David Lloyd Moyer is a former American

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. He was a priest of the Episcopal Church before becoming a bishop of the

Anglican Church in America The Anglican Church in America (ACA) is a Continuing Anglican church body and the United States branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC). The ACA, which is separate from The Episcopal Church, is not a member of the Anglican Communion ...

, a

Continuing Anglicanism The Continuing Anglican Movement, also known as the Anglican Continuum, encompasses a number of Christian churches, principally based in North America, that have an Anglican identity and tradition but are not part of the Anglican Communion. Thes ...

body. After being deposed from the Episcopal Church and denied entry into the Roman Catholic Church as a cleric in 2012, in 2014 he was received as a layman. His former congregation, then known as the Blessed John Henry Newman Catholic Community of Strafford, Pennsylvania, prepared to enter the

Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is a special Catholic diocese for Anglican and Methodist converts in the United States and Canada. It allows these parishioners to maintain elements of Anglican liturgy and tradition in their ...

, the North American

ordinariate In the organisation of the Catholic Church and of the Anglican CommunionSee, for example, thAnglican Military Ordinariate in Canada an ordinariate is a pre- or pseudo-diocesan ecclesiastical structure, of geographical or personal nature, headed by a ...

for former Anglicans. The community later merged with a second local Anglican ordinariate group to form St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Bridgeport, Pennsylvania.

Early life and education

Moyer holds degrees from Whittier College (B.A.),

Seabury-Western Theological Seminary Seabury-Western Theological Seminary (SWTS) was a seminary of the Episcopal Church (United States), Episcopal Church, located in Evanston, Illinois. It ceased operations as a residential seminary granting the Master of Divinity degree in May 201 ...

(M. Div.),

New York Theological Seminary The New York Theological Seminary (NYTS) is a private non-denominational Christian seminary in New York City. It was founded in 1900 as the Bible Teacher's College. In 2019, Rev. LaKeesha Walrond was appointed as the first woman and the first Af ...

(S.T.M.), and

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of ...

(D.Min).

Anglican ministry

Moyer was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

to the

diaconate A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

and priesthood in 1976. After serving parishes in the Dioceses of New York, Albany, and Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, he became

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the

Church of the Good Shepherd (Rosemont, Pennsylvania) The Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, is a progressive and inclusive Episcopal parish church in the liberal Anglo-Catholic tradition. It is part of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania and is located in the Philadelphia ...

in 1989, a post he held until 2011. After a public feud with Bishop Charles Bennison, Moyer was deposed by Bennison and charged with having left the Episcopal Church. The deposition was refuted by the then

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

George Carey George Leonard Carey, Baron Carey of Clifton (born 13 November 1935) is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002, having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells. During his time as archbishop the Ch ...

, and

Rowan Williams Rowan Douglas Williams, Baron Williams of Oystermouth, (born 14 June 1950) is a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian and poet. He was the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury, a position he held from December 2002 to December 2012. Previously the Bish ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury-Elect. He was accepted into the Diocese of Pittsburgh by Bishop Robert Duncan, but later transferred to the Diocese of the Upper Shire, under the authority of the Archbishop of Central Africa,

Bernard Malango Bernard Amos Malango (1941 – 30 October 2021) was a Zambian Anglican prelate. He was the Anglican Archbishop of Central Africa from 2000 to September 2006, when he retired. Early life and education Malango started his career as a draughtsman ...

. Moyer remained as rector the Church of the Good Shepherd by choice of the congregation. He was consecrated a bishop in the

Traditional Anglican Communion The Traditional Anglican Church (TAC), formerly the Traditional Anglican Communion, is an international church consisting of national provinces in the continuing Anglican movement, independent of the Anglican Communion and the Archbishop of Cant ...

(TAC), a

body, on February 16, 2005. He served as the Bishop of the Armed Forces for the

. He was also the episcopal visitor for the TAC in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

commissary A commissary is a government official charged with oversight or an ecclesiastical official who exercises in special circumstances the jurisdiction of a bishop. In many countries, the term is used as an administrative or police title. It often c ...

of the Diocese of The Murray in Australia. In 2011, after litigation, Moyer was ordered to leave the premises of Good Shepherd, Rosemont. At that time, a majority of the congregation left with him to form the group that is now part of the

Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is a special Catholic diocese for Anglican and Methodist converts in the United States and Canada. It allows these parishioners to maintain elements of Anglican liturgy and tradition in thei ...

. In 2012, his petition to enter the Catholic Church as an ordained minister was accepted by the Vatican (The Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith, i.e. ''Nulla Osta'') but he did not receive local ecclesial approval, the ''Votum'' In 2014, he was received into the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

as a

layman In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...

Personal life

Moyer is married to Rita Moyer (née Hawkins). They are the parents of three grown children and have five grandchildren

References

External links

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church

MEDIA RELEASE: New Catholic parish in Philadelphia area

Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moyer, David Living people American Anglo-Catholics Anglo-Catholic bishops Bishops of Continuing Anglicanism Whittier College alumni American Roman Catholics Anglican bishop converts to Roman Catholicism Year of birth missing (living people)