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May 9, 2024
Dear clergy and lay leaders of ECCT,
I write with an update involving the Rev. Amjad Samuel.
The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut (ECCT) conducted an independent inquiry to determine whether the Rev. Samuel had abandoned The Episcopal Church (TEC). Per TEC Canons, a bishop, priest, or deacon can be found to have abandoned TEC by open renunciation of the Doctrine, Discipline, or worship of the Church; by formal admission into any religious body not in communion with TEC; or in other ways. On April 19, 2024, the Standing Committee determined that the Rev. Samuel had abandoned TEC and sent me a letter articulating the basis for its finding. On Monday, May 6, 2024, I affirmed this determination and notified the Rev. Samuel.
Canon IV. 16.B.3 & 4, linked here, requires that I restrict the Rev. Samuel’s ministry for sixty days and notify him of his right to make a good faith retraction or denial he committed acts deemed to demonstrate abandonment. If, within the sixty days, I do not receive what I find reasonably constitutes a good faith retraction or denial, it will be my duty to depose the Rev. Samuel from ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church.
I ask you to join me in praying for the Rev. Samuel, his family, the parish of St. Paul’s, and all in our diocese who have been impacted by these matters.
Yours in Faith,
The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello, Bishop Diocesan
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