Calvin Robinson too hot to handle is booted from the Reformed Episcopal Church

Calvin Robinson too hot to handle is booted from the Reformed Episcopal Church 

By Mary Ann Mueller 

VOL Special Correspondent 

www.virtueonline.org 

May 15, 2025 

Well, it didn't take long for the Rev. Calvin Robinson to be “cancelled” again. A mere ten days. He is quickly running out of options. 

On May 5 Reformed Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Ray Sutton (XVII REC) graciously offered personal episcopal oversight to Robinson so that he could provide sacramental care to his church St. Paul's Anglican Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The congregation voted on May 4 to leave the Anglican Catholic Church – property intact – and temporarily landed under Bishop Sutton's episcopal covering until they can find permanent ecclesial mooring.

Since Robinson has been serving that church as priest under the Anglican Catholic Church, on May 5 Bishop Sutton also granted him faculties – the licensure to preach and provide Sacramental care – for a period of one calendar year “unless revoked by me or my successor.”

Well, Bishop Sutton has revoked Robinson's licensure. With Robinson being notified of the action via email.

“After much prayer and counsel from fellow bishops, who have not required me to revoke licensure, I have decided I must withdraw it effective this day,” Bishop Sutton said in a May 14 email notifying Robinson of his change of status.

Robinson is to receive official documentation of Bishop Sutton's decision through the mail.

“Thank you for your kind and obedient service in the short time you've been under my licensure,” Bishop Sutton continued. “I wish you every best in the service of our Lord.”

Surprisingly Fr. Calvin, as Bishop Sutton calls him, accepted this latest twist in stride. 

“It is done,” he posted on Facebook. “Bp. Ray Sutton is a good man. One of the best Anglican bishops I know. If even he can't find a place for me, even temporarily, perhaps God is sending me a message.”

Usually, Robinson excoriates his bishop when he is shown the door. This time he is keeping his tongue.

However, it was Bishop Sutton who ran into a firestorm over shepherding Robinson.  

The Reformed Episcopal Church is a founding member of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) and Robinson's even temporary connection with REC was just too close for comfort for Archbishop Steve Wood (III ACNA) who openly voiced his disdain.

“I am concerned to have the Anglican Church of North America affiliated with a leader whose public comments and persona consistently fail to exhibit the love and grace of Jesus Christ,” he explained on May 12 in an ACNA news release. “I have concerns about Rev. Robinson’s ability to uphold the full commitments of our Anglican tradition, and his ability to model the Christ-like virtues of peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, and love, I know all of our permanent licensed clergy abide by in the daily exercise of their priestly duties. I do not do not personally believe the Rev. Robinson is a good representative of the Anglican Church in North America.”

Fr. Calvin Robinson – who is increasingly becoming a church hopping problematic “Anglican” priest who even now, within a space of two weeks, has broken the very loose ties he had with the Reformed Episcopal Church.

But he has mastered the art of “playing priest.” He's all over the board. His priestly ordination came through the Nordic Catholic Church which is an Old Catholic Church body of high church LUTHERAN patrimony, that is based in Norway. The Old Catholic tradition developed as a response to the actions of Vatican I.

The Living Church reports that Robinson was re-ordained deacon by the Nordic Catholic Church in order to be ordained priest because the NCC did not recognize the validity of Robinson's ordination to the transitional diaconate through the Free Church of England.

After his priestly ordination he quickly connected with the Anglican Catholic Church, which is a part of the ANGLICAN Continuum that grew out of the 1977 Congress of St. Louis. He was seeking an altar – any altar and attached pulpit. He seeks ecclesial legitimacy and fraternal acceptance, but he shows little denominational loyalty. 

Calvin Robinson is an Englishman who received his sacerdotal ordination through a Norwegian bishop. Robinson now lives in the United States and is known to travel the world. His American visa was recently yanked when he was in Israel and he had to travel to the land of his birth to have the American visa reissued so he could return to his new home in Michigan.

He also frequently hobnobs with conservative traditional ROMAN CATHOLICS who embrace the Tridentine Latin Mass and who ran a fowl of the late Pope Francis.

Now Robinson is himself apparently celebrating the Tridentine Latin Mass, which is no small feat since he has had to spend long hours learning Latin and all the very specific movements that the Traditional Latin Mass entails.

Robinson’s Latin Mass caught the eye of Jeff Walton of Juicy Ecumenism who is quick to point out that with Robinson celebrating Mass in Latin he has chucked Article 24 of the Thirty-Nine Articles. The Articles of Religion are one of the Anglican Formularies.

Walton writes on Juicy Ecumenism: “Robinson continues to make unexpected theological bedfellows, celebrating a Latin mass soon after his licensure by the REC, a jurisdiction that upholds the 39 Articles of Religion, including Article 24 that states ‘public Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments, in a tongue not understanded of the people’ is ‘a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God.’”

Robinson is now left licking his wounds. Where does he go from here? 

If Robinson is dipping his toe in the Tiber, he could never swim the Tiber with his priesthood intact. He is dragging too much denominational baggage behind him: too many cancellations, too many broken denominational ties, too many public conflicts with bishops, too many foolish actions – behavior unbecoming a priest. 

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline.