About

The Rt. Rev.
Eric Menees

President

Bishop Eric Menees was born in Compton, California on November 21, 1961 and is a tenth generation Los Angelino. Bishop Menees graduated from the General Theological Seminary with an M.Div and from Seabury Western Theological Seminary with a D.Min.

Following his ordination Bishop Menees served Spanish language congregations in East Los Angeles and Santa Ana in the Diocese of Los Angeles. From there he was called to the Diocese of San Diego to be the chaplain at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, California and later as vicar and then rector of Grace Church, San Marcos. In 2011 by God’s grace Bishop Menees was elected the fifth bishop of San Joaquin succeeding Bishop John David Schofield. Bishop Menees serves as bishop for Caminemos Juntos the ACNA Spanish Language ministry support network, leads the Border Bishops’ Conference seeking to evangelize and plant churches in Mexico, is the ACNA representative to the Anglican Province of South America and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Bishop Menees is married to Florence Guadalupe and has two grown children, Milagro a registered nurse, and Sebastian a firefighter.

The Rt. Rev. 
Darryl Fitzwater

Vice President

Bishop Darryl Fitzwater is the 3rd Bishop Ordinary for the Missionary Diocese of All Saints, a non-geographic affinity diocese in the ACNA. He is the planter and Rector at Church of the Ascension in Charles Town, WV. Church of the Ascension now serves as the Cathedral for the Diocese of All Saints. He was consecrated on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi in 2024 and enthroned as Bishop Ordinary on the Feast of Thomas Cranmer in 2025. He and his wife Becki have been married since 2000. They have two children, Aidan and Chloe.

The Rev. Dr. John M. Himes, OSF, D. Min.

2nd Vice President

Fr. Himes’ life has been varied. He has served as a police officer in Washington D.C. He retired from the United States Army as a Chief Warrant Officer Three in 1999 after serving as the Division Targeting Officer for the Fourth Infantry Division, Fort Hood, Texas. Over his twenty plus year Army career, he served in a variety of senior Non-Commissioned officer and Chief Warrant Officer positions in the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Fr. Himes commanded a Counter-Fire Radar Detachment during Desert Storm/Desert Shield for the 24 the Infantry Division in the XVIII Airborne Corp.

After a successful career as a Field Artillery Chief Warrant Officer was called to ordained ministry graduating from the Seminary of the Southwest, in Austin, Texas and being ordained to the priesthood. He has served Churches in Temple, Texas, Houston, Texas, Marshall, Texas and in Jefferson, Texas. He earned his Doctorate Degree from Nashotah, Theological Seminary in Nashotah, Wisconsin.

The Rt. Rev. 
Walter R. Banek

Episcopal Member of Council

The Rt. Rev’d Walter R. Banek is the Rector of Good Shepherd Church & School in Tyler, Texas.  He has served at this parish since 1981, initially as Headmaster of the parish school, and in 1992 he was also called to be the Rector. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Bible-Theology from Moody Bible Institute, and a Master of Divinity from Cummin’s Theological Seminary, REC.  He has served on numerous Boards and Committees in the Reformed Episcopal Church. He was Consecrated as a Bishop in the Church on August 23, A.D. 2017, to serve as Suffragan Bishop in the Diocese of Mid-America, REC and a member of the College of Bishops in the Anglican Church of North America.
Bishop Banek is married to Nelda Louise Hoyt, whom he met while studying at Moody. The Baneks have seven children (three adopted from Russia) and twenty grandchildren.

The Rt. Rev. 
Richard Lipka

Episcopal Member of Council

Bishop Richard Lipka is the second Bishop Ordinary of the Missionary Diocese of All Saints. He was ordained a priest in 1966 in Rome, Italy. He has served as senior pastor of churches in several states on the mainland United States and in Hawaii in the Roman Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church. He has been active in the renewal movement in liturgical churches since 1978. He has taught seminars and written articles in the areas of practical application of the Bible to daily life. Bishop Lipka founded the Church of the Risen Lord in Honolulu, Hawaii and was consecrated Bishop of the Diocese of the Hawaiian Islands and the American Protectorates in the Pacific in 1995 for the Charismatic Episcopal Church.

In 2004 he moved to Maryland to serve as the Diocesan Bishop for the Delmarva Peninsula. Bishop Lipka is a graduate of St. Mary’s College (B.A.); the Pontifical Gregorian University (S.T.B.); St. Mary’s Seminary (M.A.); and the University of Maryland (M.S.W.). He was part of the faculty of St. Michael’s Seminary (CEC) in Hawaii. He is a licensed clinical social worker and a diplomate of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. Bishop Lipka was born and raised in Wilmington, DE. He is married and the father of four. 

The Rt. Rev. Clark Lowenfield

Episcopal Member of Council

Bishop Clark WP Lowenfield is in the twelfth year of his consecration as the first Ordinary of the Anglican Diocese of the Western Gulf Coast. He has served Christ’s churches in South Carolina and Texas for nearly 40 years. He is a graduate of Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts (Political Science and Economics) and received his M.Div. from The University of the South School of Theology in Sewanee, Tennessee.

Founder and Chairman of the Board of the Simeon Society USA, Bishop Clark speaks and teaches regularly, nationally and internationally, on The Cost of Non-Discipleship; the Healthy Development of Disciple-making Cultures; and Engaging, Empowering and Equipping Women in Leadership and Ministry. He and his wife, Tricia, live in Magnolia, Texas, and they have three daughters, 2 son-in-laws, six granddaughters and one grandson, all who are truly the joys of his life. 

The Rt. Rev. Ryan Reed

Episcopal Member of Council

Bishop Ryan Spencer Reed, SSC, DD was born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1967. Bishop Reed was raised and confirmed in the Episcopal Church and knew as a child that he wanted to become a priest. He was raised in Texas and attended Texas A&M University, where he was in the TAMU Corps of Cadets. He graduated in 1990, after which he became youth minister at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Fort Worth.

Bishop Reed married Kathy Marie Warren in 1991 at St. Andrew’s; they have one adult daughter. From 1993 to 1996, Bishop Reed studied for his M.Div. at Trinity School for Ministry. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1997, then served his Diocesan Curacy at St. Vincent’s Cathedral in Bedford, Texas. In 1998 he was appointed Vicar of Ascension and St. Mark’s Church near Bridgeport, Texas. He joined the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC) in 1999. In 2002 he was called back to the Cathedral to be the Rector and Dean.

On June 1, Bishop Reed was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Fort Worth and was consecrated on September 21, 2019. He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree from Nashotah House in 2019. He was enthroned at St. Vincent’s Cathedral on January 5, 2020. Bishop Reed has been a member of Forward in Faith North America since 1993.

The Rev. Cn. Lawrence D. Bausch

Priest Member of Council

The Rev. Cn. Lawrence D. Bausch was raised in Los Angeles and graduated from San Diego State University. He is a graduate of Seabury Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. He married in 1973, and he and his wife, Carol, have four grown children. He served as an assistant priest at two churches before becoming Recotr at Holy Trinity Parish in Ocean Beach in 1979.

Fr. Bausch has conducted many Retreats and Quiet Days including several based on the writings of St. Patrick. He has served on the National Council of Forward in Faith North America since 1994.

In 2001, he took a sabbatical in Ireland and the results of his study have been published in his book: The Conversion of the Irish from St. Patrick to 700 AD: A Study in the Relationship Between Gospel and Culture (Ekklesia Publications, 2007).

He resigned from ministry in the Episcopal Church in September 2006, and was received as a priest in good standing in the Diocese of Argentina, in the Anglican Province of Southern Cone. Holy Trinity Parish also elected to leave ECUSA in September, 2006, and Fr. Bausch accepted the call to continue to serve as their Rector; stepping down as Rector in 2017. Holy Trinity Parish has since aligned with the Anglican Church in North America. He was made honorary Canon of the Diocese of Dares Salaam in 2008 and elected President of FiFNA in 2015, serving until 2021.

The Rev. Benjamin Edstrom

Priest Member of Council

Fr. Ben Edstrom is a church planter in Idaho. Previously he served as a rector and Archdeacon in the Diocese of Cascadia, focused primarily on clergy care and conflict resolution. Over the course of his thirty years of ministry he has been active in planting four churches, loves raising up young clergy and lay leaders, enjoys strategic thinking and being an encourager.

He is presently writing his thesis for a Doctorate of Ministry in Semiotics and Future studies. This thesis explores an orthodox catholic Anglican response to current secular ideologies, addresses the primary questions of this cultural moment, and works towards creating a path forward for effective Kingdom growth in the 21st century.

He has a growing affection for the undivided church of the first millenia, believes in the power of the liturgy as formation, the healing nature of the sacraments, and longs for all people to experience Jesus as their Good Shepherd. Fr. Ben is married to Lei, his ministry partner and wife of thirty-two years. They have three adult children. When not serving or studying, Ben loves fly fishing, music, reading, and roasting coffee.

The Very Rev. Fr. Terry G. Moore

Priest Member of Council

Fr. Moore holds a BA from Capital University and an MDiv from Bexley Hall Episcopal Seminary, both in Columbus, Ohio.  He retired after 30 years from General Motors/Delphi in June 2005. He was ordained to the Diaconate in October 2001 and to the Priesthood in October 2005. That same year he moved to Kent, Ohio serving at a small mission located in Twinsburg. He moved to Michigan in 2008 to serve as Rector at St. John the Apostle Anglican Church (SJA), located in Clinton Township, Michigan. SJA is a parish in the Diocese of All Saints. This year we will be celebrating our 17^th year there.

He & his wife, Nancy, have six children and eleven grandchildren who reside in Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Florida. He joined FiFNA and began attending assemblies shortly after becoming rector of SJA. He has always found the assemblies to be informative, inspirational and times of great fellowship, creating lasting relationships with others of likeminded faith.

The Rev. Wesley Owens

Priest Member of Council

Fr. Wesley Owens serves as Rector of Incarnation Church in State College, PA – a young church plant serving the students and surrounding community of Penn State University.  Raised in Richmond, VA, he migrated into Anglicanism as an undergraduate at the University of Virginia.  He holds a Master of Theology (MTh) degree from the University of Oxford, where he completed a dissertation on monastic renewal in contemporary Anglican mission.  Following his ordination, he served for three years as curate at St. Peter’s Anglican Cathedral in Tallahassee, FL before accepting the call to plant a church at Penn State.  Informed by extensive ministry to Gen-Z and Millennials, Fr. Wesley’s desire is to equip the Church for the challenge of forming the next generation of resilient disciples in our Post-Christian climate of loneliness, virtuality, anxiety, and expressive individualism.

Dcn. Erin Giles

Secretary

Erin Giles serves as deacon alongside her husband Fr. Howard Giles III at Jesus the Good Shepherd Anglican Church in Henderson, NV, a parish of the Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin. Her primary ministry for the past 20 years has been nurturing, discipling and homeschooling her six children. In addition, she teaches Biblical Greek and Primary students at the Homeschool Atrium of the Good Shepherd School Project and mentors catechists in her parish through the Anglican Catechist Training School of the Diocese of San Joaquin. She also serves as the Canonical Exam Coordinator for the ACNA West Board of Examining Chaplains and on the leadership team of the Clergy Wives’ Retreat in the Diocese of San Joaquin.

Erin holds an A.B. in Politics, Summa Cum Laude from Princeton University, where she was baptized on Easter Day in 1994 at the Episcopal Church at Princeton. She also holds a Masters of Divinity from the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and Masters of Arts in Religion in Christian Ethics from the Graduate Theological Union, both located in Berkeley, CA.

Above all, Erin loves her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who revealed Himself to her even in a home not dedicated to Him and has continued to guide and uphold her all the days of her life.

Donald Ishler

Chair of Nominations Committee, Chair of Constitution Subcommittee

Don was raised in the Presbyterian tradition, and was confirmed in the Episcopal Church while in college
– as a result of many (mostly losing) arguments with a very good Roman Catholic friend. Particular interests are Ecumenism, Liturgy, and Church Music. He lives in Houston, TX with his wife Marilyn. He joined the ACNA in 2015, and currently is a Lay Eucharistic Minister and Choir Member at St Timothy’s Anglican Cathedral in Spring TX, where Service Music (St Timothy’s Mass) that he composed is sung at the weekly Eucharist.

Dr. Barbara Gauthier

Lay Member of Council

Dr. Barbara Gauthier has played an active role in lay ministry in Anglican settings for many years, including teaching a long-term Women’s Bible study, instructing confirmands, and offering adult training on various aspects of Anglicanism. She has spoken at conferences on Anglicanism and women’s ministry, and her Anglican News Update has made her a highly regarded source on developments affecting global Anglicanism, and she has spoken at conferences on Anglicanism and women’s ministry.
 
Barbara Gauthier has extensive experience mentoring and providing pastoral care to young women. She is a graduate of Duke University and obtained her Ph.D. (French) from Vanderbilt University and has taught French, Latin, and Greek. She is the wife of the canon theologian of the Upper Midwest Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America and they have three adult sons and three grandsons.

Dorothéa Moebius

Lay Member of Council

Dorothea Moebius was a cradle Episcopalian raised in the (then) Diocese of South Florida. Her early life was greatly influenced by her years at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Cocoa, Florida, and its parish day school, (now St. Mark’s Academy).

Currently, she is an educational consultant in private practice in western New York, with a specialty in structured literacy and dyslexia. She has trained, coached and presented workshops to general and special Education teachers in 30 states and Canada, and worked with hundreds of students kindergarten to adult.

She has been a parishioner and vestry member at St. Luke’s Anglican Church, East Aurora, NY, (MDAS) since 2004, where she is presently serving as Senior Warden. She also volunteers at a sanctuary for senior dogs.

In 2019, Fr. Geoffrey Boland (Vicar General of the Eastern Convocation of MDAS) first approached her with the opportunity to serve on the FiFNA Council. In 2022, MDAS Bishop (Emeritus) Rich Lipka requested that she serve a second term.