Anglican Catholic Church
| Anglican Catholic Church | |
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| The ACC coat of arms | |
| Classification | Continuing Anglican |
|---|---|
| Orientation | Anglo-Catholic |
| Polity | Episcopal, (with Apostolic Succession) |
| Associations | Inter-Communion with Anglican Province of Christ the King, United Episcopal Church of North America |
| Geographical areas | United States, India, Latin America, Australia, Southern Africa |
| Origin | 1977 St. Louis, Missouri |
| Separated from | Episcopal Church in the United States of America |
| Separations | Anglican Church in America, Holy Catholic Church (Anglican Rite) |
| Congregations | 135 (In the U.S.) |
| Members | 10,000 (In the U.S.) |
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The Anglican Catholic Church (ACC) is a body of Anglican Christians in the continuing Anglican movement, separate from the Anglican Communion centered on the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The continuing Anglican movement, and the Anglican Catholic Church, grew out of the 1977 Congress of St. Louis. The congress was held in response to the Episcopal Church's revision of the Book of Common Prayer, which organizers felt abandoned a true commitment to both scripture and historical Anglicanism[1]. The decision to allow the ordination of women was one part of a larger theological position opposed by the Congress. As a result of the Congress, various Anglicans separated from the Episcopal Church and formed the "Anglican Church in North America" in order to continue the Anglican tradition as they understood it. The name was later changed to the Anglican Catholic Church. Its adherents have therefore claimed that this church is the true heir of the Church of England in the United States.
The Congress's statement of principles (the "Affirmation of St. Louis") summarized the new church's reason for being as follows: “…the Anglican Church of Canada and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, by their unlawful attempts to alter Faith, Order and Morality (especially in their General Synod of 1975 and General Convention of 1976), have departed from Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.”[2]
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[edit] History
In January 1978, four bishops (Charles David Dale Doren, James O. Mote, Robert Morse and Francis Watterson) were consecrated. What had provisionally been called the Anglican Church in North America (Episcopal) eventually divided. The Canadian parishes formed the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, and American parishes formed two separate bodies, the Anglican Catholic Church and the Anglican Province of Christ the King.
In 1984 the five dioceses of the Church of India (Anglican) were received by the Anglican Catholic Church and constituted as its Second Province.
Since 1990 the Anglican Catholic Church has expanded to twelve dioceses in the Americas, the United Kingdom and Australia. Also during this period a number of parishes left the Anglican Catholic Church to merge with the American Episcopal Church and form the Anglican Church in America. Additional parishes left and formed the Holy Catholic Church (Anglican Rite).
In October 2005 the Most Reverend Mark D. Haverland of Athens, Georgia replaced John Charles Vockler as archbishop and metropolitan.
On May 17, 2007, Haverland signed an intercommunion agreement negotiated with the United Episcopal Church of North America. At the 17th Provincial Synod, October 2007, the Right Reverend Wilson Garang and his Diocese of Aweil in Sudan were received into the Anglican Catholic Church so that today the Anglican Catholic Church (Original Province) has over 250 parish churches and missions worldwide, not including the second province of India.
In October 2008 Bishop Presley Hutchens of the ACC addressed the United Episcopal Church of North America's ninth triennial convention and discussed uniting the ACC and UECNA.
[edit] Province I
- Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States
- Diocese of the Midwest
- Diocese of New Orleans
- Diocese of the Holy Trinity
- Missionary Diocese of the Resurrection
- Diocese of the South
- Diocese of the United Kingdom
- Diocese of the Aweil (Sudan)
- Missionary Diocese of Australia and New Zealand
- Missionary Diocese of the Caribbean
- Missionary Diocese Of New England
- Missionary Diocese of New Grenada
- Missionary Diocese of Southern Africa
- Missionary Diocese of the Eastern Cape (Africa)
[edit] Province II - Church of India (Anglican)
- Diocese of Amritsar: Bishop Tabir Ul Haque
[edit] Leadership
- Metropolitan and Acting Primate: The Most Reverend Mark Haverland, Athens, Georgia[3]
- Episcopal Visitor, Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States: The Right Reverend William McClean, Charlotte Hall, Maryland[3]
- Bishop Ordinary, Diocese of the Midwest: The Right Reverend Rommie Starks, Indianapolis, Indiana[3]
- Bishop Ordinary, Diocese of New Orleans: The Right Reverend Presley Hutchens, Natchitoches, Louisiana[3]
- Bishop Ordinary, Diocese of the United Kingdom: The Right Reverend Damien Mead, Lydd, Romney Marsh, Kent[3]
- Bishop Ordinary, Missionary Diocese of Australia & New Zealand: The Right Reverend Brian Iverach, Sydney[3]
- Bishop Ordinary, Diocese of Aweil (Sudan): The Right Reverend Wilson Gerang[citation needed]
- Bishop Ordinary, Diocese of the South: The Most Rev. Mark Haverland
- Episcopal Visitor, Diocese of the Holy Trinity: The Rt. Rev. Presley Hutchens
- Bishop Ordinary, Missionary Diocese of Southern Africa: The Right Reverend Allan Kenyon Hoare
- Episcopal Visitor, Missionary Diocese of the Resurrection: The Right Reverend Rocco Florenza
- Episcopal Visitor, Missionary Diocese of New England: The Right Reverend Rocco Florenza
- Bishop Ordinary, Missionary Diocese of Australia and New Zealand: The Right Reverend Brian Ivarach
