Wynn Wagner

Archbishop Wynn Wagner, wearing the choir dress of an Old Catholic bishop.

Winfield "Wynn" Wagner (born January 18, 1951) is a computer programmer, former broadcast journalist, clergyman and author.

Early career

During the 1980s and 1990s, Wagner was as the author and maintainer of Opus-CBCS, a computer bulletin board system (BBS). He revolutionized computer communication technology (ZModem) making BBS affordable to individuals, introduced a novel discussion system (Echomail) that laid the groundwork for today's internet, and set the spirit of community activism by donating 100% of the proceeds from Opus-CBCS to HIV and AIDS care.

Prior to his career as a computer programmer, Wagner was a professional singer and recording artist. In the 1960s he sang on an album that won a Grammy. In the 1970s he was a broadcast journalist.

Liberal Catholic Church International (2003-6)

In November 2003, Wagner was ordained a deacon of the Liberal Catholic Church International, which was followed by ordination to the priesthood of the same church in May 2004. Within two years, Wagner's relationship with the LCCI had broken down, and he resigned effective May 2006, citing a breakdown in the relationship with his bishop and theological differences (including perceived flaws in the liturgy of episcopal consecration and the LCCI's refusal to permit gay marriage).

Episcopus vagans (2006)

Despite having previously declared he would never accept consecration to the episcopate, on May 6, 2006, just two years after his ordination to the priesthood, Wagner was consecrated a bishop. Via his personal blog, Wagner declared he had no desire to oversee a jurisdiction and that his new status as an episcopus vagans was desirable as it was the closest possible conformation of church polity to that of the New Testament church.

Old Catholic Church

Between May 2006 and December 2006, Wagner's church (Dallas, Texas) came to style itself as a "progressive independent Old Catholic Church". During this time Wagner ordained several of his parishioners (some of whom had been seminarians of the Liberal Catholic Church) to the episcopacy, priesthood, diaconate, and sub-diaconate.

In early 2007, Wagner reneged on his previous opposition to "jurisdictions" and his parish joined the North American Old Catholic Church (which was itself founded in January 2007). He was later raised to archbishop when he became coadjutor bishop of the North American Old Catholic Church (NAOCC): serving as the Regionary Bishop of the Southern Province USA, which consists of the American states of, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas. Texas currently has 5 bishops from Texas to Florida.

Since October 2009, Wagner has been wearing regalia similar to that of a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. The colors are specified in the Canons of the North American Old Catholic Church.

Wagner's protegee, Bishop Thomas Hooker, now serves as the bishop of Texas.

In 2009 Wagner wrote an open letter to State Senator John Cornyn, criticising Senator Cornyn's opposition to healthcare reform. Wagner adopted an uncompromising tone, telling the senator "You have fellow citizens who need health care, and you are helping corporations that are not even based in your state. Your vote today was very sad to me. Shame on you."

Wagner was the first and only president (and, indeed, founder) of the World Conference of Old Catholic Churches (WCOCC), an international organization that let national churches share common resources and experience. As of March 2011 the WCOCC's activities appear to have ceased.

HIV advocacy

Wagner is HIV positive, and is the author of AEGiS, which AEGiS claims to be the "most widely-read article on HIV ever".^{[citation needed]}

Media

In addition to software, Wagner has composed a Eucharist and written several books, mostly dealing with Liberal Christianity and mostly self-published through the company Mystic Ways Books owned by Wagner and his partner:

• Recovering Catholic (ISBN 978-1-4505-1149-0).
• Vamp Camp (Gay Fiction), (ISBN 978-1-4528-1066-9).
• A Pilgrim's Guide to the Old Catholic Church (ISBN 978-1-4499-9279-8)

Older works:

• A Catechism of the Liberal Catholic Church, Wagner's previous affiliation.
• a Book of Prayer (currently out of print)
• Pax et Fides (currently out of print)
• influential (gay fiction)

See also

• North American Old Catholic Church
• Opus-CBCS
• Old Catholic Church

External links

• Southern Province USA
• WynnWagner.com