The Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons has been appointed vicar-general of the Diocese of Western Anglicans. At the close of the College of Bishops conclave held 21-23 June 2014 at Saint Vincent College the Most Rev. Robert Duncan appointed Bishop Lyons to temporarily oversee the diocese.
The election of a successor to the Rt. Rev. William Thompson, the first bishop of the diocese, was to have taken place at the conclave. However, the time and discussions devoted to the election of a new primate prevented Western Anglicans from being taken up on the agenda. Bishop Lyons, who will continue to serve as Assistant Bishop of Pittsburgh, stated he believed it was a wise decision to defer consideration as the bishops were exhausted at the close of their conclave. “We were all fried,” he noted. Keep reading
This is a significant development in the Anglican Church in North America and points to major weakness of what the canons commend to established dioceses as the preferred method of selecting a bishop and which the canons establish as the norm for selecting a bishop for a new diocese. We have yet to hear if the proposed revision of the canons requiring the approval of the College of Bishops for a diocese to elect a bishop was ratified. If it was ratified, the College of Bishops can put on indefinite hold a diocese's election of a bishop and appoint a vicar-general for the diocese, forcing the diocese to accept this particular method of selecting a bishop and the bishop that College of Bishops selects for the diocese. It represents a serious erosion of diocesan autonomy in the ACNA and lays the groundwork for those promoting a rigid uniformity in the denomination in doctrine and worship as well as governance to further their agenda..
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