The anomalous ordination of the Rev. Eliot Winks in Pittsburgh on Nov. 12 to serve an Anglican congregation in the Baltimore area has no connection with the Episcopal Church, according to the Bishop of Maryland, the Rt. Rev. Robert W. Ihloff, who wrote to the clergy of the diocese the following day.

Fr. Winks, a deacon licensed in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, was ordained priest on behalf of the Bishop of Chile by the Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons, Bishop of Bolivia in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Fr. Winks, who began a self-directed campus ministry at Johns Hopkins University about a year ago, previously applied for a canonical license from the diocese, but was rejected, Bishop Ihloff said.

“Our action was based on his unwillingness to work under the direction of our Campus Ministry Board, and we were not impressed with his credentials,” he wrote. “Obviously our judgment has proven sound.”

Because the new church plant is not an Episcopal parish, Bishop Ihloff said he could not intervene. He criticized those who took part.

“Sadly, it is obvious that a small minority of bishops in our Communion continue to take unilateral action despite the weight of the vast majority of Anglicans who oppose such measures, the plea of the Archbishop of Canterbury to not violate diocesan boundaries, and the specific prohibitions sited [in the Windsor Report]. I will be reporting this action to the appropriate Anglican and Episcopal Church authorities.”

The Rt. Rev. Robert W. Duncan, Bishop of Pittsburgh and Moderator of the Anglican Communion Network, told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that he had no supervisory role of the new priest, who now answers to the Bishop of Chile. Neither he nor any other bishop of the Episcopal Church took part in the laying on of hands ceremony, although a number participated in the closing Eucharist part of the three-hour service.

Bishop Duncan told the Post Gazette the bishops had acted because the Episcopal Church continues to ordain homosexual priests and permit same-sex blessings.

“If the Episcopal Church turned back, I’m sure they [the Global South primates] would be delighted to turn these churches over to the Episcopal Church. They are doing their own missionary work, and of course we are supportive of them. I make no bones about that,” Bishop Duncan said.

Three deacons were ordained at the same service.

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