Earlier this year, the Board of Inquiry, a panel required by the Anglican Church in North America’s Constitution and Canons, found cause for ecclesiastical charges to be brought against The Right Reverend Ron Jackson. These charges were brought forward after private, earlier efforts by the Archbishop and fellow bishops to facilitate restoration proved unfruitful. On Tuesday, June 2, 2020, Bishop Jackson admitted to the use of pornography over many years and pleaded guilty to the charges of sexual immorality (Canon IV.2(6)) and conduct giving just cause for scandal or offense (Canon IV.2(4)).
According to Canon IV.8(2) it is the responsibility of the College of Bishops to impose a sentence when a bishop is guilty of an ecclesiastical charge. Meeting on June 2, 2020, the College voted to impose the sentence of deposition from the sacred ministry on Bishop Jackson. His holy orders have been removed, and he is no longer permitted to engage in ordained ministry in the Anglican Church in North America.
In making this decision, the College of Bishops grieved the victimization of those caught up in the pornography industry and lamented the impact that moral failure in leadership has upon the whole Church and its witness. They also expressed their love and concern for Ron and Patty Jackson and their whole family, and assured them of the College’s unqualified desire to see Ron continue in the process of repentance and healing.
Please continue to pray for all those involved in or affected by this situation.
It looks like discipline was applied in a godly and biblical way, with attempts at reconciliation. Such a contrast with many more modernist churches.
When I reported these charges in the comments at Anglican Ink, I was told by George Conger himself that they were “Trash.”
I’m glad that he gave him the benefit of the doubt and didn’t rush to judgment. Perhaps the forum in which you elected to air your grievances wasn’t appropriate and the way in which you communicated constituted the sin of gossip.
I simply reported that the charges had been made. It was another who rushed to the judgment, exonerating Bishop Jackson without an examination of the evidence.
No, your comment was marked to be placed in the trash, not that it was trash. It was the wrong forum for such things.
This is good news in one way, that godly discipline was administered and not thwarted, although the wording of this press release seems to imply that Jackson himself was in denial, or unwilling to do what was necessary earlier on. Yet in a way, this is bad news, that a bishop would fall prey to this evil, and even to the point of addiction, if it was going on for “many years.” One wonders how many men in that diocese have similarly struggled and failed with this dysfunction, without the needed support for godliness coming from the top.