Traditional Protestant Episcopal Church
The Traditional Protestant Episcopal Church (TPEC) is a Christian body that sees itself as maintaining the original theological position of the Episcopal Church.[1] The church also uses the name, The Protestant Episcopal Church, USA (PECUSA).[2]
It is part of the Continuing Anglican Movement and was founded in 1986 by clergy who had left the Anglican Catholic Church and other Continuing Anglican churches in the belief that these mainly Anglo-Catholic church bodies were unalterably opposed to the Evangelical or Low Church party within Anglicanism. The TPEC is considered to be one of the most Protestant of the Continuing Anglican churches because it explicitly subscribes to The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. The 1928 Book of Common Prayer or one of its antecedents is used and an all-male clergy is maintained as was the rule in the Episcopal Church until 1976, one year before the start of the Continuing Anglican movement.
In 2006, the church on its website reported having fourteen clergy and three parishes or missions (in Alabama, Delaware, and Massachusetts). In 2008, it reported nine clergy and three parishes or missions. The Presiding Bishop of the Traditional Protestant Episcopal Church is The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Morley, Rector of St. Francis at the Point Church, Point Clear, Alabama.