Catholicam Fidem: An Open Letter on the Consecration of Female Bishops in GAFCON

To the Primates and Bishops of the Holy Catholic Church in the Global Anglican Future Conference:

Every Trinity Sunday, we confess that “Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith.” This faith has been passed down to us from our Fathers. It is the faith by which we are strengthened and nourished. This is the faith which we are called in our Baptisms to defend and establish to the shedding of our blood. We know no other.

Primates and Bishops of GAFCON, we come before you in humility as our Reverend Fathers in God. You have the fullness of the ministry. You are the successors of the Apostles placed over us. It is in the Spirit of Apostolic charity that we come before you and beg of you to “guard the deposit committed unto thee.” (2 Tim. 1:14) You have sworn in your consecrations “with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God’s word and both privately and openly to call upon, and encourage others to the same.” (1662 Ordinal)

A strange and erroneous doctrine has arisen within our Conference. It is a recent innovation devoid of the marks of antiquity. Within our Conference, a third female has been consecrated to the episcopacy. This is not in line with the Catholic faith handed down to us, which we have been called to guard and defend to the shedding of our blood. In all lowliness and humility, we, the undersigned clergy and laity of GAFCON and all other Orthodox Anglicans of the world, ask you to stand up and “banish and drive away” this “erroneous and strange” practice.

Quicumque vult salvus esse, ante omnia opus est, ut teneat catholicam fidem.

Sign Here

Clergy:

• Presiding Bishop William Millsaps, Christ Church Monteagle, Presiding Bishop Emeritus at The Episcopal Missionary Church

• The Rt. Rev. William H. Ilgenfritz, Bishop Emeritus Missionary Diocese of All Saints, ACNA

• Ven. C. Thomas McHenry, Christ Church at Union Chapel, Bath County, VA (DMAS)

• Rev. Fr. A. James Gadomski, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Los Altos, CA (Diocese of Mid-America, REC)

• Rev. Fr. Ricky McCarl, Good Shepherd Anglican Church, Harrisburg Pa (REC)

• Rev. Dr. James A. Gibson III, Church of the Holy Trinity, Grahamville, Ridgeland, SC

• Rev. Fr. Terry W. Gatwood, Vicar, All Saints Anglican Church, Monroe, LA

• Rev. Fr. Nathan Casthro, Anglican Reformed Church of Brazil (IARB) Salvador/Bahia

• Rev. Fr. Steve Victory, Rector, Epiphany Anglican Church, Eustis, Florida (Gulf Atlantic Diocese)

• Rev. Fr. Edward A. Fitzhugh, Vicar of St. Timothy’s Anglican Church, Fort Worth, TX

• Rev. Fr. Matt Kennedy, Church of the Good Shepherd, Binghamton, NY.

• Rev. Fr. Matthew Brench, Vicar of Grace Anglican Church (ADNE, ACNA)

• Rev. Fr. Stephen Lieberman, Christ the King Edmonton, ANiC.

• Rev. Fr. Nathan Long, Nampa, Idaho

• Rev. Fr. Paul S. Howden, Rector of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Webster Groves, MO, REC

• Rev. Fr. Shawn D. Riley, Rector of Grace REC, Collingdale, PA (REC-NEMA)

• Rev. Fr. Charles A. Collins, Jr., Rector, St. Andrew’s Anglican Church (REC/ACNA), Savannah, Georgia.

• Rev. Fr. David Straw, Rector, Trinity Anglican Church, Evansville, IN, REC

• Rev. Fr. Ben Jefferies, Rector, The Good Shepherd Anglican Church (ACNA), Opelika, AL

• Rev. Fr. Lars Nowen, St. Thomas Church, Summerland, ANiC

• The Rev. Charles Arthur McCoy, Deacon to the Anglican Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Miraflores, Peru.

Laymen:

• Christian Wagner, Epiphany Anglican Church, Florida.

• Eric Valentine, Calvary, Middletown Pennsylvania

• W H Dunne, Diocese of Dublin

• Jordan Costantino

• Jonathan McKenzie

• Alexis Wagner, Epiphany Anglican Church, Florida

• Johnny Lawrence III

• Benjamin Main, Church of the Holy Cross, South Carolina

• Matthew J Taylor

• Mark Marshall, Lay Reader, Providence REC, Corpus Christi, Texas

• Cindy Lange, Lake Almanor, CA

• Aidan Besneatte-Cullinane, Mountain City, TN

• James Austin, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, Denver, Colorado, USA

• Ralph W. Davis, Sterling, Virginia

• Thomas Pfaeffle, San Mateo, CA

• A. Beattie, Australia

• Bart Wallace

• Anthony Meffe

• Justin Darrell DeVantier

• Aaron Gann

• Richard Reeb, Church of the Resurrection, Wheaton, IL

• Linsey Connelly

• Kenneth Lopez, Postulant, Diocese of Fort Worth

• Chris Blankenship

• Jonah M. Saller, Emmaus Anglican Church, Maricopa AZ

• K. Kevin Murphy, Esq., Junior Warden and seminarian, Good Shepherd Anglican Church (REC) in Harrisburg, PA.

• Caden Cramsey, Holy Trinity Anglican Church (REC)

• J. Adam Craig, Richmond, Virginia

• Joseph Poon, lay member, Diocese of Singapore

• Matthew Bergstrom, Lake Almanor, CA. St. Andrews Church (RE

• Josiah w sobere, All Saints Anglican Church, Diocese of Cascadia, lay member

• Oz Alan, San Diego, CA

• Gabriel Galdino, Salvador-BA, Brazil

• Allan Santos Pacheco, Brazil.

• Paulo Henrique Altrão de Mattos, Severínia-SP, Brazil

• Fabio Bighetti, Curitiba-PR, Brazil

• Nathan Lachmann, Brazil.

• Josiah Spencer, St. John’s Anglican Church, N. Canton, OH

• Zachary Hertel, Episcopal Diocese of Central Fl (Lay Member)

• Cory Byrum, Radford VA

• Rian Martins, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

• Dr. J. Brandon Meeks, Theologian-in-Residence, All Saints, Hot Springs, AR (ACNA)

• Cameron Williams, Episcopal Missionary Church

• S.D. Peterson, Waukesha WI

• Timothy R Cole II, Parishioner St. Michael’s REC Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

• David Virtue, Managing Editor, Virtue Online

• Layreader Christian Cate, Resurrection Anglican Fellowship / Saint Mark’s Orthodox Church, Greenwood Village, Colorado / Denver, Colorado

• Lue-Yee Tsang, Springfield, VA, enquiring into Anglican ordination

• Bo Register, St. Peter’s in the Glen Anglican Church, Florida

• Shawn DeVault, layman

• Mauro Trinidad

• Christopher Cox, seminarian, Genoa, Nevada

• Alan Howe, Authorised Local Preacher, St Paul’s (CofE), Clacton-on-Sea, UK

• J. P. Gunawan, layperson, Jakarta, Indonesia

• Matthew Wilkinson Denton TX