Continuing Anglican movement

The Continuing Anglican movement originated in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America and the Anglican Church of Canada. Related churches in other countries were founded later.

In 1976, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America voted to approve the ordination of women to the priesthood and to the episcopate and also provisionally adopted a new and doctrinally controversial Book of Common Prayer, later called the 1979 version. During the following year, 1977, several thousand dissenting clergy and laypersons responded to those actions by meeting in St. Louis, Missouri under the auspices of the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen,[8] and adopted a theological statement, the Affirmation of St. Louis.[9] The Affirmation expressed a determination "to continue in the Catholic Faith, Apostolic Order, Orthodox Worship and Evangelical Witness of the traditional Anglican Church, doing all things necessary for the continuance of the same."

Out of this meeting came a new church with the provisional name of the "Anglican Church in North America (Episcopal)". The first bishop of the new church, Charles Doren, was consecrated by a retired bishop of the Episcopal Church, Albert A. Chambers of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, with Francisco Pagtakhan of the Philippine Independent Church as co-consecrator. Although expected to be the third bishop participating in Doren's consecration, Mark Pae of the Anglican Church of Korea sent a letter of consent instead. This development left the new group open to charges of violating the customs of apostolic succession, in which three bishops customarily are present.

The newly consecrated Doren then joined with Chambers and Pagtakhan in consecrating as bishops James Orin Mote, Robert S. Morse, and Francis Watterson. Watterson left the movement shortly afterward and became a Roman Catholic priest.

During the process of ratifying the new church's constitution, disputes developed which split its dioceses into two American churches and a separate Canadian church. These were the Anglican Catholic Church led by Mote, the Diocese of Christ the King (now the Anglican Province of Christ the King) led by Morse, and the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. In 1981, Doren and others left the Anglican Catholic Church to found the United Episcopal Church of North America in opposition to the alleged inhospitality of the other jurisdictions towards low churchmen.

The original generation of Continuing Anglican parishes in North America were located mainly in metropolitan areas. Since the late 1990s, a number have appeared in smaller communities, often as a result of a division in the town's existing Episcopal parish(es) or mission(s). The 2007/08 Directory of Traditional Anglican and Episcopal Parishes, published by The Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen,[10] contained information on over 900 parishes affiliated with either the Continuing Anglican churches or the Anglican realignment movement.

The principles of the Affirmation of St. Louis and, to a lesser extent, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, provide some basis for unity in the movement, but the jurisdictions are numerous, usually quite small in membership and often splinter and recombine. Many church bodies of more recent origin have referred to themselves as "Continuing Anglican" although they have no connection to the Congress of St. Louis and do not adhere to all of its principles. Some reports put the number of such jurisdictions at more than forty, but fewer than a dozen of the churches popularly called "Continuing Anglican churches" can be traced back to the meeting in St. Louis.

Processional of clergy from three Continuing Anglican churches, the Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Province of Christ the King and the United Episcopal Church of North America.

In 2007, various jurisdictions made attempts at overcoming the movement's divisions. The Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Province of Christ the King, and the United Episcopal Church of North America entered into discussions about possible organic unity. A Communion Agreement was entered into on May 17, 2007.[11] In January 2009 one bishop from each jurisdiction consecrated three suffragan bishops in St. Louis, intending that they serve all three jurisdictions.

The Anglican Episcopal Church and the Diocese of the Great Lakes formed the North American Anglican Conference for mutual assistance between "Biblical Anglican" churches. A suffragan bishop was consecrated for the Anglican Episcopal Church in late 2008 by its presiding bishop and three bishops of the Diocese of the Great Lakes. Both the Diocese of the Great Lakes, and the Anglican Episcopal Church have subsequently merged with the United Episcopal Church of North America.

Another regional association facilitating increased dialogue and fellowship opportunities is Common Cause Appalachia, to which some continuing Anglican churches in Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Tennessee belong.[12]

In 2007, one Continuing Anglican church body, the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), made a formal proposal to the Roman Catholic Church for admission into "full corporate and sacramental union" with that church in a manner that would permit the retention of some of its Anglican heritage.[13] The Vatican announced, on July 5, 2008, that it was giving serious consideration to appeals received from various Anglican groups seeking union with itself, observing that "the situation within the Anglican Communion in general has become markedly more complex".[14] On October 29, 2009, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced Pope Benedict XVI's intention to create a new type of ecclesiastical structure,[15] called a "personal ordinariate", for groups of Anglicans entering into full communion with the see of Rome.[16]

On November 4, 2009, Pope Benedict signed an apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus. The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America – the American province of the TAC – responded on March 3, 2010, voting unanimously to request acceptance under the personal ordinariate provision.[17][18] Within months, however, a majority of the eight ACA bishops made known their opposition to the move,[19] and the church has since declared its intention to remain a Continuing Anglican body.

On October 6, 2017, the Anglican Church in America, the Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Province of America, and the Diocese of the Holy Cross signed a Communio In Sacris agreement at jointly held synods in Atlanta, Georgia,[20] pledging to pursue full, institutional, and organic union.

On January 13–17, 2020, in Atlanta. All four jurisdictions, Anglican Church in America, the Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Province of America, and the Diocese of the Holy Cross were represented at the second joint synod.