Bishop
MacPherson will be co-consecrator of bishop in the Church of Wales
Canon Gregory Cameron is shown here at Diocesan Convention
chatting with
Dr. Cheryl White and Bishop MacPherson.
The Rt. Rev'd D. Bruce MacPherson has accepted an invitation to be a co-consecrator when the Rev'd Canon Gregory Cameron is ordained Bishop of St. Asaph in the Church of Wales. The invitation to consecrate was extended by Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan. The service of consecration will take place on Palm Sunday.
Prior to his selection, Canon Cameron was chaplain to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, and considered by many church observers as one of the most influential figures in the Anglican Communion.
The bishop-elect, who grew up in Llangybi, near Usk, in Monmouthshire, is deputy secretary general of the 80-million- member Communion. His appointment means two thirds of Wales' Anglican bishops have now been in place for less than a year.
The Rev'd Canon said that throughout his life he had felt a "vocation from God" to minister in Wales and now he was "coming home."
Speaking shortly after learning of his selection late in the day on January 5, he said: "I believe the Christian gospel is exciting, challenging, and is life-changing, and that's something that's worth sharing with the people of North East Wales."
He pledged to devote his energies to the diocese, saying: "When you are called by God to a particular ministry you have to give yourself heart and soul."
His appointment will focus new attention on the diocese. Speeches by Canon Cameron, whose friendship with the Archbishop of Canterbury is well known, are studied closely throughout the Anglican Communion.
In July he used the Hellins Lecture at the Dean's Library in St. Asaph to plead that the issue of homosexuality should not become a "shibboleth" in the church.
Mr. Cameron's own faith spans Anglicanism's traditions. He said: "I had a conversion experience when I was a teenager in Monmouthshire, so to that extent I'm an evangelical. I appreciate the authority of the Bible and the personal commitment to Jesus Christ. But during my theological education I became very deeply acquainted with the Catholic tradition and had some experiences with the charismatic movement and liberal movement."
Believing he was called to the ministry, he became an ordinand with the Church in Wales and started a degree in theology at Cambridge. There, he was taught by Rowan Williams.
Cameron then studied at St. Michael's College, Llandaff and went on to serve in the parish of St. Paul's, Newport. Later, he was a school chaplain at Wycliffe College in Gloucestershire, and a director of the Bloxham Project a charity which encourages "the spiritual dimension in education."
In 2000, Archbishop of Wales Rowan Williams appointed him as his chaplain. In 2004 he became deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion.
In that role he was responsible for staffing the Lambeth Commission which produced the Windsor Report. This sought to hold the Communion together following the election of openly gay Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.
Cameron's duties have brought him in close contact with Bishop MacPherson, a Windsor Bishop, and spokeman for the Communion Partners initiative.
In October 2008, Canon
Cameron journeyed to Louisiana to address the Diocese of Western Louisiana
in convention. His topic was the Anglican Covenant and acceptance process
that is ahead.
