated with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone and AMiA the Province of Rwanda. The purpose of the realignment was to enable Anglicans to remain part of a genuinely Christian Church, not be sucked into the vortex of heresy into which TEC and the ACoC were eager to hurl themselves.
In spite of all its trumpeting about inclusion, diversity and reconciliation, the Anglican Church of Canada is completely intolerant of this variety of geographical diversity and harbours bitter resentment against it; rancour rather than reconciliation swirls beneath the veneer of sanctimonious clerical piety.
It is an example of territorial bigotry.
So the House of Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of BC & Yukon has registered its objection, Worley will not be consecrated and the diocese will have to vote for another bishop. Presumably, this will be repeated until a sufficiently liberal candidate is chosen.
The House of Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province of BC & Yukon in the Anglican Church of Canada has registered its objection to the episcopal election of the Rev. Jacob Worley in the Diocese of Caledonia. Their objection is registered under Canon 4 (b) vi “That he or she teaches or holds or within five years previously taught or held anything contrary to the Doctrine or Discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada.”
“The Bishops met several times as a Provincial House of Bishops since the ecclesiastic election in the Diocese of Caledonia, reviewed the materials before them, and met with the Rev. Jacob Worley,” said the Most Rev. John Privett, Archbishop and Metropolitan for the Province of BC & Yukon. In coming to this conclusion, the bishops reviewed the Rev. Worley’s past actions, what he has written directly to the House, and what he said when meeting with the Provincial House of Bishops.
“After many open and prayerful conversations, the majority of the House concluded that within the past five years the Rev. Worley has held – and continues to hold – views contrary to the Discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada,” said Archbishop Privett. “The view he held and holds is that it is acceptable and permissible for a priest of one church of the Anglican Communion to exercise priestly ministry in the geographical jurisdiction of a second church of the Anglican Communion without the permission of the Ecclesiastical Authority of that second church”.
The question of his views arose from a review of his exercise of priestly ministry when he served in the Anglican Mission in America under license from the Province of Rwanda in the geographical jurisdiction of The Episcopal Church without permission of The Episcopal Church.
As the Provincial House has registered its objection, the Rev. Worley will not be consecrated bishop in the Diocese of Caledonia in the Anglican Church of Canada. As outlined in Canon 4 of the constitution and canons of the Province of BC & Yukon, “the decision of the [Provincial] House of Bishops shall be final” in these matters. The Diocese of Caledonia will now begin the process to hold a new electoral synod according to its canons.
“The Provincial House of Bishops of BC & Yukon ask for your prayers during this extraordinary time,” said Archbishop Privett, “especially for the Worley family, for the Diocese of Caledonia and all those who worship and minister there”.
