A slight correction re: Abp Hepworth, to what you wrote in the last day or two: He had announced his "intention" to retire as of the Easter Octave, April 15 [2012] (not Easter Day, April 8, as you stated). Therefore, both April 2 and April 9 were "during" his Primacy, despite the rogue acts of Marsh, Prakash, et al -- a "rump" action, not recognized by all other bishops.It appears in hindsight that Bishop Marsh was closely involved in plans by the TAC College of Bishops to remove Hepworth as Primate. TAC Bishop of Pretoria and Southern Africa Michael Gill spoke to a conference of "continuing Anglicans" in Brockton, MA in November, 2011. Gill was appointed Secretary to the College of Bishops at the meeting in February and March, 2012 that expelled Hepworth prior to his announced retirement and appears since then to be the power behind the curtain. However, Brian Marsh was also at the meeting and is quoted in the press releases.
The conference at which Gill spoke in Brockton, MA appears to have been held in some connection with James Hiles's "continuing" parish there, St Paul's Anglican. Hiles, a former Episcopal priest deposed following sexual and financial allegations, was in the process of moving his parish into the ACA during this same period. Since Gill was in Massachusetts in late 2011 to attend the conference, it is certainly credible that he would have met with Marsh at that time to plan Hepworth's expulsion after the holidays.
(Who, by the way, paid Gill's travel expenses from South Africa to Brockton in 2011? Could it have been Hiles's parish? Hiles was consecrated a suffragan bishop in the ACA Diocese of the Northeast on April 27, 2013. Payback?)
In the context of events surrounding St Mary of the Angels in the first half of 2012, it seems plain that there was a need to "dissolve" Hepworth's Patrimony of the Primate, which protected former ACA parishes intending to enter the Ordinariate from just the sort of adverse actions that Strawn and Marsh quickly took against St Mary's. Michael Gill, Samuel Prakash, and other TAC bishops appear to have been complicit in this scheme.
Why would they want to do this, or at minimum, enable it? There were very few prosperous parishes in the ACA. The former Cathedral of the Incarnation, previously in the ACA Diocese of the Eastern US, had left to join its own Pro-Diocese of the Holy Family and does not appear to have been even as reachable as St Mary of the Angels.
It's been suggested to me that St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Timonium, MD, still in the ACA DEUS, is a "cash cow", but this would be one of the few continuing income sources for the ACA after most of its prosperous parishes left in 2011.
It appears that Hepworth's removal had a great deal to do with Marsh and Strawn's attempts to seize St Mary of the Angels. There seems little other reason than the multimillion-dollar property to edge Hepworth out so quickly. Michael Gill served as a catspaw in this effort.
