Editing Defrocking (section)

==Anglicanism==
In [[Anglicanism]], defrocking is extremely rare and often impossible. Different provinces in the [[Anglican Communion]] handle this differently; the canon law of the [[Church of England]], for instance, states that "No person who has been admitted to the order of bishop, priest, or deacon can ever be divested of the character of his order..."<ref>Church of England Canon C1.2</ref> though the church has processes to allow any clergy (by own volition or otherwise) to cease to function in the role. Anglican clergy are generally licensed to preach and administer sacraments by the bishop of the diocese in question; however if a bishop suspends this licence, the deacon or priest may no longer exercise their respective ministerial functions lawfully in that diocese. Within the Church of England The ''Clergy Discipline Measure 2003'' provides for a range of sanctions up to a lifelong ban from the exercise of ministry.

Similarly, in the [[Anglican Church of Canada]] "deposition from the exercise of ministry if the person is ordained"<ref>{{cite book | title = Handbook of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada | edition = 15th | year = 2007 | page = 86 | url = http://www.anglican.ca/about/handbook/handboo-15th-ed.pdf }}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> does not amount to defrocking, but merely removes the right to the exercise of ministry by ordained persons. These powers are given to the diocesan bishop (in most cases) subject to appeal to a diocesan court, or the diocesan court may exercise primary jurisdiction when the bishop asks it to (for diocesan bishops the provincial metropolitan is given primary jurisdiction, for metropolitans the provincial House of Bishops is given jurisdiction, for the primate it is the national House of Bishops). All these powers are subject to appeal to courts of appeal and on matters of doctrine to the Supreme Court of the Anglican Church of Canada (Appendix 4, General Synod Canon XVIII - Discipline).<ref>{{cite web|title=Appendix 4, General Synod Canon XVIII - Discipline |publisher=The Anglican Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland & Labrador |url=http://www.anglican.nfol.ca/forms/constitution/Appendix%204.pdf |access-date=23 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706190554/http://www.anglican.nfol.ca/forms/constitution/Appendix%204.pdf |archive-date=6 July 2011 }}</ref> General Synod 2007 clarified deposition, including forbidding the practice of suspending the licence in cases where discipline proceedings could be commenced instead (Resolution A082).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.anglican.ca/gs2007/rr/resolutions/a082.htm |author = The Anglican Church of Canada, General Synod 2007 | title = Resolution Number: A082, Subject: Canon XVII - The Licensing of Clergy}}</ref>

According to the constitutions and canons of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church in the United States]], Title IV "Ecclesiastical Discipline", there are three modes of depriving a member of clergy from exercising ministerial rights: inhibition, suspension, or deposition. Inhibitions and suspensions are temporary. Clergy who are deposed are "deprived of the right to exercise the gifts and spiritual authority of God's word and sacraments conferred at ordination." (Title IV, Canon 15, Of Terminology Used in This Section, Deposition).<ref>{{cite book | title = Constitution & Canons, Together with the Rules of Order, For the government of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Otherwise Known as The Episcopal Church | publisher = Church Publishing Incorporated | year = 2006 | location = New York | pages = 171 | url = http://www.churchpublishing.org/general_convention/pdf_const_2006/Title_IV_EcclDiscipline.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100821172603/http://www.churchpublishing.org/general_convention/pdf_const_2006/Title_IV_EcclDiscipline.pdf | archive-date = 2010-08-21 }}</ref>

In the [[Anglican Church of Australia]], the relevant canon provides for a bishop, priest or deacon to relinquish or be deposed from, or  prohibited from functioning in, Holy Orders. Upon relinquishing or being deposed from Holy Orders, the relinquished or deposed person ceases to have any right, privilege or advantage attached to the relevant order(s) (of bishop, priest or deacon), and, if wholly relinquished or deposed, is considered, except for any Church law relating to a Church Tribunal, to be a lay person for the purposes of the Church. Where a person in Holy Orders has been prohibited from functioning, the prohibition has effect according to its terms.<ref>{{cite web |title=Holy Orders (Removal from Exercise of Ministry) Canon 2017 |url=https://anglican.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Holy_Orders_Removal_from_Exercise_Canon_2017.pdf |publisher=[[Anglican Church of Australia]] |access-date=5 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330044156/https://anglican.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Holy_Orders_Removal_from_Exercise_Canon_2017.pdf |archive-date=30 March 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>