The Anglican Province of America
A Traditional Anglican Church
A Traditional Anglican Church
A History of the Anglican Province of America
by The Rev'd Mark F.M. Clavier, MTS
Rector of All Saints Church, Arden, North Carolina
by The Rev'd Mark F.M. Clavier, MTS
Rector of All Saints Church, Arden, North Carolina
To understand the origins of the Anglican Province of America, one has to go back to the religious turmoil and cultural turmoil of the late 1960s and the 1970s. That period saw America shaken by the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the resignation of President Richard Nixon due to the Watergate scandal. All three helped to polarize the nation, and as American society drifted apart, so the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA). Three issues directly challenged traditionalists and conservatives in ECUSA. The first centered around Bishop James Pike of California. The speculations of this colorful, brilliant, and ultimately unstable bishop earned the disapproval of the Bishop of Florida, who sought to have him tried for heresy for denying the Resurrection and Virgin Birth. But the House of Bishops, meeting in Wheeling, West Virginia in 1965, refused to proceed against their erring brother.
In 1965, John Hines became the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Under his leadership, the Episcopal Church participated in the Civil Rights Movement. The involvement of Episcopal clergymen in that movement is an important chapter yet to be properly told. It was the admirable climax of the so-called Social Gospel Movement that had begun with the Anglo-Catholics of the late nineteenth-century. As the Civil Rights Movement became more radicalized, however, some began to question some areas of ECUSA's involvement. This came to a particular head when it was revealed that some of the tithes of the Church were going towards filling the pockets of people who embraced violence as a political tool.
In 1965, John Hines became the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. Under his leadership, the Episcopal Church participated in the Civil Rights Movement. The involvement of Episcopal clergymen in that movement is an important chapter yet to be properly told. It was the admirable climax of the so-called Social Gospel Movement that had begun with the Anglo-Catholics of the late nineteenth-century. As the Civil Rights Movement became more radicalized, however, some began to question some areas of ECUSA's involvement. This came to a particular head when it was revealed that some of the tithes of the Church were going towards filling the pockets of people who embraced violence as a political tool.
Finally, the dramatic shift in Roman Catholic liturgies caused many within the ECUSA establishment to embrace a radical transformation of the Book of Common Prayer. Ignoring the vocal concerns of a significant number of the laity, the hierarchy of the Episcopal Church enforced the use of the new liturgies. This gave rise to a strong sense of disenfranchisement among many laypeople. And so, by the late Sixties, an Episcopalian might find himself worshipping according to a novel liturgy, listening to a sermon denying core doctrines of the Faith, and being asked to support the "Black Panthers." Traditionalist Episcopalians seemed to be faced with radical changes on all sides.
It was in an atmosphere of confused retreat that the American Episcopal Church (AEC) was born in March of 1968. At that two-day meeting in Mobile, Alabama, it was agreed that a new body was needed in order to preserve traditional Anglicanism. Afterwards, lay delegates from that meeting established small parishes in Mobile, New Orleans, Birmingham, Cincinnati, and West Palm Beach, with embryo groups in Charleston and Huntington Beach. At that time the fledging AEC numbered no more than a couple hundred souls.
Despite their suspicious view of bishops, the founders of the AEC recognized that in order to be "episcopal" they had to have bishops. As no bishop at this time had stepped forward to lead the AEC, the National Vestry decided that it would have to get one of its own men consecrated. It was, therefore, a top priority of the founders to find a validly ordained bishop willing to consecrate a bishop for the AEC. Although the Episcopal bishop of Lexington, Kentucky, William Moody, showed great sympathy, in the end he could do nothing. The Bishop of Nassau and the Bahamas offered to ordain anyone who could get to his cathedral. Finally, J.C. Pillai, a native of South India, offered to consecrate the first AEC bishops. James George became the first bishop of the AEC in December 1968.
The difficulties facing our fledgling church were enormous. The all-powerful National Vestry was dominated by an oligarchy of major funders who clashed frequently with Bishop George. The Canons of the church were impossible to justify on Anglican grounds. The source of episcopal orders from a single bishop of unusual background drew attacks from Episcopal clergy. Members of the infant church knew what they opposed but had little vision for the future. Finally, desperately short of clergy, men had to be ordained with little or no training or background. At the start of 1969, the future of the AEC looked bleak.
Despite their suspicious view of bishops, the founders of the AEC recognized that in order to be "episcopal" they had to have bishops. As no bishop at this time had stepped forward to lead the AEC, the National Vestry decided that it would have to get one of its own men consecrated. It was, therefore, a top priority of the founders to find a validly ordained bishop willing to consecrate a bishop for the AEC. Although the Episcopal bishop of Lexington, Kentucky, William Moody, showed great sympathy, in the end he could do nothing. The Bishop of Nassau and the Bahamas offered to ordain anyone who could get to his cathedral. Finally, J.C. Pillai, a native of South India, offered to consecrate the first AEC bishops. James George became the first bishop of the AEC in December 1968.
The difficulties facing our fledgling church were enormous. The all-powerful National Vestry was dominated by an oligarchy of major funders who clashed frequently with Bishop George. The Canons of the church were impossible to justify on Anglican grounds. The source of episcopal orders from a single bishop of unusual background drew attacks from Episcopal clergy. Members of the infant church knew what they opposed but had little vision for the future. Finally, desperately short of clergy, men had to be ordained with little or no training or background. At the start of 1969, the future of the AEC looked bleak.
Crisis and Transformation
In 1970, Archdeacon Tony Clavier was elected suffragan to Bishop George and consecrated the following day in 1970. At the same time, however, open conflict broke out within the AEC over canonical reforms which resulted in court battles. Shortly thereafter, the National Vestry disbanded sending the AEC into a serious financial crisis. Until the summer of 1970, all the clergy were paid from central funds controlled by the National Vestry. These funds were no longer available. Bishop George, now living in Spartanburg, SC proposed that parishes or groups of parishes take on the support of individual clergy. When he was opposed, he suddenly resigned. Once again the AEC was left with only one bishop and on August 29th, 1970, Bishop Clavier was elected bishop of the Diocese of the Eastern United States and leader of the American Episcopal Church. Refusing the title "Archbishop," he took instead the title, "Primus," used in the Scottish Episcopal Church by its senior bishop.
The election of Bishop Clavier as Primus of the AEC marked one of the major turning points in the history of the Diocese. Whereas many of the key figures in the AEC up to this point had been reactionary, not a little racist, in poor health, and deficient of vision, Clavier was a young moderate of mixed racial heritage with an extraordinary grasp of Anglican essentials. Except for a brief period between 1976-1980, Bishop Clavier would remain the Primus of the AEC until 1991 and continuously Bishop of the Diocese of the Eastern United States (DEUS) until 1995. During his episcopacy, the AEC and DEUS would grow from a small, mainly Southern church to the second largest traditional Anglican body in the United States.
The election of Bishop Clavier as Primus of the AEC marked one of the major turning points in the history of the Diocese. Whereas many of the key figures in the AEC up to this point had been reactionary, not a little racist, in poor health, and deficient of vision, Clavier was a young moderate of mixed racial heritage with an extraordinary grasp of Anglican essentials. Except for a brief period between 1976-1980, Bishop Clavier would remain the Primus of the AEC until 1991 and continuously Bishop of the Diocese of the Eastern United States (DEUS) until 1995. During his episcopacy, the AEC and DEUS would grow from a small, mainly Southern church to the second largest traditional Anglican body in the United States.
Growth and Stability
One of the first actions of Bishop Clavier's episcopate was to attend the General Convention of the Episcopal Church that met that year in Houston, Texas. This marked the beginning of the AEC's attempts to establish some sort of contact with those traditionalists who remained within the Episcopal Church and the wider Anglican Communion. This was the end of the isolationist policies of the AEC reactionaries. Informal contacts were made with many traditionalists that would, in time, bear fruit. In particular, a strong friendship formed between Clavier and Stanley Atkins, then bishop of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
During this time, a typical AEC parish met in someone's living room, a borrowed church building, or a storefront, and shared either an aging priest or a "worker-priest" responsible for one or more other parishes. No parish contained more than a handful of members, many of whom were elderly. The instability of these "living room chapels" can be seen in the fact that not a few eventually died. Poorly paid and over-worked, there was a high turnover of clergy as priests quit or went to another church in search of a better living. Considering this, it is remarkable that the AEC ever achieved stability and permanence.
In 1974, the Episcopal bishop of Kentucky, David B. Reed, suggested that talks begin 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 idea was for the AEC to be admitted to the "Wider Episcopal Fellowship," a group of autonomous jurisdictions that included the Old Catholic and Philippine Independent National Catholic Churches. But events overtook those talks, which did not resume until 1978, after the Congress of St. Louis (see below) had altered the whole landscape of traditional Anglicanism.
Despite growth and stability between 1971 and 1976, the AEC remained very poor. Parishes relied on worker-priests and even the bishop's tiny stipend was not always paid on time. In reality the American Episcopal Church consisted of no more than sixteen congregations with a total membership of a few hundred lay members.
During this time, a typical AEC parish met in someone's living room, a borrowed church building, or a storefront, and shared either an aging priest or a "worker-priest" responsible for one or more other parishes. No parish contained more than a handful of members, many of whom were elderly. The instability of these "living room chapels" can be seen in the fact that not a few eventually died. Poorly paid and over-worked, there was a high turnover of clergy as priests quit or went to another church in search of a better living. Considering this, it is remarkable that the AEC ever achieved stability and permanence.
In 1974, the Episcopal bishop of Kentucky, David B. Reed, suggested that talks begin 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 idea was for the AEC to be admitted to the "Wider Episcopal Fellowship," a group of autonomous jurisdictions that included the Old Catholic and Philippine Independent National Catholic Churches. But events overtook those talks, which did not resume until 1978, after the Congress of St. Louis (see below) had altered the whole landscape of traditional Anglicanism.
Despite growth and stability between 1971 and 1976, the AEC remained very poor. Parishes relied on worker-priests and even the bishop's tiny stipend was not always paid on time. In reality the American Episcopal Church consisted of no more than sixteen congregations with a total membership of a few hundred lay members.
And
The 1976 General Convention, meeting in Minneapolis, approved the ordination of women to Holy Orders and the first reading of legislation to adopt a new Prayer Book. Traditionalists, split into different camps, suffered an enormous and costly defeat. Some were for the new Prayer Book but against the ordination of women. Some had no problems with the ordination of women, but opposed any revision to the Prayer Book. Many wanted to stay in and fight. Others wanted to form a new church.
As plans emerged to summon a Congress of traditionalist Episcopal churchmen in St. Louis, the AEC was approached by Bishop Chambers, recently retired Episcopal bishop of Springfield, and Canon Albert duBois, the leader of the American Church Union. Both wanted to include delegates from the AEC in the Congress to be held in St. Louis, but for various reasons this was denied. As a result, the traditional Anglican Movement was divided at an important time in its history.
Out of that Congress, traditional Anglicans came to be known as the Continuing Anglican Movement, a term that came be applied to a hodgepodge of the traditional Anglican jurisdictions committed to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and Catholic order. Despite its failure to be recognized by most of the rest of the movement, the AEC began an era of significant growth that would continue until 1991. By the late 1970s the AEC had not only tested her wings but had also begun to develop her own identity. It found itself filling the gap between the Episcopal Church and the newer Continuing Churches. It tended to be positive in its outlook. Mild liturgical changes were permitted: the monthly reading of the Decalogue could be dropped in favor of the Summary of the Law, the laity were permitted to say the Prayer of Humble Access and Thanksgiving with the clergy, and the Prayer for the Church was, in places, turned into a litany. Women were admitted as delegates to synods and as members of vestries.
Perhaps more by accident than design, the DEUS, the oldest continuing diocese in the United States, emerged with its own moderate ethos that contrasted and still contrasts strongly with other Anglican bodies. Forced to survive for years with little financial support, the church concentrated much more on evangelism and parish growth than on polemics and anti-Episcopal Church rhetoric. So the AEC directed its efforts towards evangelization. From the beginning, the AEC embraced the spectrum of Anglican traditions and liturgical practices. An extraordinary familial fellowship was forged between clergy and laity alike. Synods became times of mutual fellowship and care rather than opportunities for divisive legislation. While attacks by other continuing leaders became more and more vicious, the AEC earned the respect of many ECUSA leaders and of traditionalists the world over. That ethos and respect remains to this day.
As plans emerged to summon a Congress of traditionalist Episcopal churchmen in St. Louis, the AEC was approached by Bishop Chambers, recently retired Episcopal bishop of Springfield, and Canon Albert duBois, the leader of the American Church Union. Both wanted to include delegates from the AEC in the Congress to be held in St. Louis, but for various reasons this was denied. As a result, the traditional Anglican Movement was divided at an important time in its history.
Out of that Congress, traditional Anglicans came to be known as the Continuing Anglican Movement, a term that came be applied to a hodgepodge of the traditional Anglican jurisdictions committed to the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and Catholic order. Despite its failure to be recognized by most of the rest of the movement, the AEC began an era of significant growth that would continue until 1991. By the late 1970s the AEC had not only tested her wings but had also begun to develop her own identity. It found itself filling the gap between the Episcopal Church and the newer Continuing Churches. It tended to be positive in its outlook. Mild liturgical changes were permitted: the monthly reading of the Decalogue could be dropped in favor of the Summary of the Law, the laity were permitted to say the Prayer of Humble Access and Thanksgiving with the clergy, and the Prayer for the Church was, in places, turned into a litany. Women were admitted as delegates to synods and as members of vestries.
Perhaps more by accident than design, the DEUS, the oldest continuing diocese in the United States, emerged with its own moderate ethos that contrasted and still contrasts strongly with other Anglican bodies. Forced to survive for years with little financial support, the church concentrated much more on evangelism and parish growth than on polemics and anti-Episcopal Church rhetoric. So the AEC directed its efforts towards evangelization. From the beginning, the AEC embraced the spectrum of Anglican traditions and liturgical practices. An extraordinary familial fellowship was forged between clergy and laity alike. Synods became times of mutual fellowship and care rather than opportunities for divisive legislation. While attacks by other continuing leaders became more and more vicious, the AEC earned the respect of many ECUSA leaders and of traditionalists the world over. That ethos and respect remains to this day.
Years of Plenty, 1982-1991
Two symbolically significant matters occupied the attention of the AEC in 1982. The first was the consecration of St. Peter's Cathedral, Deerfield Beach, Fla. St. Peter's was the first building to be erected and paid for by a local traditional Anglican congregation. Apart from its being the seat of the bishop of the Eastern United States, the building acted as an inspiration to other parishes to embark on similar projects. Nothing like it had been tried among North American traditional Anglican churches, most of which still worshiped in living rooms and storefronts.
The Cathedral, a parish which had grown from a couple of dozen people in 1977 to one of nearly 300 by 1982, became a "mother church," thus symbolizing growth and permanence. Thesecond development represented the desire of the AEC to retain its roots in the wider family of Anglican churches. For three years the AEC engaged in informal contacts with the Episcopal Church, encouraged by its Presiding Bishop, John Allin. As a resuly, in 1982, formal talks began, blessed by the House of Bishops of ECUSA. Three bishops from each church began to meet regularly. The Primus of the AEC and William Wantland, the ECUSA Bishop of Eau Claire, served as joint chairs of this committee. The Canons of ECUSA contained a section that envisioned the recognition of a discrete American religious community under the jurisdiction of the Presiding Bishop.
As the bishops of the AEC had received conditional consecration by three bishops of the Philippine Independent National Catholic Church, the question of Orders was easily assessed and a favorable report given to the ECUSA Presiding Bishop. Work went ahead on what measures might be taken to get the General Convention of ECUSA to recognize what would be, in effect, a parallel jurisdiction. Both churches were faced with opposition to such a plan from within, but it was hoped that a concrete proposal would emerge before Bishop Allin's term expired in 1985.
In the meantime, the AEC was growing. In the early and mid-80s, a steady stream of people continued to depart the Episcopal Church in reaction to the many changes they experienced, especially at the parish level. But as more and more AEC parishes managed to find themselves permanent places of worship, an ever-increasing number of unchurched people and those from other denominations began to join. Many of these people were drawn by the reverence and fellowship that typified AEC congregations.
The AEC also grew, in part, at the expense of other "Continuing Churches," which were experiencing what would become almost endemic schism. In 1981, the Anglican Episcopal Church 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 parted company with its founding body and came into union with the AEC. In a short period of time, the AEC became a multi-diocesan church.
What was distinct about the AEC was its determination to become an Anglican Church, welcoming all strands of churchmanship and affording the laity a full part in its doings. It's Constitution and Canons, while simplified, enshrined the doctrine, discipline and worship of ECUSA before 1976. It was also determined that the AEC would do all it could not to define itself as an exilic body, reacting to the changes and events in ECUSA, but rather a church in mission reaching out to all who availed themselves of its ministry. This distinction was the cause of a good deal of reaction to it on the part of the rest of the Continuing churches, most of which embraced a more rigid and reactive "party" stance in opposition to the developments in ECUSA.
While facing external pressures, internally the AEC was entering a protracted period of stability and prosperity. In Orlando, a start-up church headed by Suffragan Bishop Walter Grundorf grew and would eventually become the largest traditional Anglican parish in America with its own building bought and paid for by parishioners. An ECUSA parish in Brooklyn entered into union, and managed to keep its property. Its rector, a Belizean Afro-Caribbean named Raymond Hanlan, had been elected as a second suffragan for the Eastern diocese in 1980. By the end of the decade Hispanic missions emerged in New Jersey. By 1990 the Eastern diocese had over 3000 communicants in over thirty parishes.
A training institute was founded in Orlando, putting into place a more consistent and thorough means of training men for the ministry. By the end of the decade ordinands were also being trained in Episcopal seminaries such as Nashotah House, or in the seminaries of other denominations.
Finally, the AEC was growing both in its internal cohesion and fellowship and also in the concrete development of parishes with buildings and full-time paid clergy. It had no shortage of ordinands. Synods had become occasions for a remarkable degree of unity and enjoyment. Parishes gave to the support of the dioceses and the "national" AEC with remarkable generosity. While bishops remained parish priests, the proportion of their stipends paid for by the dioceses increased and paid assistants supplemented the bishop’s pastoral roles as parish priests. There were now over eighty parishes in the AEC in three dioceses from coast to coast.
The Cathedral, a parish which had grown from a couple of dozen people in 1977 to one of nearly 300 by 1982, became a "mother church," thus symbolizing growth and permanence. Thesecond development represented the desire of the AEC to retain its roots in the wider family of Anglican churches. For three years the AEC engaged in informal contacts with the Episcopal Church, encouraged by its Presiding Bishop, John Allin. As a resuly, in 1982, formal talks began, blessed by the House of Bishops of ECUSA. Three bishops from each church began to meet regularly. The Primus of the AEC and William Wantland, the ECUSA Bishop of Eau Claire, served as joint chairs of this committee. The Canons of ECUSA contained a section that envisioned the recognition of a discrete American religious community under the jurisdiction of the Presiding Bishop.
As the bishops of the AEC had received conditional consecration by three bishops of the Philippine Independent National Catholic Church, the question of Orders was easily assessed and a favorable report given to the ECUSA Presiding Bishop. Work went ahead on what measures might be taken to get the General Convention of ECUSA to recognize what would be, in effect, a parallel jurisdiction. Both churches were faced with opposition to such a plan from within, but it was hoped that a concrete proposal would emerge before Bishop Allin's term expired in 1985.
In the meantime, the AEC was growing. In the early and mid-80s, a steady stream of people continued to depart the Episcopal Church in reaction to the many changes they experienced, especially at the parish level. But as more and more AEC parishes managed to find themselves permanent places of worship, an ever-increasing number of unchurched people and those from other denominations began to join. Many of these people were drawn by the reverence and fellowship that typified AEC congregations.
The AEC also grew, in part, at the expense of other "Continuing Churches," which were experiencing what would become almost endemic schism. In 1981, the Anglican Episcopal Church 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 parted company with its founding body and came into union with the AEC. In a short period of time, the AEC became a multi-diocesan church.
What was distinct about the AEC was its determination to become an Anglican Church, welcoming all strands of churchmanship and affording the laity a full part in its doings. It's Constitution and Canons, while simplified, enshrined the doctrine, discipline and worship of ECUSA before 1976. It was also determined that the AEC would do all it could not to define itself as an exilic body, reacting to the changes and events in ECUSA, but rather a church in mission reaching out to all who availed themselves of its ministry. This distinction was the cause of a good deal of reaction to it on the part of the rest of the Continuing churches, most of which embraced a more rigid and reactive "party" stance in opposition to the developments in ECUSA.
While facing external pressures, internally the AEC was entering a protracted period of stability and prosperity. In Orlando, a start-up church headed by Suffragan Bishop Walter Grundorf grew and would eventually become the largest traditional Anglican parish in America with its own building bought and paid for by parishioners. An ECUSA parish in Brooklyn entered into union, and managed to keep its property. Its rector, a Belizean Afro-Caribbean named Raymond Hanlan, had been elected as a second suffragan for the Eastern diocese in 1980. By the end of the decade Hispanic missions emerged in New Jersey. By 1990 the Eastern diocese had over 3000 communicants in over thirty parishes.
A training institute was founded in Orlando, putting into place a more consistent and thorough means of training men for the ministry. By the end of the decade ordinands were also being trained in Episcopal seminaries such as Nashotah House, or in the seminaries of other denominations.
Finally, the AEC was growing both in its internal cohesion and fellowship and also in the concrete development of parishes with buildings and full-time paid clergy. It had no shortage of ordinands. Synods had become occasions for a remarkable degree of unity and enjoyment. Parishes gave to the support of the dioceses and the "national" AEC with remarkable generosity. While bishops remained parish priests, the proportion of their stipends paid for by the dioceses increased and paid assistants supplemented the bishop’s pastoral roles as parish priests. There were now over eighty parishes in the AEC in three dioceses from coast to coast.
Promise and Disillusionment, 1991-1995
During the 1980s the AEC experienced remarkable growth. Taking a more moderate stance on various issues, the AEC attracted new members and new clergy from both the Episcopal Church and elsewhere. Unofficially, the AEC saw itself more as a lifeboat for those forced out the ECUSA than as a counter-Anglican Church in this country. Often delegates from the AEC attended General Conventions as observers or, as Bishop Clavier styled it, "Ghosts of Christmas Past." The AEC also had very good relations with the first generation of ECUSA traditionalists. By 1989, the AEC numbered about 73 clergy and 8,000 members.
During the early 1990s, the leadership of the AEC began to have talks with some of the leadership of the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC). These talks eventually led to the departure of about 1/3 of the ACC (along with their Archbishop, Louis Falk) to merge with the AEC to form what is now called the Anglican Church in America. The union came about in South Florida in 1991. The ACA then numbered around 9,000 members.
Sadly, that union proved temporary. For many different reasons due largely to differences of theological culture, the union dissolved. Under the leadership of Bishop Grundorf, the old Diocese of the Eastern United States and a small portion of the Diocese of the West (numbering about 1,300 members) separated from the ACA and formed the Anglican Province of America. Perhaps the collapse showed that this most significant attempt to create unity among the Continuing Churches (the forming of the ACA) was doomed from the start. Instead of being a real union of the two largest traditional Anglican bodies, it was born in internal conflict among one of the two significant partners in the merger and without a serious understanding of the traditions and experience of either body. Certainly the lack of personal accord between the leaders played its part. Certainly not enough time had elapsed before the union to afford a natural growth into real unity between the participating entities.
During the early 1990s, the leadership of the AEC began to have talks with some of the leadership of the Anglican Catholic Church (ACC). These talks eventually led to the departure of about 1/3 of the ACC (along with their Archbishop, Louis Falk) to merge with the AEC to form what is now called the Anglican Church in America. The union came about in South Florida in 1991. The ACA then numbered around 9,000 members.
Sadly, that union proved temporary. For many different reasons due largely to differences of theological culture, the union dissolved. Under the leadership of Bishop Grundorf, the old Diocese of the Eastern United States and a small portion of the Diocese of the West (numbering about 1,300 members) separated from the ACA and formed the Anglican Province of America. Perhaps the collapse showed that this most significant attempt to create unity among the Continuing Churches (the forming of the ACA) was doomed from the start. Instead of being a real union of the two largest traditional Anglican bodies, it was born in internal conflict among one of the two significant partners in the merger and without a serious understanding of the traditions and experience of either body. Certainly the lack of personal accord between the leaders played its part. Certainly not enough time had elapsed before the union to afford a natural growth into real unity between the participating entities.
Prosperity
and
and
New
Horizons
Horizons
1995 - 2005
It is significant that after the 1995 breakup of the union, the departing diocese and parishes swiftly returned to the ethos and temperament of the AEC. Most significant of all was the ability of the old AEC, now termed in the alphabet soup of the Continuing Churches as the APA (Anglican Province of American), to re-capture its more irenic tone and internal fellowship. After no more than a year of some distress, it began to grow again. Most of its ordinands were being trained at Nashotah House, Duke Divinity School or other seminaries. More and more clergy were full-time. Church buildings continued to be erected. Summer camps for youth began to be organized.
Nor was the APA content to retreat into a ghetto. Very serious talks with the Reformed Episcopal Church after 1995 led inevitably to formal intercommunion and a plan to merge both bodies after a ten-year period of dialogue. A significant theological justification for this unity, grounded in classical Anglican divinity was published. The APA swiftly recovered its membership and the Diocese of the Eastern United States now has more members than before the split. As of 2004, the APA numbers nearly 6,000 members, with missions forming in new locations. As of 2003, the average congregational strength was about seventy-five, cared for by an increasing number of young, seminary-educated clergy.
Even in the face of the Episcopal Church's continued "liberal" trends, formal talks were revived between the APA/REC and ECUSA and were officially endorsed by the 2003 ECUSA General Convention. While the controversial measures adopted by ECUSA in 2003 have largely scuttled these talks, the willingness of the APA and the REC to explore ways to live "beyond schism" signal a return to that desire and policy that seemed to perish at the end of Presiding Bishop John Allin's primacy. Bishops of the REC and the APA now enjoy unofficial collegial relationships with the leaders of the network of Episcopal dioceses and parishes opposed to the 2003 General Convention's policies. There are also promising developments with some of the conservative primates of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The APA, as heir to the AEC, continues to be determined to live into its heritage as a thoroughly Anglican church in mission. It attracts people from non-Anglican bodies and the unchurched. It now faces the challenge of assimilating a new influx of Episcopalians.
Inevitably, the APA has drawn further away from those Continuing bodies founded after the 1976 General Convention of ECUSA. No formal relations exist with any of the major Continuing bodies, though some smaller ones have elected to become part of the APA. After 1995, the APA has become almost completely reoriented ecumenically towards the REC and traditionalist organizations within the Anglican Communion. While the break-up of the ACA undoubtedly deepened the division among traditional Anglicans, in reality it merely demonstrated something unique about the APA. It was founded before the ordination of women was legislated, during those hectic years at the end of the 1960s. While it has addressed the subsequent hot-button events in ECUSA and sought to minister to those who left ECUSA in those times of turmoil, as the oldest of the modern Continuing Church bodies and the only one which expresses in its formularies and ethos a reverence for Anglican tradition in its comprehensive reality, it has now lived into a second generation whose identity is not ex-Episcopalian. As such the APA offers to people now in conflict a way forward founded in over thirty-five years of existence.
Nor was the APA content to retreat into a ghetto. Very serious talks with the Reformed Episcopal Church after 1995 led inevitably to formal intercommunion and a plan to merge both bodies after a ten-year period of dialogue. A significant theological justification for this unity, grounded in classical Anglican divinity was published. The APA swiftly recovered its membership and the Diocese of the Eastern United States now has more members than before the split. As of 2004, the APA numbers nearly 6,000 members, with missions forming in new locations. As of 2003, the average congregational strength was about seventy-five, cared for by an increasing number of young, seminary-educated clergy.
Even in the face of the Episcopal Church's continued "liberal" trends, formal talks were revived between the APA/REC and ECUSA and were officially endorsed by the 2003 ECUSA General Convention. While the controversial measures adopted by ECUSA in 2003 have largely scuttled these talks, the willingness of the APA and the REC to explore ways to live "beyond schism" signal a return to that desire and policy that seemed to perish at the end of Presiding Bishop John Allin's primacy. Bishops of the REC and the APA now enjoy unofficial collegial relationships with the leaders of the network of Episcopal dioceses and parishes opposed to the 2003 General Convention's policies. There are also promising developments with some of the conservative primates of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The APA, as heir to the AEC, continues to be determined to live into its heritage as a thoroughly Anglican church in mission. It attracts people from non-Anglican bodies and the unchurched. It now faces the challenge of assimilating a new influx of Episcopalians.
Inevitably, the APA has drawn further away from those Continuing bodies founded after the 1976 General Convention of ECUSA. No formal relations exist with any of the major Continuing bodies, though some smaller ones have elected to become part of the APA. After 1995, the APA has become almost completely reoriented ecumenically towards the REC and traditionalist organizations within the Anglican Communion. While the break-up of the ACA undoubtedly deepened the division among traditional Anglicans, in reality it merely demonstrated something unique about the APA. It was founded before the ordination of women was legislated, during those hectic years at the end of the 1960s. While it has addressed the subsequent hot-button events in ECUSA and sought to minister to those who left ECUSA in those times of turmoil, as the oldest of the modern Continuing Church bodies and the only one which expresses in its formularies and ethos a reverence for Anglican tradition in its comprehensive reality, it has now lived into a second generation whose identity is not ex-Episcopalian. As such the APA offers to people now in conflict a way forward founded in over thirty-five years of existence.