The Anglican Catholic Church (ACC), also known as the Anglican Catholic Church (Original Province), is a body of Christians in the continuing Anglican movement, which is separate from the Anglican Communion led by the Archbishop of Canterbury (and symbolically and ceremonially, by the British monarch, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England). This denomination is separate from the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia and the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada.
The continuing Anglican movement, including the Anglican Catholic Church, grew out of the 1977 Congress of St. Louis. The name "Anglican Catholic" is defined as "Anglican – simply means English" and "Catholic – in the ordinary sense means Universal" with the explanation that "The ACC affirms the Canon of St. Vincent of Lérins, who defined the Catholic Faith as, 'That which has been believed everywhere, always and by all' (i.e. universally within the undivided Christian Church)." Within historic Anglicanism the ACC sees itself as "rooted in a Catholic stream of faith and practice that embraces Henrician Catholicism, the theological method of Hooker and the Carolines, the piety and learning of Andrewes, the recovering liturgical practice of the Non-Jurors, the Oxford Movement, through the Ritualists, to modern Anglo-Catholicism."
Name
"Anglican Catholic Church" had previously been considered as a possible alternative name of the Protestant Episcopal Church USA before the decision to adopt the name The Episcopal Church. At the Constitutional Synod held at Dallas, TX, October 19-21, 1978, the words “Anglican Catholic Church” as used in the Declaration and The Preamble of the Constitution only in the descriptive sense. The name "The Anglican Catholic Church" was later registered with the US Patent Office as the official name in 1979.
History
The Congress of St. Louis was held in response to the Episcopal Church's revision of the Book of Common Prayer, which organizers felt abandoned a true commitment to both scripture and historical Anglicanism. The decision to allow the ordination of women was one part of a larger theological position opposed by the congress. As a result of the congress, various Anglicans separated from the Episcopal Church and formed the "Anglican Catholic Church" to continue the Anglican tradition as they understood it. Its adherents have therefore claimed that this church is the true heir of the Church of England in the United States.
The congress's statement of principles (the "Affirmation of St. Louis") summarized the new church's reason for being as follows:
In January 1978, four bishops (Charles Doren, James Orin Mote, Robert Morse, and Francis Watterson) were consecrated. What had provisionally been called the Anglican Church in North America (Episcopal), was renamed Anglican Catholic Church at the constitutional assembly in Denver, 18–21 October 1978. The new church continued to appeal to disaffected Episcopalians to join. The Anglican Catholic Church created the missionary diocese of the Caribbean and New Granada in 1982, and consecrated Justo Pastor Ruiz, a former Episcopal priest, its first bishop. Questions over jurisdiction and authority caused the church to be eventually divided. The Canadian parishes formed the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, and American parishes formed three separate bodies, the Anglican Catholic Church, the United Episcopal Church of North America and the Diocese of Christ the King. In 1981, the Anglican Catholic Church had 8 dioceses and a missionary district, each with their own bishop, with around 200 congreagtion in 38 states. The number of members was estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000 persons. In 1983, a statement of unity led to the coalescence of the Anglican Catholic Church. In 1984 a portion of the Anglican Episcopal Church of North America merged with the ACC to become the non-geographical Diocese of St. Paul.
In 1988 the church reported 12,000 members, with 200 parishes and priests, in the United States. Worldwide membership included an additional 8,000 members. In addition to the eight dioceses in the United States, there were missionary dioceses in Australia, South Africa, Columbia, and the United Kingdom. At the 1989 Provincial Synod, Archbishop Louis Falk proposed that the Anglican Catholic Church become a worldwide traditional alternative to the Anglican Communion.