The Anglican Province of America (APA) is a Continuing Anglican church in the United States. The church was founded by former members of the Episcopal Church in the United States.
History
In the 1960s, the Episcopal Church in the United States (ECUSA) 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.
Opposition to these actions led to the founding of the American Episcopal Church (AEC) 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.
The Presiding Bishop of the APA from its founding until 2021 was Walter Howard Grundorf, who was consecrated on October 3, 1991, by the Rt. Rev. Robert William Stanley Mercer, CR, sometime Bishop of Matabeleland in the Province of Central Africa, the Rt. Rev. Robert Herbert Mize, Junior, sometime Bishop of Damaraland in the Province of Southern Africa, and the Rt. Rev. Charles Francis Boynton, sometime Bishop Suffragan of New York and Missionary Bishop of Puerto Rico. Grundorf was a signatory to the Bartonville Agreement of 1999 which outlined a plan for cooperation between some of the Continuing Anglican churches and conservatives in the Episcopal Church.
Through the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas, the APA was associated with the Common Cause Partnership, an organization seeking to unite various Anglican jurisdictions to form a new conservative province of the Anglican Communion in North America. But when, in July 2008, the APA voted to delay a decision on its membership until a number of contentious issues were resolved in the Common Cause Partnership, including whether or not to accept the practice of ordaining women, the APA's Diocese of the West disaffiliated. It subsequently joined the Reformed Episcopal Church and, through her, the Common Cause Partnership. On March 4, 2009, the Anglican Province of America (APA) reorganized its Diocese of the West (DOW) with parishes that had chosen not to follow Richard Boyce out of the APA.
On June 10, 2010, the Rev. Canon Chandler Holder Jones SSC, was elected Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of the Eastern United States at the 42nd annual synod of the diocese, held in Orlando, Florida. He was consecrated on September 18, 2010, at Saint Alban's Cathedral in Oviedo, Florida by the Most Rev. Walter Howard Grundorf, assisted by the Rt. Rev. Larry Lee Shaver, the Rt. Rev. C. Peter Brewer, the Rt. Rev. Paul C. Hewett (Diocese of the Holy Cross), the Rt. Rev. Clark Dorman, and the Rt. Rev. Arthur Rushlow.
On July 18, 2019, Bishop Chandler Jones was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of the Eastern United States at the 51st annual synod, held in Orlando, Florida.
On July 19, 2012, the Rev. Robert Todd Giffin was elected Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of Mid-America at the 3rd annual synod of the diocese, held in Lima, Ohio. He was consecrated on October 6, 2012, by the Most Rev. Walter Howard Grundorf, assisted by the Rt. Rev. Chandler Holder Jones, SSC, the Most Rev. Brian Richard Marsh (Anglican Church in America) and the Rt. Rev. Larry Lee Shaver. On February 22, 2014, the Rt. Rev. Robert Todd Giffin was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of Mid-America at an election synod held in Merrillville, Indiana. On June 20, 2015, Bishop Giffin was installed and enthroned by the Most Rev Walter Howard Grundorf, Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America, as the new Bishop Ordinary of the DMA at the diocese's 6th annual synod. The synod, installment and enthronement were held at the Pro-Cathedral of St. Andrew the Evangelist in Merrillville, Indiana. Bishop Giffin succeeded the Rt. Rev. Larry Lee Shaver as the second bishop of the diocese, which was formed in 2010. On July 22, 2021, upon consent and ratification by the Provincial Synod, the Diocese of Mid-America and the Diocese of the West joined to form the Diocese of the Central and Western States. Bishop Giffin is the Bishop Ordinary of the new diocese, which held its Primary Synod on August 22, 2021.