Bishop Kelshaw Denies Resigning from the Ministry

http://www.livingchurch.org/news/news-updates/2008/4/9/bishop-kelshaw-denies-resigning-from-the-ministry

[The Living Church] 10 Apr 2008--Four weeks into his new ministry assignment,” Bishop Terence Kelshaw said on April 9 that there are times when he still has to hunt for a stapler, but he harbors no such confusion about his continued right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of an ordained minister.

Bishop Kelshaw retired as Bishop of the Rio Grande in 2005. He is currently serving as “Bishop-in-Residence” at St. James’ Anglican Church, Newport Beach, Calif., while the congregation searches for a new rector. Both St. James’ and Bishop Kelshaw have been received into the Anglican Church of Uganda.

Last month Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori informed Bishop Kelshaw by letter that she had accepted his renunciation of the ordained ministry and that he was “deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority as a minister of God’s word and sacraments.” The action came after Bishop Kelshaw wrote the Presiding Bishop to inform her that he had left The Episcopal Church.

“It means little to me in that I don’t intent to squabble with her over this,” Bishop Kelshaw said, “but I did not renounce my orders. I wrote to her last February informing her that I felt called to request alternate primatial oversight and that my request had been granted by Uganda. I am still a bishop within the Anglican Communion.”