Bishop Peter Beckwith to serve in Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes

The Anglican Church in North America's Diocese of the Great Lakes has announced at their Diocesan Synod that Bishop Peter Beckwith has signed the Jerusalem Declaration and will be serving as an assisting bishop in the Diocese.  Bishop Beckwith was Bishop of the Episcopal Church Diocese of Springfield from 1992-2010.

During his time as Bishop of Springfield, Beckwith referred to himself as “a faithful Christian in the Episcopal Church.”  However, his effort to be faithful to the biblical and apostolic Gospel meant that his vision for the Church differed markedly from that of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.

In a June 30, 2006 pastoral letter, Bishop Beckwith described the Epjscopal Church as having “adopted a Gnostic theology and a New Age spirituality.”  At the same time, the Diocese of Springfield’s standing committee issued a statement declaring Jefferts Schori “to be outside the bounds of Christian orthodoxy and the clear parameters of the Christian faith, as understood from an Anglican perspective” and made an unsuccessful request for direct oversight from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In March 2013, Beckwith was one of nine Episcopal bishops forced by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori to undergo a process of "conciliation" after they signed amicus curiae briefs in support of the Diocese of Fort Worth and the Diocese of Quincy in their legal efforts to separate from the Episcopal Church.