Vero Beach minister who had adulterous affair is defrocked

From Vero Beach- (Lorne is a friend and very much in my prayers)

A prominent Vero Beach minister has been defrocked after an investigation concluded he had engaged in “conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy” for having carried on an adulterous affair for two decades.

On June 29, the congregation of Christ Church in Vero Beach was informed their former minister, the Rev. D. Lorne Coyle, had been deposed by Bishop John Guernsey and no longer had the “right to exercise the office of priest and the authority” of a minister.

On Feb 1, Coyle stunned members of the independent congregation, which meets in the former Indian River County Tax Assessor’s Office in Majestic Plaza off U.S. 1 in Vero Beach, by saying he was resigning as their senior minister and admitted to having committed adultery.

In 2007, Coyle, who had been the rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Vero Beach for 15 years, led the majority of its members out of the Diocese of Central Florida in protest to the national Episcopal Church’s departure from traditional moral teachings. Coyle’s abrupt resignation on morals charges rocked the conservative congregation, causing some to speculate it would collapse.

However, the Rev. Bob Stull, Christ Church’s interim rector, said Thursday, “despite the sadness and concern” the church was “carrying on” and had not been sunk by the affair.

We are “weathering the storm”, Stull said, crediting the “lay leaders of the parish” for holding the congregation together. “It’s not just the leadership of the clergy, but the people” who have allowed Christ Church to continue to prosper, he said.

Christ Church is one of 700 founding congregations of 100,000 former Episcopalians in the United States and Canada that last month formed the Anglican Church in North America.

The rest is here-

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/jul/02/vero-beach-minister-who-had-adulterous-affair-defr/

Future of the Reverend Coyle remains uncertain

In his 14 years as rector of Trinity Episcopal Church, in Newport, the Rev. Lorne Coyle hosted an impressive array of dignitaries, from Queen Elizabeth II to Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Then, in 1992, he left Rhode Island to join a diocese he felt was more in tune with his conservative views on sexual morality.

Now, Father Coyle is facing an uncertain future after his public admission that he had a sexual affair with a woman not his wife over a period of many years –– starting when he was in Newport.

Until February, Father Coyle was the lead minister of Christ Church, in Vero Beach, Fla., a breakaway parish of 400 members that he and others opened in a shopping mall last July as an alternative to a 2.4-million-member denomination they felt had grown too liberal, particularly on such issues as the ordination of a gay bishop and biblical interpretation.

To further underscore their break, Father Coyle and two other priests in the new parish had transferred their allegiance from the U.S. Episcopal Church to the Anglican Church of Uganda, which had formed a special province as a way of reaching out to disaffected Episcopalians.

All appeared to be going well for the charismatic 58-year-old married priest until earlier this year, when a woman wrote to the Right Rev. John Howe, the Episcopal bishop of Central Florida, alleging that the two had had a long-running affair.

Rhode Island Bishop Geralyn Wolf, whom Howe notified as a courtesy, said Wednesday that she was not certain why the woman had decided to tell officials now. But for whatever reason, she said, an accusation of clergy infidelity is a “very serious situation and demands a clear and concise response.”

Much more here-

http://www.projo.com/news/content/wayward_priest_05-04-09_G5E7DAS_v15.341ccac.html

Spilling more Anglican ink

When discussing the Anglican wars, one of GetReligion’s mantras is that reporters must struggle — even in short stories — to place these events in the context of church structures at the local, regional-diocesan, national and global levels.

That’s the bad news.

The problem for reporters is that things are going to get even more complex in the very near future. The structures are all changing and are, frankly, becoming even more confusing and harder for outsiders to understand (and cover in mainstream media).

Why is that? It helps to note that the U.S. Episcopal hierarchy tends to be very liberal when it comes to traditions about doctrine, but almost fundamentalist when it comes to traditions about power and ecclesiastical structure. Meanwhile, the people running the emerging conservative structures are very strict about ancient doctrines, but many of them lean to more open, congregational, even megachurch approaches to church life.

So this brings me to a story unfolding down in the Treasure Coast region of South Florida. Here’s the top of the report from the Vero Beach Press Journal:

http://www.getreligion.org/?p=7871

Christ Church members overwhelmed by pastor's affair, resignation

To Christ Church officials, the Rev. Lorne Coyle was a guiding light in their quest for adherence to conservative Biblical views, church leaders say.

Then two weeks ago came the married minister’s admission of an affair — prompted by an out-of-state woman going to Coyle’s Anglican bishop in Virginia.

“It is a shock,” said Christ Church’s lay leader, senior warden Jim Reamy III.

The bishop suspended Coyle, effective Feb. 1, quickly followed by Coyle’s resignation from the church.

The independent church was expanding in the wake of Coyle’s leadership in the congregation’s breaking off from the Episcopal Church — a national denomination that Reamy said strayed from a belief that marriages should only unite a man and a woman.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/feb/14/christ-church-members-overwhelmed-pastors-affair-r/

Minister of Christ Church of Vero Beach suspended

Lorne is an old friend. Please keep him and his family and Christ Church in prayer. From the Treasure Coast Palm-

Citing allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct, an Anglican bishop has suspended the lead minister of a year-old church that broke off from the national Episcopal Church, officials said Monday.

The Rev. Lorne Coyle, of Christ Church of Vero Beach, was suspended effective 2 p.m. Sunday because his bishop received an out-of-state woman’s allegations that she and Coyle, who is married, had an affair, said the church’s senior warden, Jim Reamy III.

The bishop, from Virginia, met with Coyle last week in Vero Beach to inform him of the accusation.

On Sunday, Coyle stood in front of the 400-member congregation and confirmed he had sexual relations with an adult women over a period of years, Reamy said. Coyle left the building before the recessional hymn.

(snip)

The long-time priest was formerly the head minister of Trinity Episcopal Church, Vero Beach. He was ordained in 1975.

Coyle led the establishment of the Christ Church in response to what he said was the national Episcopal Church’s straying from Biblical scripture.

Christ Church leaders met Monday night to start discussing what to do. They don’t yet know how long the suspension will last and what Guernsey will do.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2009/feb/02/minister-christ-church-vero-beach-suspended/