HAS CALVIN ROBINSON CHURCH HOPPED INTO ACNA?

He's sort of landed in ACNA through the Reformed Episcopal Church 

By Mary Ann Mueller 

VOL Special Correspondent 

www.virtueonline.org 

May 13, 2025 

Well, the Rev. Calvin Robinson is on the move — again. This time he's resting (temporarily?) in the Reformed Episcopal Church which is a foundational partner of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). 

In a YouTube video posted on Monday (May 12) on the Lotus Eaters channel Robinson announced that on Sunday (May 4) St. Paul's Anglican Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan – the congregation he has been pastoring – had disaffiliated with the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) and “landed” in REC for the time being accepting “temporary episcopal oversight” so the small parish has “time to think where they want to be long term.” 

Robinson immediately followed the Michigan congregation into REC, turning in his resignation to the ACC on Monday (May 5) and receiving “a license from the denomination and the jurisdiction the church has entered.” 

In his YouTube announcement Robinson was careful not to identify the “denomination and the jurisdiction” as the Reformed Episcopal Church.

St. Paul's posted this notice on its webpage: “On Sunday, May 4, 2025 the parish voted to remove itself from The Anglican Catholic Church. It is currently seeking another church body with which to affiliate. We will post updates to this website, Facebook page, and "X" as they occur.”

But it isn't until checking the comments on its Facebook page that it is learned St. Paul's has connected with the Reformed Episcopal Church, and by extension the Anglican Church in North America. 

“So are you now in the Reformed Episcopal Church, which, last time I looked, was in full communion with the Free Church of England?” Basil Youdell commented.

Robinson doesn't consider himself church hopping. Even though he has in rapid succession gone from the Church of England into the Free Church of England for diaconal ordination. He sought priestly orders in the Nordic Catholic Church and eventually landed an American curacy through the Anglican Catholic Church. Now he is following his parish into personal episcopal oversight by the Reformed Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop, Ray Sutton.

It all gets very complicated.

“I happen to have been relicensed now in the church I began ministry in,” Robinson tried to explain. “So for those of you looking around thinking this is church hopping again or a denominational hop, I'm back where I began.” 

Except Robinson didn't sign up again with the Free Church of England. He connected with the Reformed Episcopal Church – which is in communion with the Free CofE – but the REC is a founding member of ACNA. Big difference, and Robinson's fifth separate denomination.

On May 5 REC’s Presiding Bishop Ray Sutton (XVII REC) granted faculties to Robinson to provide sacramental care to the Michigan parish for 365 calendar days.

“Let it be known that I, Ray R. Sutton, a Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, do hereby license our brother, the Rev. Calvin Robinson, to serve in Word and Sacrament at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, such authorization will be in force for one year beginning the 5th day of May 2025, unless revoked by me or my successor.”

An ACNA news release explains: “Bishop Sutton agreed to provide personal oversight of St. Paul's Church during this interim season and has emphasized that Rev. Robinson has not been admitted as a member of the REC or the ACNA.”

Juicy Ecumenism’s Jeff Walton also fleshes out Robinson's problematic situation on his X posting: “I have spoken with Reformed Episcopal Church Bishop Ray Sutton who has provided further information regarding St. Paul's Anglican in Grand Rapids and Fr. Calvin Robinson. Sutton has agreed to provide personal oversight while the church determines its future affiliation. Sutton notes that Robinson was ordained to the diaconate by the REC's sister church, the Free Church of England, and that he has a ‘temporary’ license to minister, but is still on the rolls of the Anglican Catholic Church. Neither the parish nor Robinson have joined the REC. As explained to me [Walton], a bishop may provide temporary episcopal oversight, but that's not the same as the parish or clergy joining the Reformed Episcopal Church (and, by extension, ACNA).

ACNA Archbishop Steve Wood (III ACNA) is up in arms about Robinson's using the Reformed Episcopal Church as a Trojan horse to gain backdoor entrance into the Anglican Church in North America.

“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 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.”

Robinson is a hot potato to be kept at arm's length. The biggest problem Archbishop Sutton, and by extension Archbishop Wood, is going to have is keeping Fr. Robinson tethered to his pulpit (Word) and altar (Sacrament).

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