Anglican Province of America
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| Anglican Province of America | |
 The APA crest. |
|
| Classification | Continuing Anglican |
|---|---|
| Orientation | Anglo-Catholic |
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Founder | Walter Grundorf |
| Origin | 1995 |
| Separated from | Anglican Church in America |
| Branched from | Anglican Episcopal Church |
| Associations | Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas |
| Geographical Area | United States of America |
| Statistics | |
| Congregations | 69 |
| Members | 6,000 |
The Anglican Province of America (APA) is one of a number of "Continuing" Anglican churches in the United States. This church regards the Episcopal Church in the USA as heretical; thus it maintains an organization separate from that body in order to follow what it considers to be a truly Christian and Anglican tradition.
The APA has shown itself to be one of the faster developing of the American continuing churches, having absorbed several smaller Anglican jurisdictions. It has also entered into intercommunion agreements with other Anglican bodies in the U.S., Africa, and Asia.
Contents |
[edit] History
In the 1960s, the Episcopal Church in the USA increasingly involved itself with the Civil Rights Movement. Some in the Church began to question areas of ECUSA's involvement which seemed to them to be supporting radical causes.
At the same time, revisions made in Roman Catholic liturgies caused many within the ECUSA leadership to champion an updating of the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Despite the vocal concerns of opponents of the changes proposed, these changes were made and the Episcopal Church committed itself to enforcing the use of the new book.
[edit] Origins: the American Episcopal Church
The American Episcopal Church (AEC) was founded in March, 1968. At a meeting held in Mobile, Alabama, it was agreed that a new body was needed in order to preserve traditional Anglicanism.
In 1974, the Episcopal Bishop of Kentucky, David B. Reed, suggested talks between representatives of the Episcopal Church and the American Episcopal Church with the intent of exploring the possibility that some type of relationship between the two bodies might be established. The talks were, however, postponed and they did not resume until 1978 following the Congress of St. Louis (see below) at which the Continuing Anglican movement was founded.
[edit] The "Continuing Church" movement
The 1976 General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States approved the ordination of women to the priesthood and the first reading of legislation to adopt a new Prayer Book. Traditionalists within the Episcopal Church made plans for the Congress of St. Louis. The congress brought together nearly 2000 Episcopalians and members of the Anglican Church of Canada and succeeded in launching the Continuing Anglican movement -- but without representatives from the American Episcopal Church.
The AEC also was growing. In 1981, the Anglican Episcopal Church of North America united with the AEC and brought with it two established dioceses in areas where the AEC had no presence. In 1983 an entire diocese of the Anglican Catholic Church left its jurisdiction and joined the AEC.
[edit] Establishing the Anglican Province of America
During the early 1990s, the leadership of the AEC began unity talks with the leadership of the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC). These talks eventually led to the merger of around 33% of the ACC (along with its Archbishop, Louis Falk) with the AEC to form the Anglican Church in America (ACA). The majority of the Anglican Catholic Church's parishes declined to participate in the merger.
It was a schism involving one of the ACA's dioceses that produced the Anglican Province of America.
Following the resignation of Bishop Anthony Clavier as bishop ordinary of the ACA's Diocese of the Eastern United States (DEUS), a dispute developed concerning the election of a successor. The national church requested a delay, but the Standing Committee of the diocese cited the steps outlined in the diocesan constitution which did not speak of any delay.
This dispute was settled when the diocese and most of its thirty parishes left the Anglican Church in America along with a minority of the parishes of the Diocese of the West and formed a new church, the Anglican Province of America (APA). Its presiding bishop from then until the present has been the Most Reverend Walter Grundorf. While most DEUS parishes joined the new church some remained with the ACA, continuing the existence of the older Diocese of the Eastern States within the Anglican Church in America and her worldwide affiliate, the Traditional Anglican Communion.
[edit] 1995 to the present
Talks with the Reformed Episcopal Church after 1995 led to the establishment of formal intercommunion and a plan to merge both bodies after a period of dialogue. Formal talks were then revived between ECUSA and the new partnership of APA and REC, receiving the official endorsement of the 2003 ECUSA General Convention. Neither these talks nor the APA's merger plan with the REC are still progressing.
Bishop Walter Grundorf was a signatory to the Bartonville Agreement on October 28, 1999.
A concordat of intercommunion has more recently been reached between the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Province of America. APA is a member of the Common Cause Partnership, an organization dedicated to uniting various Anglican jurisdictions to form a new conservative province of the Anglican Communion in North America.
