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CANADA: Bishop Lincoln McKoen inhibited
Samizdat of Canada
June 2, 2021
Lincoln McKoen, bishop of the Territory of the People, was consecrated on September 19, 2020 and fired on June 1st 2021. If nothing else, he can congratulate himself on holding the record for the shortest time between consecration and inhibition.
Announcement from the Primate
In 2001 the General Synod of The Anglican Church of Canada adopted A Call to Human Dignity: A Statement of Principles for the Anglican Church of Canada on Dignity, Inclusion and Fair Treatment.
In keeping with A Call to Human Dignity, the Council of the General Synod of The Anglican Church of Canada expressed a commitment to ensuring that those who hold positions of trust or power in the church do not take advantage of, or abuse, that trust or power. It is with this commitment in mind that I share with you the difficult decision made today by Archbishop Lynne McNaughton to inhibit Bishop Lincoln McKoen from his duties as diocesan bishop of the Territory of the People, effective immediately.
I am painfully aware of the impact this action will have on the Territory and parishes and I can assure you that the pastoral needs of the community will be a priority for the church over the coming months. Our calling is to prepare the way of the Lord by embracing truth, promoting healing and acting in love.
Whatever his transgression, it was not one of deviating from the unorthodoxy of the Anglican Church of Canada. McKoen resides proudly in the Camp of the Non-Saints. In response to an external legal opinion scolding the ACoC on its flouting of canon law by marrying same-sex couples, he recently wrote this:
I want to make this perfectly clear: I will not be closing the marriage canon. The Territory prides itself on being open, and inclusive for all people. I will not exclude members of the LGBTQ2SI+ community from the life of the Church. I will not consider Same Sex Marriage as “provisional” or “temporary” as the ACA wishes. I have found this document written by the ACA to be offensive and deeply insulting, regardless of whom wrote the legal opinion. I am terribly saddened this is one more attempt at relegating members of the Church, followers of Jesus Christ, as second class citizens of the kingdom of God because of their sexual orientation.
