Defrocking - Anglicanism

Anglicanism

In Anglicanism, defrocking is extremely rare. More common is the simple removal of licence. Anglican clergy are licensed to preach and perform sacraments by the bishop of the diocese in which they reside. In the event that the bishop suspends this licence, the priest would no longer be allowed to exercise these priestly functions.

In the Anglican Church of Canada "deposition from the exercise of ministry if the person is ordained" is equivalent to defrocking. These powers are given to the diocesan bishop (in most cases) subject to appeal to a diocesan court, or the diocesan court may exercise primary jurisdiction when the bishop asks it to (for diocesan bishops the provincial metropolitan is given primary jurisdiction, for metropolitans the provincial House of Bishops is given jurisdiction, for the primate it is the national House of Bishops). All these powers are subject to appeal to courts of appeal and on matters of doctrine to the Supreme Court of the Anglican Church of Canada (Appendix 4, General Synod Canon XVIII - Discipline). General Synod 2007 clarified deposition, including forbidding the practice of suspending the license in cases where discipline proceedings could be commenced instead (Resolution A082).

According to the constitutions and canons of the Episcopal Church in the United States, Title IV "Ecclesiastical Discipline", there are three modes of depriving a member of clergy from exercising his or her ministerial rights: inhibition, suspension, or deposition. Inhibitions and suspensions are temporary. Clergy who are deposed are "deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of God's word and sacraments conferred at ordination." (Title IV, Canon 15, Of Terminology Used in This Section, Deposition).

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