The Right Reverend John Fenwick, convenor of the Unity Forum, said: 'Gavin's stand for orthodoxy has been an encouragement to Anglicans in the UK and beyond. We look forward to working closely with him as we face the challenges that lie ahead.'

The Christian Episcopal Church is a traditionalist Anglican Denomination which originally emerged from The Episcopal Church in the United States (TEC) in the 1980s in response to the capitulation of that Church to secular values and priorities.

Its bishops celebrate the fact that their Orders derive from both Anglican and Roman Catholic successions, and so offer potential for mutual recognition and collaboration in ecumenical relationships. At the same time their commitment to the Gospel and the Scriptures has created powerful alliances across the evangelical and charismatic spectrum.

As the Church of England is in the process of abandoning Christian teaching on culture, sexuality, marriage and the uniqueness of Christian revelation, the Bishops of the Christian Episcopal Church believed that it was their responsibility to offer a renewed episcopal oversight and encouragement to those Anglicans in the UK and Europe who had become distressed and disillusioned by the changes of direction and the adoption of secular values by the Church of England.

Dr Ashenden trained originally in the law, and was ordained as an Anglican priest in Southwark Cathedral in 1980. He worked in parishes in South London for ten years before becoming a University Chaplain and a lecturer in the Psychology of Religion for 23 years.

He holds degrees in Law, Theology, the Psychology of Religion and a doctorate on the work of the Anglican theologian and poet, Charles Williams. He was a member of the General Synod for 20 years.

He was appointed as one of the Canon theologians at Chichester Cathedral, and in 2008 as a Chaplain to the Queen. He was a presenter for the BBC Radio's Faith and Ethics programmes for four years and has written as a columnist for the both the Times and Church Times. In 2017 he resigned as Chaplain to the Queen so that he could speak out more freely in the wake of the Quranic readings in Glasgow Cathedral which denied the divinity of Christ.

The Most Rev'd Theodore Casimes, is Archbishop of the Christian Episcopal Church in the United States, Bishop Co-adjutor of the Christian Episcopal Church in Canada, Bishop of the Diocese of Seattle. http://www.xnec.us/Christian_Episcopal_Church/Welcome.html

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CEC Bishop issues Statement on the Consecration of Bishop Gavin Ashenden

September 27, 2017

The following is a statement from The Rt. Rev. Robert David Redmile, Lord Bishop of Richmond, British Columbia, regarding the Episcopal Consecration of the Right Reverend Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden, Suffragan Bishop in Normandy and England:

Since the gracious acceptance by Her Majesty the Queen of his resignation as one of Her Majesty's Chaplains, and his recent resignation from the ordained ministry of the Church of England, the Right Reverend Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden is now in a position to make known to the members of the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion, and to the British public in general, his status as a Bishop of the Catholic and Apostolic Church.

Therefore, as the Principal Consecrator of Bishop Ashenden, I should like to make it known at this time that he was duly approved as a candidate for Consecration by the Archbishop and Bishops of the Christian Episcopal Churches of North America; and that he was then duly, lawfully, regularly, and canonically according to the prescribed rites and ceremonies of the undivided Catholic Church consecrated Bishop on the Seventeenth Day of October in the Year of Our Lord 2013, publicly before the face of a Congregation of Christian Faithful in the Pro-Cathedral Church of Saint Saviour, by me the Right Reverend Robert David Redmile, Lord Bishop of Richmond, British Columbia, and assisted therein by the Most Reverend Theodore Chris Casimes, Primate of the Christian Episcopal Churches of North America, the Right Reverend Timothy Joseph Klerekoper, Bishop of Seattle, Washington, and the Right Reverend Nicholas John Geoffrey Sykes, Bishop in George Town, Grand Cayman Island, British West Indies, and Suffragan Bishop of Richmond.

At the time of his Consecration, Bishop Ashenden was appointed to be my Suffragan in Normandy for the Channel Islands and France, and he will continue in that office as well as that of Suffragan Bishop in and for England.

The Christian Episcopal Church of Canada and the Christian Episcopal Church in the United States of America were first established and incorporated in their respective countries as the Missionary Diocese of the Americas of the Episcopal Church by the Right Reverend Archibald Donald Davies, Fourth Bishop of Dallas and First Bishop of Fort Worth, and later Bishop Ordinary of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe to which office Bishop Davies was appointed by the Most Reverend John Maury Allin, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

All the Bishops of the Christian Episcopal Churches were consecrated by Bishop Davies and Bishops in full communion with him, and since his death only by those Bishops who were consecrated by them. In this way, the Episcopal Orders which Bishop Ashenden has received are valid, regular, and lawful Episcopal Orders deriving from the established Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Polish National Catholic Church and the Old Catholic Churches of the Utrecht Union, and the Roman Catholic Church.

It is the intention of Bishop Ashenden that he will continue in the office and ministry to which he has been duly called, appointed, ordained, and consecrated, and to continue to pursue his work of defending the orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Christian Faith and promoting the authentic Anglican expression thereof both in England and abroad.

Given at Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.
+ Robert David: Richmond.