Will Adam | |
---|---|
Archdeacon of Canterbury | |
Church | Church of England |
Province | Canterbury |
Diocese | Canterbury |
In office | 18 July 2022 to present |
Predecessor | Jo Kelly-Moore |
Orders | |
Ordination | 1994 (deacon) 1995 (priest) |
Personal details | |
Born | William Jonathan Adam October 28, 1969 |
Denomination | Church of England |
Spouse | Lindsay Yates |
Children | 3 |
Education | Aylesbury Grammar School [1] |
Alma mater | University of Manchester |
William Jonathan Adam, FSA , FRHistS (born 28 October 1969) is a Church of England priest. He was appointed Archdeacon of Canterbury in 2022 and had previously been the Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion and ecumenical advisor to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Will Adam was born in October 1969 and has two younger sisters. He was educated at Aylesbury Grammar School and studied theology and English church history at Manchester University. He then attended Westcott House, Cambridge, from where he was sent to the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland for six months in 1993. Adam later went on to earn a master’s degree and a doctorate in canon law at Cardiff Law School. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) in 2011 [2] and as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) in 2024. [3] His wife, Lindsay Yates, is also an Anglican priest and they have three daughters. [4]
Adam was ordained deacon in 1994 and priest in 1995 and served in parishes in the dioceses of Oxford (1994–2002), Ely (2002–2010), and London (2010–2017). [5] While still a curate in 1996, he appeared in a television advertisement for Ford Escort cars, in which the caption stated, "Will Adam has married 14 women since he got his. . . What do you do in yours?", showing him adjusting his clerical collar. [6] In 1998, he was a youth delegate to the World Council of Churches Assembly in Harare, Zimbabwe. [7]
In 2017, Adam was appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury's Ecumenical Adviser at Lambeth Palace, [8] while also holding the role of honorary assistant priest in his wife's parish at Compton, West Sussex. [9] In 2019, he was also made director of the Department for Unity, Faith and Order in the Anglican Communion. [8] In this role he was responsible for and co-secretary of dialogues between the Anglican Communion and other Churches and Christian World Communions, including those with the Catholic Church (Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission and IARCCUM), [10] , the Orthodox Church (ICAOTD) [11] and a new dialogue with the Pentecostal World Fellowship. [12] In February 2021 he was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, based at the Anglican Communion Office (ACO) adjacent to Portobello Road Market. [8]
In March 2022, it was announced that Adam would be the next Archdeacon of Canterbury and Residentiary Canon of Canterbury Cathedral, following the departure of the previous incumbent, the Very Reverend Jo Kelly-Moore, who was made Dean of St Albans. [6] He was installed at Canterbury during Evensong on 18 July 2022, [13] but seconded back to the ACO for the Fifteenth Lambeth Conference between 27 July and 7 August 2022. [4]
The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Formally founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The traditional origins of Anglican doctrine are summarised in the Thirty-nine Articles (1571) and The Books of Homilies. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, recognised as primus inter pares, but does not exercise authority in Anglican provinces outside of the Church of England. Most, but not all, member churches of the communion are the historic national or regional Anglican churches.
Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations or Christian individuals that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constitutes full communion, but typically when two or more denominations are in full communion it enables services and celebrations, such as the Eucharist, to be shared among congregants or clergy of any of them with the full approval of each.
Ecumenism – also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalism – is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjective ecumenical is thus applied to any non-denominational or inter-denominational initiative which encourages greater cooperation and union among Christian denominations and churches. Ecumenical dialogue is a central feature of contemporary ecumenism.
The Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) is an organization created in 1969 which seeks to make ecumenical progress between the Anglican–Catholic dialogue. The sponsors are the Anglican Consultative Council and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
The Anglican Communion Primates' Meetings are regular meetings of the primates in the Anglican Communion, i.e. the principal archbishops or bishops of each ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion. There are currently 38 primates of the Anglican Communion. The primates come together from the geographic provinces around the world for discussion and consultation. As primus inter pares of the communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury chairs the meetings, with the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) serving as secretary.
In 2003, the Lambeth Commission on Communion was appointed by the Anglican Communion to study problems stemming from the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first noncelibate self-identifying gay priest to be ordained as an Anglican bishop, in the Episcopal Church in the United States and the blessing of same-sex unions in the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster. The Commission, chaired by Archbishop Robin Eames, published its findings as the Windsor Report on 18 October 2004. The report recommended a covenant for the Anglican Communion, an idea that did not come to fruition.
The Catholic Church has engaged in the modern ecumenical movement especially since the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) and the issuing of the decree Unitatis redintegratio and the declaration Dignitatis humanae. It was at the Council that the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity was created. Those outside of the Catholic Church were categorised as heretics or schismatics, but in many contexts today, to avoid offence, the euphemism "separated brethren" is used.
The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. Ministry commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglican ministry includes many laypeople who devote themselves to the ministry of the church, either individually or in lower/assisting offices such as lector, acolyte, sub-deacon, Eucharistic minister, cantor, musicians, parish secretary or assistant, warden, vestry member, etc. Ultimately, all baptized members of the church are considered to partake in the ministry of the Body of Christ.
The Convergence Movement, also known as the Ancient-Future Faith, whose foundation is primarily attributed to Robert E. Webber in 1985, is an ecumenical movement. Developed as an effort among evangelical, charismatic and Pentecostal, and liturgical Christians and denominations blending their forms of worship, the movement has been defined for its predominant use of the Anglican tradition's Book of Common Prayer; use from additional liturgical sources common to Lutheranism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Catholicism have also been employed.
The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada. Two of the major events that contributed to the movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, and the nomination of two openly gay priests in 2003 to become bishops. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest with a long-time partner, was appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading in the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire. Jeffrey John ultimately declined the appointment due to pressure.
The Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC) is a Christian convergence communion established in 1995 within the United States of America. With a large international presence in five provinces and seven U.S. dioceses, most of its churches and missions are spread throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West regions, and South Carolina; Florida and California; and India. The Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches is currently led by Bishop Quintin Moore as presiding bishop of the CEEC.
The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition in the United States and Canada. It also includes ten congregations in Mexico, two mission churches in Guatemala, and a missionary diocese in Cuba. Headquartered in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, the church reported more than 1,000 congregations and more than 128,000 members in 2023. The first archbishop of the ACNA was Robert Duncan, who was succeeded by Foley Beach in 2014. In June 2024, the College of Bishops elected Steve Wood as the third archbishop of the ACNA. Authority was transferred to him during the closing Eucharist at the ACNA Assembly 2024 conference in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
John Robert Wright was an American Episcopal priest and St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery professor at General Theological Seminary and a church historian. Wright was Professor Emeritus of Ecclesiastical History at the General Theological Seminary in New York City. He was a specialist in patristic studies and an authority on the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and on Russian Orthodox and other icons. He was the longest-tenured faculty member at the General Theological Seminary.
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The Cross of St Augustine is an award of merit in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is awarded to members of the Anglican Communion who have made significant contributions to the life of the worldwide Communion, or to a particular autonomous church within Anglicanism. It is also awarded to members of other traditions who have made a conspicuous contribution to ecumenism. It is the second highest international award for service within Anglicanism.
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Flora Jane Louise Winfield, is a British Anglican priest, military chaplain, diplomat, and author. Since 2022, she has been the Third Church Estates Commissioner. She has worked in parish ministry, including as priest-in-charge of St Mary-at-Hill, City of London (2008–2014), and in academia as chaplain and tutor at Mansfield College, Oxford (1994–1997). Before taking up her current appointment, she held a number of diplomatic posts including Anglican Communion Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2014–2017) and as Archbishop of Canterbury's Special Representative to the Commonwealth (2017–2019), and was then Archbishop of Canterbury's Advisor for Reconciliation (2019–2022).