Canon Phil Ashey is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Anglican Council (AAC). A graduate of Stanford and Loyola Law School, he served as a Deputy DA in Orange County California. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1988 and spent twenty years leading Episcopal and Anglican congregations of all sizes in California, Virginia, and Pittsburgh--thirteen as a Rector and Church planter, and seven as a Senior Associate.

While we fully support the decision to suspend Andrus, Anglican Watch also believes the move underscores the problems with Title IV and its implementation at the national level:

In 2026, the two dioceses will then become "The Diocese of Susquehanna". At this stage, both bishops will continue to serve, one as bishop diocesan, and the other as assistant. Also, during the transition nine committees will be at work dealing with Constitutions, Finances, Diocesan Staff, Commissions on ministry, Convocations, and other departments.

A successful Anglo-Catholic church plant in rural West Virginia is not something that I would have foreseen, but God is full of surprises. In a denomination in which most new church starts are in major metropolitan areas or college towns, Fitzwater saw God at work in an area that some of us overlook, and knew that historic Anglicanism offered helpful tools for connecting people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.