Caledonia Times
June 2017 - Volume 49, Issue #6 - The Dean’s Last Edition The Diocesan Section of the Anglican Journal
In April, Worley chosen by Synod
then in May the PHoB declines his consecration on discipline issue ordained deacon and subsequently priest in 2005. Since ordination in 2005, Worley has served in the Dioceses of Rio Grande, with the AMIA Group connected to Rwanda and Tuam, Killala, and Archony Diocese as well as in Caledonia. Born in Alabama, Worley moved to New Mexico when he was five. He studied zoology and botany at Western New Mexico University. He then did environmental consulting work, which included studying the impact of U.S. Department of Defense missile testing on wildlife. Worley eventually felt a call to the priesthood, and graduated with an M.Div from Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pennsylvania. He was ordained a priest in The Episcopal Church (TEC) in 2005.
The Rev. Jacob Worley The Rev. Jake Worley, an Alabama-born priest, was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Caledonia. Worley, Rector of the Bulkley Valley Regional Parish, which includes the congregations of St. James’ Smithers, St. Clement’s, Houston and St. John the Divine, Quick, was elected on the eighth ballot of the Synod. The electoral synod on April 21st and 22nd at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Prince Rupert, BC was held to find a successor for Bishop William Anderson. He had announced his plans to retire in His Charge to the last regular session of Synod in September, 2015. Anderson had served as Bishop of Caledonia for 15 years, having been elected in October 2001 and consecrated and installed as Bishop of Caledonia in February 2002. He retired from active ministry on December, 2017.
In 2007, Worley founded a new church in Las Cruces, New Mexico, as a missionary for the Anglican Province of Rwanda. The church would later join the Anglican Church in North America, a grouping of conservative congregations that left TEC in 2009. In the meantime, Worley had left. After an interim term as rector at St. Martin’s Anglican Church in Fort St. John, B.C., in 2013, then a year of ministry in the Church of Ireland, he returned with his family to B.C., where he assumed his role as rector of Bulkley Valley. In 2015, Worley told a B.C. newspaper he and his wife felt God calling them to that part of the world. They also fell in love with Canada and its people, he said. “There is a sweetness and genuineness about Canadians that I really like,” he said. The decision of the Provincial House of Bishops
The 47 year old Worley was born in Fort Rucker, Alabama in August, 1969. He came to faith in Christ at the age of 19. Shortly thereafter he met his wife of 27 years, Kelly. Before studying for ordination, Worley became a wildlife biologist working on a missile range, helping to gauge the effects of the weapons being used on the local wildlife. He also worked for a mining company to help protect the local wildlife after a spill and to assess the area for damage and reclamation work.
Part and parcel of the process towards the consecration of the new Bishop of Caledonia is a vote and affirmation of the Bishop Elect by the other Bishops of the Province of BC-Yukon. (a) a Bishop shall be elected by the Synod of a Diocese under its own Rules of Procedure and confirmation thereof shall be sent to the Metropolitan within seven days. The Metropolitan shall in turn notify the other Bishops of the Province who shall register with him or her then- concurrence or objection.
After encouragement to pursue ordination studies, Worley and his family went from their home in New Mexico to Trinity School for Ministry in Pennsylvania and there studied and received a Master’s Degree in Divinity. Upon return to New Mexico after seminary, Bishop elect Worley was
Objections, according to BC-Yukon Provincial Canons, the objection to the election of a Bishop may be taken only on any of the following grounds: (i) That the person elected is not thirty years of age. (ii) That he or she is not a Priest in Holy Orders of the Anglican Church of Canada or of some church
in full communion therewith; (iii)That he or she is deficient in learning, training or experience; (iv) That he or she has either directly or indirectly secured or attempted to secure the Office by an improper means. (v) That he or she is guilty of any crime or immorality; (vi) That he or she teaches or holds or has within five years previously taught or held anything contrary to the Doctrine or Discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada. The decision of the House of Bishops (on objections to an election) shall be final. The Provincial House of Bishops met with Bishop Elect Worley on May 4th to interview him and to give concurrence or to present and discuss any objections that might have been raised. After a protracted discernment, the decision was to not consecrate Worley, owing to the fact that he had, in the opinion of the House, he had breached Church’s discipline.
In a press release announcing the decision, Archbishop John Privett shared, “After many open and prayerful conversations, the majority of the House concluded that within the past five years the Rev. Worley has held – and continues to hold – views contrary to the Discipline of the Anglican Church of Canada...The view he held and holds is that it is acceptable and permissible for a priest of one church of the Anglican Communion to exercise priestly ministry in the geographical jurisdiction of a second church of the Anglican Communion without the permission of the Ecclesiastical Authority of that second church... According to the press release from the National Church in Toronto, “The question of his views arose from a review of his exercise of priestly ministry when he served in the Anglican Mission in America under license from the Province of Rwanda in the geographical jurisdiction of The Episcopal Church without permission of The Episcopal Church.” As the Provincial House has registered its objection, the Rev. Worley will not be consecrated Bishop in the Diocese of Caledonia in the Anglican Church of Canada. As outlined in Canon 4 of the constitution and canons of the Province of BC & Yukon, in these matters. The Diocese of Caledonia will now begin the process to hold a new electoral synod according to its canons in these matters. The Diocese of Caledonia will now begin the process to hold a new electoral synod according to its canons,” The release concluded. - With files from the Anglican Journal and the Province of BC-Yukon.
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