JAFC LAWYERS ISSUE CEASE AND DESIST LETTER TO ACNA BISHOPS

FROM: NELSON MADDEN BLACK   LLP

New York, New York

September 23, 2025

TO:

The Most Rev. Stephen D. Wood

Archbishop Anglican Church in North America

Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina

The Most Rev. Robert Duncan

Archbishop Emeritus

Anglican Church in North America

Vero Beach, Florida

Anglican Church in North America

Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina

Bishop Ray Sutton

Dallas, Texas

The Rt. Rev. Jay Cayangyang

Bishop

Ledyard, Connecticut

Gentlemen:

We represent the Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy (the “Jurisdiction”) and its Bishop, the Right Reverend Derek Jones. You are hereby directed immediately to cease and desist from (1) your efforts to mislead government agencies, military services, chaplains under the supervision of

the Jurisdiction and the general public into believing that the Anglican Church in North America (“ACNA”) has any ecclesiastical or practical right of supervision over the Jurisdiction or its chaplaincy program; (2) your misuse and misappropriation of the Jurisdiction’s trademarked terms, including without limitation “Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy” (USTO serial number 90265640) and the Anglican chaplains (USTO serial number 87202112), and its former corporate identity, “Special Jurisdiction of the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy,” and (3) your publication of defamatory remarks about the Jurisdiction and the Right Reverend Derek Jones, and to refrain from making further false and defamatory or disparaging statements. You are further directed immediately to remove all disparaging materials from your websites and other publications including without limitation your publication entitled:

•A Letter from the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America to the Chaplains Domiciled in or Licenced by the Special Jurisdiction for the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy – 21 September 2025

•New and Updates on the Inhibition Of Bishop Derek Jones and the Status of the Special Jurisdiction for the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy (SJAFC)

Your malicious actions have interfered and are continuing to interfere with the Jurisdiction's crucial relationships with the United States Government and with the Jurisdiction's relationships with the many chaplains who are serving those forces and agencies. You have written to the chaplains that report to the Jurisdiction to mislead them into believing that you have replaced Bishop Jones and assumed the Jurisdiction's functions. Your interference threatens the chaplains’ assignments and the Jurisdiction’s core functions. Your disparagement has already damaged important relationships of the Jurisdiction and Bishop Jones, as you intended.

No ecclesiastical relationship exists between you and the Jurisdiction and Bishop Jones, and you have no legally cognizable basis for asserting any entitlement or exercise jurisdiction or discipline over either of them.

The Jurisdiction has essential relationships that are not yours to assume by deception or insinuation. Freedom of Religion provides no protection for identity theft.

You are hereby instructed that you are not to claim that you have any right or control over a “Special Jurisdiction for the Armed Forces and Chaplaincy” (or to use that phrase in any publication), or that you have any involvement or jurisdiction over the Jurisdiction or over the chaplains that are affiliated with the Jurisdiction, or that you have any right to meddle in the relationship of the United States Government agencies with the jurisdiction and its chaplains. Your actions and false statements have exposed the Jurisdiction, Bishop Jones, and members of the Jurisdiction's chaplaincy corps to damage and potential legal liability and the Jurisdiction and Bishop Jones reserve all rights to receive monetary contribution and indemnification from you for any damages that result from your actions, as well as statutory damages for the misappropriation and misuse of the Jurisdiction's trademarks.

Be guided accordingly,

Sincerely,

Jonathan R. Nelson