Anglican Catholic Church

Infobox Christian denomination
name = Anglican Catholic Church

|center
imagewidth =135px
caption = The ACC Crest.
main_classification = Continuing Anglican
orientation = Anglo-Catholic
polity = Episcopal, (with Apostolic Succession)
founder =
founded_date = 1977
founded_place = St. Louis, Missouri
separated_from = Episcopal Church in the United States of America
parent =
merger =
separations = Anglican Church in America, Holy Catholic Church (Anglican Rite)
associations = Inter-Communion with Anglican Province of Christ the King, United Episcopal Church of North America
area = United States, India, Latin America, Australia, Southern Africa
congregations = 135 (In the U.S.)
members = 5,000 (In the U.S.)
footnotes = Continuing Anglican

The Anglican Catholic Church is a worldwide body of Anglican Christians in the continuing Anglican movement which grew out of the 1977 Congress of St. Louis. The Congress was called in response to the Episcopal Church's heavy revision of the Book of Common Prayer, which was felt to abandon a true commitment to both scripture and historical Anglicanism [ [http://www.anglicancatholic.org/affirmstlouis.html News & Annoucements ] ] . The decision to allow the ordination of women was just one part of a larger theological shift introduced by the revisions and opposed by the Congress of St. Louis. As a result of the desire to maintain the Apostolic tradition of male-only clergy and the exclusive use of historical Anglican liturgical forms, a new church was founded - the Anglican Church in North America. The name was later changed to the Anglican Catholic Church.

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."” [http://www.anglicancatholic.org/main/who/stlouis.html Excerpt from the Affirmation of St. Louis as printed in an ACC brochure, “"Who we are"”] ]

History

By 1978 four bishops had been consecrated. What had provisionally been called the Anglican Church in North America (Episcopal) was eventually divided. The Canadian parishes formed the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, while the United States saw the formation of 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 time period a number of parishes left the Anglican Catholic Church to merge with the American Episcopal Church in forming the Anglican Church in America. It further suffered the loss of additional parishes which formed themselves into the Holy Catholic Church (Anglican Rite).

Present

In October 2005 the Most Reverend Mark D. Haverland replaced the Most Reverend Brother John Charles as Archbishop and Metropolitan.

On May 17, 2007, Archbishop Mark D. Haverland of the ACC and Archbishop Stephen C. Reber of the United Episcopal Church of North America signed an intercommunion agreement at Saint Stephen's ACC Pro-Cathedral in Athens, Georgia.

The presiding bishop of the Anglican Province of Christ the King, responding to the ACC-UECNA intercommunion agreement, has extended his support and approval.

At the 17th Provincial Synod, October 2007, the Rt. Rev. Wilson Garang and his Diocese of Aweil in Sudan were received into the the Anglican Catholic Church. Today the Anglican Catholic Church (Original Province) has over 250 parish churches and missions worldwide, not including the Second Province of India.

Province I

* [http://www.anglicancatholic.org/dmas/ Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States]
* [http://anglicancatholic.org/main/dmw.htm Diocese of the Midwest]
* [http://www.dioceseofneworleansacc.org/ Diocese of New Orleans]
* [http://www.dpsw.org/ Diocese of the Holy Trinity]
* [http://www.anglicancatholic.org/main/diocese/dor/index.html Diocese of the Resurrection]
* [http://www.anglicancatholic.org/dos/ Diocese of the South]
* [http://www.anglicancatholic.org.uk/ Diocese of the United Kingdom]
*Diocese of Aweil, Sudan
*Missionary Diocese of Australia
*Missionary Diocese of the Caribbean
* [http://www.mdne.org/ Missionary Diocese Of New England]
*Missionary Diocese of New Grenada
* [http://www.paraclete.org.za/ Missionary Diocese of Southern Africa]

Province II - Church of India (Anglican)

*Diocese of Amritsar
*Diocese of Bombay
*Diocese of Delhi
*Diocese of Lucknow
*Diocese of Nagpur

Notes

External links

* [http://www.anglicancatholic.org/ Anglican Catholic Church website]
* [http://www.anglicanbooks.com/ AnglicanBooks.com]