A bishop who oversaw Anglican churches in central Interior B.C. has tendered his resignation after sending “sexualized electronic communications” to another adult while in his capacity as a priest.
In a statement from the Archbishop Linda Nicholls, the primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, she said that Lincoln Mckoen’s relationship with the church had been severed.
“Lincoln Mckoen has resigned from his diocesan episcopal ministry because of allegations received on May 27, 2021 that on occasions when Lincoln Mckoen presented himself as a priest (padre), bishop-elect or bishop he, by text and by images sent inappropriate sexualized electronic communications to an adult person who is resident outside the Ecclesiastical Province and with whom Lincoln Mckoen was in a pastoral relationship,” Nicholls said.
“Lincoln Mckoen acknowledges that the allegations are well founded.”
In his former role, Mckoen had presided over the Territory of the People, which has 20 churches across 17 communities including Quesnel, Williams Lake and Kamloops.
In another statement, Archbishop Lynne McNaughton, the Metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of British Columbia and Yukon and the Bishop of the Diocese of Kootenay, said that the Anglican Church of Canada has a “strictly enforced, zero tolerance policy” for misconduct.
In a letter to parishioners, McNaughton further noted rules adopted by the church in 2001 that “expressed a commitment” to ensuring that people in positions of power “do not take advantage of, or abuse, that trust or power.”
Mckoen was was elected last year and assumed his role that September. He told the church’s Anglican Journal at the time that being elected was “a massive, sacred trust that is placed on me by God and the people of the Territory.
“Being from outside of the Territory, I need to work to earn everyone’s trust and to get to know each parish, pastor and congregation.”
