Sometimes small local events escalate into ever widening circles of disturbance. Luther set off seismic shifts banging his thesis into the Catholic cathedral doors in Wittenberg. Serbian nationalists shot an Archduke and plunged Europe into war. And in America in the last few weeks a continuing Anglican bishop of the Anglican Catholic Church, part of the weird and ever-fragmenting continuing church in the USA, has fired one of his clergy by press release.
The problem was that the clergyman was a media superstar who within four months of his appointment to a small and otherwise secluded parish in Michigan had photographed himself dancing to the new political anthem YMCA behind president Trump’s head as he greeted supporters after winning his election.
Calvin Robinson has gathered an army of online fans. Can we call them disciples? In their eyes he can do no wrong. ‘Who does this Archbishop Haverland think he is?’ runs the rage on X. Didn’t he know who he was getting when Robinson offered himself to their vacant parish which, having languished in obscurity without a clergyman, was catapulted onto the world’s stage by Fr Robinson’s arrival and installation?
It wasn’t just his internet followers who got involved. A number of substantial public figures in America backed him in a mixture of outrage and frustration.
Eric Metaxas, an evangelical, authority on Bohnhoeffer and friend of Trump, wrote on X: “The ‘leadership’ at the Anglican Catholic Church have behaved DESPICABLY in defrocking my friend @CalvinRobinson who is a heroic Christian & staunch defender of life. They have no sense of humor and — far worse — are cowards. SHAME ON THEM! Contact them!”
Patrick Coffin, a widely respected traditional Catholic, weighed in with: “Archbishop Haverland’s decision to revoke Father Calvin Robinson’s priestly license is nothing but a thinly veiled attack on a strong, fearless voice for life and truth.
“His so-called ‘offence’ was a lighthearted, ironic gesture at a pro-life event; yet within hours, the woke machine moved against him.
“This isn’t about a hand gesture; it’s about silencing a man who boldly stands against abortion, radical ideologies, and the destruction of Christian values.
“I know Calvin personally. He’s been on my show, we’ve travelled together, and he is one of the good ones.
“We need more men like him, not fewer. Let’s stand with him.”
The internet has been awash with anger and vituperative criticism against the Anglican Catholic Church for not only withdrawing his permission to act as a clergyman in their church, but for apparently informing him by press release that he had been let go, losing not only his parish but his house and of course his status to stay and work in the US (at least for the moment).
Robinson himself issued a series of public laments adding to the war of words on X: “My parishioners and I have still not been permitted a conversation with Archbishop Mark Haverland.
“He has, however, just released another press statement,” he complained.
Calvin informed the world on X:
“Bishop Chandler Jones broke the news, but he is not my bishop, and he is not responsible.
“Archbishop Mark Haverland revoked my licence. He is yet to have a conversation with me about any of this, but we can read his stance at http://anglicancatholic.org.”
So that was Calvin’s side of the story and it launched a tidal wave of anger, rage, frustration and resentment against this rather modest denomination consisting of two hundred parishes in America that had come to his rescue after he made his way through three previous denominations and became ‘churchless’.
The ACC clearly lacks a media office to advise on media relations. The peremptory sacking of a media superstar apparently by succinct press release was a clumsy mistake to make, and one they are paying for dearly.
Nonetheless, the statements from the ACC propose a different narrative. It was one in which Robinson had been warned from the very beginning that he was being appointed conditionally to the Michigan parish. The condition was that he dial down his public platform because political campaigns were incompatible with his being appointed to pastoral responsibility within that denomination.
One of the ACC statements read: “When Robinson was received into the ACC, he was told that there was a distinction of offices between political activist and parish priest. His bishops made it clear to him that he had been received into the Church to minister to a parish, and as such, he would have to eschew the provocative political behavior that characterized his prior career as a TV presenter, blogger, and social media influencer. He has not done so, and what happened at the National Right to Life Summit was not an isolated incident.
“He was not hired by the ACC to be an official spokesman, social media influencer, or to provoke the ‘hysterical liberals’ (his words) in online culture wars; he was licensed by an ACC bishop to serve as a parish priest. He was repeatedly warned not to engage in the sort of behaviour that he displayed at the National Right to Life Conference, and he did not comply. As such, his license to serve in the ACC was revoked. In doing so, the bishops acted in accordance with ACC canons.”
A senior spokesman commented: “Robinson was conditionally ordained to the priesthood in the Nordic Catholic Church, after which he approached Archbishop Haverland with the proposal that he be allowed to serve an ACC parish in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Archbishop Haverland noted that overt political activity is often incompatible with the requirements of sacerdotal ministry. The expectation that such behaviour is not acceptable by ACC clergymen was made clear.
“The revocation of Robinson’s license was not undertaken rashly or without warning. In the short time that Robinson had his license from the ACC, he was warned repeatedly that his continued partisan political activity was inconsistent with his ministry. These warnings came both from Archbishop Haverland and Bishop Fodor. They began politely as reminders and became firm admonitions as they had to be repeated. Robinson was told that his license was at risk because he was continuing to act as a political social media personality, and it was reiterated that such activity was inconsistent with priestly ministry. Robinson was aware that he was repeatedly disobeying legitimate episcopal authority, yet continued his course of conduct.”
At this point common Christian courtesy breaks down. The ACC claim they had warned Robinson repeatedly during the sixteen weeks of his brief tenure as a parish clergyman, and Robinson says they didn’t.
Behind the scenes this has turned into a war of ‘who is the liar?’ and it is turning rather nasty. The situation is not eased by the fact that proof is hard to come by. Robinson says very bullishly “prove you warned me” and as yet, the ACC has not yet released a paper trail refuting Robinson’s claims of innocent ignorance.
But the problem is not made better by the track record. While it wasn’t Robinson’s fault that the Church of England, in their woke-indoctrinated haze, took against him, one has only so many lives in both professional and Church circles.
As Oscar Wilde might have put it in the Importance of Being Calvin had he foreseen it: “To lose one denomination may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose two looks like carelessness.” But Calvin has lost four.
The Free Church of England found their relationship had so broken down that they refused to ordain him as a ‘presbyter’, and so he took refuge with the Nordic Catholic Church. It was not clear who was more desperate in the encounter. As one senior clergyman in the NCC suggested, “We were desperate. We had few clergy under 75. It was Calvin or bust we thought.”
Sadly it turned out to be Calvin and bust. Without even having a parish to place him in, but also very wary of the problematic line between politics and pastoral care, they too fell out with him over what is most charitably described as a series of intensifying miscommunications.
These tragically ended with them asking him to return the symbols of ordination they had presented him with only a few months before. They also were rather wounded when, they allege, they only found out Fr Robinson was transferring back to Anglicanism when he was already in the States in mid-negotiation with the ACC, his next port of call.
Wise after the event and with a history of three lost denominations behind him, wise counsel (if he had asked for it) might have urged on him the need to make sure all channels of communication with his next employers. Sadly, as the enraged claim and counter claim between Fr Calvin and his (now former) Archbishop Haverland show, that doesn’t appear to have happened.
At first sight what looks like being a tragedy may have a silver lining however. Calvin Robinson is an immensely gifted apologist and public rhetorician for the Christian faith. He has gifts that have had the most serious impact in the culture wars and given beleaguered Christians hope and confidence.
To have a vocation to the priesthood requires not only an inner sense that this is who you are and what God is calling you to, but it needs to be confirmed by the Church as well. If four denominations tell you that your gifts lie elsewhere, this may even be taken to be an aspect of divine guidance.
It may be that, free from the burden of clerical persona and accountability, Calvin Robinson can find true freedom and maximum impact simply as a baptised Christian taking the culture and ideological fight to the enemy in the political and internet arena in a way that only he can so effectively do. Perhaps the internecine war of wrangling about who said what, when and how to whom, can be gently laid to rest, and Calvin can be set free to do what he does best.
Gavin Ashenden is Associate Editor of the The Catholic Herald and a former chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II.
