New Presiding Bishop Elected and Scheduled to be Ordained and Installed for American Catholic Church
San Diego, CA, August 12, 2012 --(PR.com)-- The American Catholic Church held an Extra-Ordinary Synod recently to elect the Very Reverend Canon Martin de Porres Griffin as the fourth Presiding Bishop of the jurisdiction.
Bishop-Elect Griffin will be consecrated as Bishop and installed as Presiding Bishop on September 22, 2012 at 10:00 in the morning at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 3725 30th Street, San Diego, CA.
Bishop-Elect Griffin's faith and service to God and God’s people has taken him from his initial church of baptism, the Episcopal Church, to reception into the Roman Catholic Church. Griffin's journey has included a call to service as a minister in the Catholic Church as a Conventual Franciscan Friar. During his 10-year ministry as a friar, he mostly worked in the education apostolate. He taught in schools in three cities: Athol Springs, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; and Los Angeles, California. He also served as pastoral associate for the mission parish in Bessemer, Alabama. He has continued his work as a public educator, serving as an administrator in Los Angeles County; Akron, Ohio; and San Diego County. He currently is a district-level administrator in public schools in the Los Angeles area.
In the early 1990’s Bishop-Elect Griffin came to the realization that he needed to leave his religious community and look for the place and lifestyle that would truly support and fulfill him. Bishop-Elect Griffin was accepted as a candidate for Holy Orders into the American Catholic Church Diocese of California in 2006, ordained as Deacon in March of 2006, and ordained to the priesthood on June 10, 2006.
"I have felt called to priestly ministry since adolescence,” Bishop-Elect Griffin said. “I feel the call to witness to Christ’s love and to share in the faith journey of others towards Christ. As a priest, I have had the opportunity to grow with others and be ministered to by others. I have been provided the opportunity to share the joy of a family at the birth and the baptism of a newborn child, the joy of a teen saying yes to Christ in confirmation, the faith of a Christian as they strongly believe in and receive the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. I have also been able to share in the reconciliation of God’s holy people in the sacrament of penance, the joy shared when a couple commits to one another in marriage or holy union service, and I have learned many lessons from the dying and those who fall asleep in faith.
“As a bishop, I will be able to continue the work of bringing Christ to the world through his Word, sacraments and church’s ministries,” Bishop-Elect Griffin said. “This is my call and with the help of God and our Church, this call will be brought to fulfillment for the greater glory of God!"
The American Catholic Church is an Independent Catholic Church. The American Catholic Church is one of more than 100 Autocephalous (self-governing) Catholic Churches worldwide. The church has valid sacraments which follow traditional Catholic form. The bishops, priests and deacons of the church are ordained by bishops with valid lines of succession back to the Apostles.
The American Catholic Church is a community of faith which is open and affirming, accepting people as they are; a church of the Catholic tradition. The church is a growing, eclectic group of believers: men, women, progressives, moderates, conservatives, White, Latino, Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, married, divorced, GLBT, elderly, middle-aged and young.
The motto of the church is “Come as you are and from wherever you are!”
Contact:
Bishop Thomas Abel
bptom@americancatholicchurch.org
3900 Cleveland Avenue
San Diego, California 92103
(619) 400-3902
Bishop-Elect Griffin will be consecrated as Bishop and installed as Presiding Bishop on September 22, 2012 at 10:00 in the morning at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 3725 30th Street, San Diego, CA.
Bishop-Elect Griffin's faith and service to God and God’s people has taken him from his initial church of baptism, the Episcopal Church, to reception into the Roman Catholic Church. Griffin's journey has included a call to service as a minister in the Catholic Church as a Conventual Franciscan Friar. During his 10-year ministry as a friar, he mostly worked in the education apostolate. He taught in schools in three cities: Athol Springs, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; and Los Angeles, California. He also served as pastoral associate for the mission parish in Bessemer, Alabama. He has continued his work as a public educator, serving as an administrator in Los Angeles County; Akron, Ohio; and San Diego County. He currently is a district-level administrator in public schools in the Los Angeles area.
In the early 1990’s Bishop-Elect Griffin came to the realization that he needed to leave his religious community and look for the place and lifestyle that would truly support and fulfill him. Bishop-Elect Griffin was accepted as a candidate for Holy Orders into the American Catholic Church Diocese of California in 2006, ordained as Deacon in March of 2006, and ordained to the priesthood on June 10, 2006.
"I have felt called to priestly ministry since adolescence,” Bishop-Elect Griffin said. “I feel the call to witness to Christ’s love and to share in the faith journey of others towards Christ. As a priest, I have had the opportunity to grow with others and be ministered to by others. I have been provided the opportunity to share the joy of a family at the birth and the baptism of a newborn child, the joy of a teen saying yes to Christ in confirmation, the faith of a Christian as they strongly believe in and receive the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist. I have also been able to share in the reconciliation of God’s holy people in the sacrament of penance, the joy shared when a couple commits to one another in marriage or holy union service, and I have learned many lessons from the dying and those who fall asleep in faith.
“As a bishop, I will be able to continue the work of bringing Christ to the world through his Word, sacraments and church’s ministries,” Bishop-Elect Griffin said. “This is my call and with the help of God and our Church, this call will be brought to fulfillment for the greater glory of God!"
The American Catholic Church is an Independent Catholic Church. The American Catholic Church is one of more than 100 Autocephalous (self-governing) Catholic Churches worldwide. The church has valid sacraments which follow traditional Catholic form. The bishops, priests and deacons of the church are ordained by bishops with valid lines of succession back to the Apostles.
The American Catholic Church is a community of faith which is open and affirming, accepting people as they are; a church of the Catholic tradition. The church is a growing, eclectic group of believers: men, women, progressives, moderates, conservatives, White, Latino, Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, married, divorced, GLBT, elderly, middle-aged and young.
The motto of the church is “Come as you are and from wherever you are!”
Contact:
Bishop Thomas Abel
bptom@americancatholicchurch.org
3900 Cleveland Avenue
San Diego, California 92103
(619) 400-3902
Contact
American Catholic Church Diocese of California
Thomas E Abel
619-400-3902
www.americancatholicchurch.org
Thomas E Abel
619-400-3902
www.americancatholicchurch.org
Contact
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