Peter D. Robinson
| Peter D. Robinson | |
|---|---|
| Archbishop | |
 | |
| Church | United Episcopal Church of North America |
| Archdiocese | extra-diocesan |
| Diocese | Missionary Diocese of the West until Jan. 1 2017 |
| See | Prescott, Arizona |
| In office | 6 September 2010–present |
| Predecessor | Stephen C. Reber |
| Successor | Incumbent |
| Orders | |
| Ordination |
Deacon - 1994 Priest - 1995 |
| Consecration |
10 January 2009 by Stephen C. Reber William Wiygul D. Presley Hutchens |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 May 1969 (age 47) Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England |
| Previous post | Suffragan Bishop, UECNA |
Peter D. Robinson (born 22 May 1969) is the presiding bishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America, the outgoing bishop ordinary of the Missionary Diocese of the West, and rector of St. Paul's Anglican Church, Prescott, Arizona, which is part of the Continuing Anglican movement. He was born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England.[1]
Family
Robinson is the son of David Robinson (1944–2008) and Mary E. Robinson (née Harrison, born 1946). He grew up in Barton Waterside, Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire, and was educated locally at Castledyke Primary School and Baysgarth Comprehensive School.
Robinson married Denise Krogh on 13 November 1999.
Education
Robinson graduated from what was then the College of Ripon and York St John in 1991 with a B.A.(Hons) degree in history and theology from the University of Leeds.
Ministry
Robinson had a brief period as a lay worker in an open Evangelical parish in the Church of England. He resigned following the General Synod's vote to ordain women to the priesthood and joined the Anglican Catholic Church on Trinity Sunday 1993 accepting their critique of liberal Anglicanism. He attended the ACC's Holyrood Seminary, Liberty, New York (1993–94) and was ordained deacon by Leslie Hamlett (Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of England and Wales, ACC) on 3 July 1994, and priest by John Whiting (Bishop of Silchester - Traditional Church of England) on 10 December 1995. Increasingly uncomfortable with the narrowly Anglo-Catholic approach of the Continuum, Robinson served in the Free Church of England from 1996 to 1998, receiving conditional ordination as a presbyter from the FCE primus, the Right Rev. Cyril Milner, on 5 November 1996. He remained in the FCE until the growing tensions within that denomination lead to his seeking an alternative. He also served in the Traditional Anglican Communion (1998–2007) firstly in the Church of Ireland (Traditional Rite), then in the Anglican Church in America, before joining the United Episcopal Church of North America in October 2007 immediately following the Traditional Anglican Communion's House of Bishops petition to the Papacy for the creation of an Anglican Rite within the Roman Catholic Church.
Robinson was minister of Providence Chapel, Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire (1995–99), in the Free Church of England whilst also licensed to the Church of Ireland (Traditional Rite) and assisting in their congregations at Stradbally, Co. Leix, Prehen, Co. Londonderry; and Newtownards, Co. Down as required; during which period he showed an interest in both the Protestant Reformation Society and in the conservative Evangelical pressure group Reform. He has been the rector of St. Paul's Anglican Church in Prescott, Arizona, since 2002. He also served as an examining chaplain in the ACA's Diocese of the West from 2001 to 2007; as President of the Diocesan Standing Committee (2003–2007); and as Area Dean of Arizona (2003–2007). Robinson is also a long-standing member of the Prayer Book Society and has contributed articles to their magazine, Mandate, on two early American bishops, John Henry Hobart, one of the old High Church School, and Richard Channing Moore, a pioneer Evangelical Episcopalian. He also had links with the Forward in Faith movement, resigning when the organisation modified its statement of faith in July 2013. Bishop Robinson also writes a blog - The Old High Churchman - which advocates for Classical Anglicanism based on the Prayer Book and the Thirty-nine Articles.
Robinson was elected as a suffragan bishop in the United Episcopal Church in North America on 29 October 2008, at the 9th General Convention of the UECNA in Coshocton, Ohio. His consecration took place on 10 January 2009, at Trinity Lutheran Church, St. Louis, Missouri, and he was consecrated by the UECNA archbishop, the Most Reverend Stephen C. Reber; the Right Reverend Presley Hutchens of the Anglican Catholic Church and Bishop of the Diocese of New Orleans; and the Right Reverend William Wiygul of the Anglican Province of Christ the King and Bishop of the Diocese of the Southeastern States.
Current
In November 2009 became Missionary Bishop of the West, when the missionary dioceses of the UECNA were reactivated after being in abeyance since the early 1990s. He continued to serve as rector of St. Paul's Anglican Church, Prescott, Arizona, and as the liaison officer for the United Episcopal Church in its dealings with the Anglican Catholic Church and the Anglican Province of Christ the King. He was named as Archbishop Reber's coadjutor in April 2010 by the National Council of the United Episcopal Church, and, as senior bishop with jurisdiction by date of consecration, assumed the responsibilities of the Presiding Bishop upon the retirement of the Most Reverend Stephen C. Reber on 6 September 2010. On 12 May 2011, Robinson was elected as Presiding Bishop by the House of Bishops, and confirmed in that office by a vote of the UECNA's 10th General Convention meeting in Heber Springs, Arkansas, becoming the fifth holder of that office since 1981. The same meeting officially recognised the custom of granting to the UECNA's Presiding Bishop the ex-officio title of Archbishop, which style had been used under the original constitution and canons of the UECNA in use from 1981 to 1992, and had never been completely abandoned.
In 2013, Robinson began serving as episcopal patron of the Anglican Bible and Book Society.
Since 2014 Archbishop Robinson has been serving as Episcopal Visitor to the Missionary District of the East following the retirement of Bishop Joseph Dobson. On August 12th 2016, the House of Bishops voted to translate Robinson from the Missionary Diocese of the West to that of the East, which election was ratified by the Diocesan Convocation meeting at Charlottesville, Va., on October 8th 2016. He will take up that appointment early in 2017. He also announced that his resignation as Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of the West would become effective January 1st 2017.
The Lammas 2016 edition of Glad Tidings reports that Archbishop Robinson has been elected by petition as minister-in-charge of St David's, Charlottesville, VA. He will be moving there early in 2017.
Hobbies and interests
In his spare time Robinson enjoys reading detective novels and listening to classical music. He is the present Chieftain of the Scots of Prescott, a Scottish cultural organisation. He also plays the Scottish Small Pipes and has an interest in Scandinavian Lutheranism, especially its liturgical usages. His other interests include Scottish and Irish folk music, the history of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Manx history and culture, as well as model railways.
References
External links
| Religious titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Stephen C. Reber |
Presiding Bishop of the United Episcopal Church of North America | Succeeded by incumbent |
| Preceded by vacant (last held by Robert Hawn 1991-1993) |
Bishop of the Missionary Diocese of the West, UECNA | Succeeded by incumbent |