Archbishop John Hepworth Suspended from TAC College of Bishops

We wake up to the news this morning:

Archbishop John Hepworth Suspended from TAC College of Bishops. Two New Appointments Made. US-based ACA Bishop David L. Moyer relieved of his role as Episcopal Visitor to England.

Virtue Online:

The governing body of the Traditional Anglican Communion yesterday suspended TAC Archbishop John Hepworth from the Church’s College of Bishops, which rendered him ineligible to function as Bishop Ordinary of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia.

The authority has been transferred to Vicar General Fr. Owen Buckton assisted by Bishop David Robarts as Episcopal Authority with immediate effect.

The announcement was made by India-based Archbishop Samuel Prakash, Acting Primate of the TAC. The new administrators of the TAC in Australia are both members of ACCA.

“Hepworth is no longer permitted to serve as Bishop Ordinary of Australia,” Johannesburg-based Bishop Michael Gill, Secretary to the College of Bishops, told VOL.

Fr. Buckton is based in Rockhampton and Bishop Robarts lives in Launceton, Tasmania.

The suspension as Bishop pertains to both the TAC and ACCA. Bishop Hepworth had sought to enter the Roman Catholic Church through the Pope’s offer of an Ordinariate but had been rebuffed following allegations that he had been raped by three priests four decades ago.

He was offered laicization by the Roman Catholic Church but rejected it.

Gill told VOL that Australian traditionalist Anglicans were exceedingly unhappy with all the negative publicity surrounding Hepworth and wanted their voices heard and some action taken by the College of Bishops.

“Our need was to stabilize our people. Archbishop Prakash facilitated that, and is providing wonderful leadership in bringing this to a satisfactory conclusion.”

Gill confirmed that Hepworth indicated that he was intending to tender his resignation just prior to the meeting of the College of Bishops in Johannesburg.

“We accepted his resignation. Now Archbishop Prakash has relieved him of every administrative duty.”

When asked about the current position of Bishop Moyer, Gill said Moyer needs to respond to a letter from Bishop Marsh, Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church in America (ACA) the US branch of the TAC, indicating his intentions for the future.

Bishop Craig Botterill of Canada had been appointed as TAC Episcopal visitor to England, replacing Bishop Moyer.

 

Farewell Letter from Bishop David Moyer

This is his last communication to the TTAC. He has been replaced by Bishop Craig Botterill.

Dear Fathers and good people of the TTAC,

I learned officially today from Archbishop Samuel Peter Prakash, who has assumed the role of Acting Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, that my time has ended as your Episcopal Visitor; and that Bishop Craig Botterill has been appointed by Archbishop Prakash as my replacement.

I will not comment on how I perceive what has happened because nearly everything I say or write is posted on the internet in ways that do not advance the Gospel and my intent to be a servant of the Lord. I do not want in any way to further division, but pray that, in God’s time, we “all be one.”

I ask that you, who choose to remain in the TTAC, give your full support and affection to Bishop Botterill. If he experiences a small dose of the support and affection you gave to me, he will be blessed.

Please know that I view my time in serving you as a great privilege, and as a time when my understanding of the Church and the priests who serve her so well was enlarged. I will hold in my bank of memories our times together in Synod and when I visited with you and your people, experiencing such gracious hospitality and acceptance. I so enjoyed my times staying with Vicar General Father Ian Gray and his dear wife, Christine, at Reasby Manor, and what they provided for me in so many ways.

I need to also say that no words are adequate to express the depth of love and respect I have for Robert Mercer, CR. I am so pleased for his upcoming ordinations to the diaconate and priesthood of the Catholic Church. As I tongue-in-cheek referred to him as my “Curate,” I will say that he was much more than that, and that I have profited immensely from his spiritual depth and wisdom.

I pledge my daily prayers for you, and humbly ask that you will afford me the same.

With fraternal love,

+David L. Moyer

You can download it in pdf. here.

 

The English Catholic Blog Shows Signs of Life

With a little rumble:

PHILADELPHIA: TAC Bishop Moyer Serves Subpoena on Friends and Enemies

Please, someone, tell me this isn’t true! Back to hiatus, and As the Sun in its Orb…

Sadly, it seems to be so… Subpoenaing the Ordinary? Good job the Roman Church never gave this man the required votum!

 

Bishop David Moyer Plans to Subpoena Msgr Jeffrey Steenson

An ever sensational (try to read through that) Dr David Virtue reports: TAC Bishop Moyer Serves Subpoena on Friends and Enemies.

The deposed former priest of the Episcopal Anglo-Catholic parish of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, PA, David L. Moyer has given notice that he will serve a subpoena on former friends and enemies including one to “Jerry Steenson”, the new Ordinary of the Ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church for documents relating to a lawsuit brought by his former attorney, John H. Lewis Jr., for fraud and defamation.

The proposed subpoenas, which contain seven pages of instructions, definitions and document requests, bear no obvious relationship to the question of whether Moyer defamed Lewis or filed a frivolous lawsuit against him several years ago. For example, it boggles the mind to think that “Jerry Steenson” might have documents,” an individual who resided and worked outside Pennsylvania for most of the last ten years, to see if they bear on whether Lewis was defamed by Moyer or whether Moyer filed a frivolous lawsuit against him.

Indeed, and ironically, in a suit where Moyer has been accused of defaming someone, the reference to “Jerry” (his name is Jeffrey) seems to be designed to denigrate and insult the former Episcopal Bishop of the Rio Grande who crossed the Tiber several years ago – a move that Moyer himself has sought, but did not obtain the required votum needed for him to join the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter because of serious impediments.

Moyer’s plan to subpoena “Jerry Steenson” seems designed to harass and punish him as the messenger who delivered to Moyer news that Moyer would not receive the required votum from Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Now Moyer cannot proceed with training he needs for the Catholic priesthood. Perhaps Moyer’s next subpoena will be delivered to Rome itself…

In fact, the subpoena planned for me seeks each and every document I might have relating to Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson.

Some questions come to mind. Why is Moyer trying to uncover information about Steenson? Is he so aggrieved at being rejected by Steenson for the Ordinariate that he intends to launch an investigation into Steenson – an investigation that plainly has no relationship to Lewis’ lawsuit?

At another level, is the planned subpoena to me nothing more then an effort to chill VOL’s news -gathering efforts in connection with a topic of tremendous interest to our readers? Shame on you, Moyer.

VOL will not be bullied into silence and we will not cease our efforts in uncovering the truth about what happened at the Church of the Good Shepherd, the $1.5 million spent on legal fees, and other matters including property issues.

Good grief! Talk about burning bridges…

I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers!

The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.

- 1 Cor 6:5-8

TAC Bishop David Moyer Denied Ordination in the Catholic Church

TAC Bishop Moyer Denied Entry into Roman Catholic Church as Priest. Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson tells Moyer he can only enter as layman. Unresolved personal issues remain.

Again, it now remains to be seen if he – like his Archbishop, John Hepworth – will muster and have the humility and conviction of faith to submit to Rome and follow through. Archbishop John Hepworth did not.  I’d be most surprised if Bishop Moyer does.

Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) Bishop David Moyer has been denied ordination into the Roman Catholic Church by Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Citing a number of unresolved issues, he informed Moyer of his decision when he addressed the congregation of the Blessed John Henry Newman parish of Bishop Moyer last Sunday.

“The issues we have been dealing with only pertain to the question of ordination,” Steenson told Virtueonline. “I informed the congregation of the possibility of partnering with St. Michael’s whose rector, the Rev. Dr. David Ousley and congregation is in discernment and study. He is in the formation program.”

Moyer received a nulla osta (no impediment) from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in early November 2011. However, the local Catholic bishop has to give a votum for someone who resides in his diocese. Archbishop Charles Chaput declined to give Moyer his votum to proceed toward ordination in the Catholic Church.

This was reaffirmed and confirmed by the visit last Sunday of Steenson who told Moyer he could only be received as a layman. It is not known at this time what the congregation will do. Moyer’s leadership now hangs in the balance. Moyer was pinning all his hopes on entering the Roman Catholic Church under the Ordinariate that would have enabled him to retain certain Anglican liturgical practices.

“I told the people on Sunday that they must follow their conscience on the question of coming into full communion with the Catholic Church. Lumen Gentium 14 (the Vatican II constitution on the Church) makes this a matter of salvation: ‘Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved. So, even if the Fellowship was not ready to make this decision, if an individual was convinced about what the Catholic Church teaches about herself, he or she should not be afraid to move forward.

“Catechumens who, moved by the Holy Spirit, seek with explicit intention to be incorporated into the Church are by that very intention joined with her. With love and solicitude Mother Church already embraces them as her own.’” (LG 14),” Steenson told VOL.

Moyer has had years of litigation and authority issues that have cast a long pall over his priesthood. In 2002, Episcopal Bishop Charles Bennison summarily removed Moyer as rector of Good Shepherd on the ground that he had abandoned the communion of the Episcopal Church when the Anglo-Catholic Traditional Anglican Communion ordained him a bishop. Moyer moved variously through Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan to Anglican Archbishop Bernard Malango of Central Africa, finally settling under TAC Archbishop John Hepworth of Australia.

Hepworth, a former Roman Catholic priest, has sought re-entry into Rome’s embrace only to be denied following allegations he had been homosexually seduced by three Roman Catholic priests in his early years. He too was told he could only re-enter the Roman Catholic Church as a layman.

Hepworth now faces ouster as Primate and archbishop when the TAC House of Bishops meets next week in South Africa.

Moyer still faces a lawsuit from his former friend and attorney, John H. Lewis, for fraud following a failed malpractice lawsuit brought by Moyer and several laymen at Good Shepherd. The Church of the Good Shepherd is also undergoing an audit of its books.

Regarding Moyer, Steenson said he hoped that through his efforts to bring reconciliation and contrition, these impediments would be removed someday. At this time, he cannot be ordained in the Catholic Church.

The above was in Virtue Online here.

Msgr Jeffrey Steenson is clearly the right man for the job of establishing an Ordinariate in the United States. He clearly knows what to do (and how to deal) with wayward Anglicans, while pastorally pointing them to the truth.

 

Bishop David Moyer Not Given Votum Needed to Join Ordinariate

Bishop or is it Father (sorry I’m never sure – it depends if you’re Episcopalian or TAC I suppose?) David Moyer has been declined the required votum needed for him to join the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter.

Virtue Online is running the story:

The former Anglo-Catholic priest of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Fr. David L. Moyer has been denied his final step into the Roman Catholic Church following 10 years of ecclesiastical wandering that started with The Episcopal Church, migrated through the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Forward in Faith, the Church of the Province of Central Africa, and the Anglican Church in America, a branch of the Traditional Anglican Church.
Moyer said he received a letter from Fr. Jeffrey Steenson, Ordinary for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, informing him that Archbishop Charles Chaput (Philadelphia) has declined to give him his votum (a promise) to proceed toward ordination in the Roman Catholic Church.

Moyer received a nulla osta (no impediment) from the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith in early November 2011, but a votum must be given by the local Catholic bishop for someone who resides in his diocese.

Moyer now leads a group of about 50 former parishioners from the Church of the Good Shepherd under the banner of Blessed John Henry Newman.

TAC PRIMATE JOHN HEPWORTH

Moyer’s fortunes have been tied to those of TAC Australian Archbishop John Hepworth as Moyer was consecrated a bishop in the TAC in 2006 by Hepworth, a move that many Episcopalians and Anglicans seriously questioned and actively discouraged.

Hepworth, a former Roman Catholic priest with a mixed past, expressed his intention of taking the TAC into Rome as an Anglican prelature. His hope was that he would be reinstated into the priesthood in the Ordinariate, bringing an alleged, but never confirmed, 700,000 Anglo-Catholics with him.

Hepworth hoped that revelations that he had been sexually abused by three priests would be mitigating circumstances to allow him to return to Rome as a priest. That did not happen. He revealed that he had been seduced by a sitting Roman Catholic monsignor who denied the charges. The Catholic Church in Adelaide says an investigation found no substance to allegations made by Hepworth against Fr. Ian Dempsey.

Soon after these allegations, and the stories that followed going viral, the Roman Catholic Church told Hepworth he could return to the Roman Catholic fold, but only as a layman. He was denied his yearned for return to the Roman Catholic fold as a bishop or priest. Hepworth also ruffled too many Roman Catholic feathers when he publicly blasted what he saw as efforts by Roman Catholic authorities to take over parts of his Canadian flock.

Hepworth has rejected Rome’s offer and mounted a campaign to pull together whatever fragments he can find of the TAC around the world to reignite his failed leadership…

Contacted by VOL and asked for a comment on his rejection to the Ordinariate, Moyer replied “no.”