On January 10, 2019, after prayerful consideration and deliberation, the Anglican Church in North America’s College of Bishops consented to the election of the Rev. Andrew Williams as the next bishop for the Anglican Diocese of New England.
Williams was elected by the diocesan synod on November 17, 2018.
Williams is set to be consecrated on March 16, 2019 as the successor to the Rt. Rev. William Murdoch who has served as the diocesan bishop since its founding in 2008. Murdoch will retire in late spring after ensuring the smooth transition of leadership to Williams.
Williams is originally from the United Kingdom where he was a legal malpractice defense attorney before discerning a call to ministry and attending Trinity College, Bristol. He was ordained in 2000 in the Diocese of Exeter, served in a congregation in Southwest England, then spent a 6-year period as Associate Vicar of St. Andrew’s, Chorleywood just outside of London. In 2009, Williams moved to the United States to become Senior Pastor of Trinity Church, Greenwich, Connecticut. Williams, his wife, Elena, and their three daughters will be moving to the Boston area to be in proximity to the diocesan Cathedral.
“I feel enormously privileged and blessed to be called into the miracle that is the Anglican Church in North America. I have witnessed this week the most extraordinary, exemplary Christian leaders who are making, and are poised to make, historic Kingdom impact for this century and beyond. I am tremendously humbled and very excited to serve in every way I can,” Williams said.
The Most Rev. Dr. Foley Beach, Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, expressed the delight of the College: “It’s a privilege to announce the consent of Andrew Williams to be the next bishop of New England. He is a good and godly man who we believe will continue the great leadership work of Bishop Murdoch in reaching New England with the transforming love of Jesus Christ.”
Murdoch commented, “Our discernment process and election, and now this confirmation by the College of Bishops have all been joyful and filled with an incredibly deep sense of spiritual connection as the Anglican Diocese of New England and Anglican Church in North America. We have a great sense of joy and anticipation of new beginnings with Andrew as the second bishop of the Diocese of New England.”
Which camp do you fall into? Be brave. Speak for yourself.
The ACNA continues to drive a wedge into its membership by appointing another bishop who will ordain women into the priesthood. I guess they feel that they can add enough bishops who subscribe to W.O. in order to override the current majority of bishops who reject W.O. From what I see with the recently consecrated bishops, this is exactly what they intend to do. It is inevitable that a major split will happen within the ACNA as a result. It is also certain that dual integrities will not work in the long run as they are incompatible with one another and will increasingly hasten such a split.
Hope spring eternal in the human breast.
Meanwhile, ACNA rolls on and continues to grow.
Fr Jones, nothing has changed. AD-NE ordained females to both orders prior to the election of the new diocesan. All the Episcopal elections in ACNA have maintained the status quo. Those dioceses that do, continue to do. And those that don’t, continue not to.
I agree up to a point. I don’t think there will be a split. I think WO will win out in the ACNA, and all will just go along, as they did in TEC.
Adding new bishops is easy in ACNA, as they just invent dioceses or networks or special confederation projects all of which suddenly need a bishop. The purple fever that the continuum is often criticized for is fully realized in much of the ACNA.