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James Lafayette Hobby Jr. is a former American bishop of the Anglican Church in North America. He was elected the second bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh on 23 April 2016 and enthroned on 10 September 2016. He is married to Shari, also an Anglican priest, and they have three daughters.

Ecclesiastical career

He was raised in a Presbyterian household but moved to a Baptist church in New Jersey. He studied at the Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois, from 1975 to 1979, where he decided to become a minister and met his wife, Shari. After her graduation, both decided to study at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, from 1981 to 1983. They soon joined the Episcopal Church. Afterwards, they studied at the Trinity School for Ministry, in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, where he was a student from 1983 to 1985, graduating with a M.Div.

He was ordained a deacon at 7 June 1986 and a priest at 4 December 1986 by bishop Alden Hathaway, of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. He was rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, in Monongahela, and vicar at St. John's Episcopal Church, in Donora, from 1986 to 1990, being assistant at the first parish from 1990 to 1993, rector at Advent Episcopal Church, in Tallahassee, Florida, from 1993 to 2001, priest and missionary-in-residence at St. John's Episcopal Church, in Tallahassee, from 2002 to 2005, and priest and missionary-in-residence at St. Peter's Anglican Church, in Tallahassee, from 2005 to 2007. He was rector at Trinity Anglican Church, in Thomasville, Georgia, since 2007. He joined the Anglican realignment in United States, and his parish is a member of the Anglican Church in North America, founded in 2009, and the Gulf Atlantic Diocese, founded in 2011. He was a candidate to bishop but lost to Neil Lebhar. He was a member of the Ordination Preparation Team, since 2009, and Canon for Congregational Development, since 2010, at his former diocese.

Hobby was elected bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh at a diocesan meeting that took place at St. Stephen's Church, Sewickley, on 22–23 April 2016, among six candidates, at the fifth ballot. Hobby consecration took place at the Roman Catholic Saint Paul Cathedral, Pittsburgh, on 10 September 2016.

He resigned, upon request, on 28 October 2020, after what was described as "a careful review and assessment of his handling of a serious pastoral matter".

References

1. PITTSBURGH: The Rev. James Hobby Discerned as Bishop Elect for Anglican Diocese, Virtue Online, 23 April 2016
2. "Bishop Hobby Consecration and Bishop Duncan Legacy Video, Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh Website, 10 September 2016". Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2016.
3. Petersen, Kirk (3 November 2020). "ACNA Bishop Ousted Over Priest's Misconduct". The Living Church. A bishop of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) resigned abruptly on October 29 at the request of the Standing Committee of the diocese, for allegedly mishandling a serious pastoral issue regarding sexual misconduct by a priest.
4. Post, Kathryn; Smietana, Bob (August 19, 2021). "With abuse allegations, conservative Anglican diocese faces questions about structure". Religion News Service. In November 2020, the standing committee of ACNA's Pittsburgh Diocese asked Bishop James Hobby to resign for failing to report abuse allegations about a priest in his diocese in a timely manner.

External links

• PITTSBURGH: The Rev. James Hobby Discerned as Bishop Elect for Anglican Diocese, Virtue Online, 23 April 2016

• Living people
• Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America