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Orthodox Anglicans Still Fractured But Maintain Identity, Strength

Orthodox Anglicans Still Fractured But Maintain Identity, Strength

By Wallace Spaulding
Fellowship of Concerned Churchman
December 20, 2011

WE HAVE COMPARED current jurisdictional websites and other relevant sources with the data reported in the FCC’s November 2007 Directory of Traditional Anglican & Episcopal Parishes, and find that we have a slight increase in parishes that we could identify as orthodox (1,146 over and against 1,027), if one uses support for the historic all-male priesthood as a key criterion.

However, we also find that orthodox Anglicans remain fragmented, with some 30 jurisdictions noted, though a number of them (and generally those with larger parish totals) can be found within three of four umbrella groupings of orthodox Anglican bodies: original derivatives of the post-1976 Continuing Anglican movement, the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas (launched in 2006), and the (new) Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), established in 2009.

Indeed, the first major change since publication of the last Directory was the formation of the ACNA, wherein we find 337 parishes (out of a current total of 686) to be orthodox (i.e., opposed to the priesting of women). The second major change was the defection to Rome by 29 of the 41 Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC) parishes we listed in the 2007 Directory; 23 out of 95 parishes listed for the Anglican Church in America (ACA); three out of 92 orthodox parishes within the Episcopal Church (TEC); and one out of 23 parishes of the Episcopal Missionary Church (EMC).

Some of the biggest orthodox gains over the period appear to be in the Reformed Episcopal Church, which added 49 parishes, and in the (ACNA) Dioceses of Fort Worth and Quincy, wherein 38 parishes not previously noted as orthodox identified themselves more clearly as such by their decision to follow the dioceses’ orthodox leadership out of TEC.

As well, we find 34 new parishes in the Anglican Mission (AM, formerly the AMiA) since 2007, and (tentatively) 22 in the new ACNA Dioceses of Cascadia and Western Anglicans not previously identified. Also added were now-claimed parishes of the following not included in 2007 Directory tallies: Southern Episcopal Church (SEC), 22; Holy Catholic Church-Anglican Rite (HCC-AR), 18; Orthodox Anglican Church (OAC), 15; and Anglican Orthodox Church (AOC), 11.

At present, as earlier indicated, we might group orthodox Anglican/Episcopal parishes as presented below. The following tabulation endeavors to provide the year each body named came into being; other information (where warranted) about its origins; the body’s current number of parishes; and (in parentheses) the number of parishes it was reported as having in our 2007 Directory.

I. Original derivatives of the first Anglican Church in North America (the name initially adopted by the Continuum, the 1977-78 breakaway from The Episcopal Church):

Anglican Catholic Church (ACC, from 1978)…......102 (88)
Anglican Province of Christ the King (APCK, never entered the ACC)………………44 (47)
United Episcopal Church of North America (UECNA, broke from ACC 1981)……..20 (25)

Total parishes……………………………………………………...166 (160)

NOTE: The three above-named bodies are in communion with one another now. The ACC also appears to have a growing relationship with two other Continuing Church bodies, the Anglican Church in America (ACA) and Anglican Province of America (APA, see below), e.g. the heads of both received a cordial welcome as guests of the ACC Provincial Synod in September 2011. UECNA is also in communion with the tiny (five-parish) Diocese of the Great Lakes (DGL, see below).

II. Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas (FACA, from 2006)

Anglican Mission (AM), formerly Anglican Mission in the Americas or AMiA; primarily a start-up of the official Anglican Province of Rwanda launched in nascent form in 2000)………………153 (119)
Reformed Episcopal Church (REC, from TEC in 1873)…136 (87)
Anglican Church in America (ACA, a 1991 merger of the American
Episcopal Church [AEC, from 1968] and a minority of the ACC)
….…….. 74 (95)
Anglican Province of America (APA, from the ACA in 1995)…………60 (66)
Episcopal Missionary Church (EMC,from TEC in 1992)…………………. 30 (23)
Diocese of the Holy Cross (DHC, from APCK in 2003)………….…….21 (21)
Total Parishes……………………………………………………………474 (409)

NOTE: The DHC is in communion with each of the other five jurisdictions listed above, and DHC Diocesan (the Rt. Rev.) Paul Hewett, is the moderator of the FACA. The ACA and APA came into communion with each other in 2011. The REC is a member of the (2nd) Anglican Church in North America (ACNA, see below), while the other five bodies cited above are “ministry partners” of the ACNA, having voice without vote therein.

III. Within the (2nd) Anglican Church in North America (ACNA):

In dioceses known to be supportive of the historic male-only priesthood (i.e., opposed the ordination of women as priests):
Former TEC Diocese of San Joaquin (CA) (from2007)……………....44 (42)
Former TEC Diocese of Fort Worth (from 2008)……………………….58 (18)
Former TEC Diocese of Quincy (from 2008)……………...…………………… 24 (13)
Missionary Diocese of All Saints (MDAS, from 2009……….……………29 (21)
Reformed Episcopal Church (REC) (see also FACA, above)……………….136 (87)
Diocese of Cascadia (tentative, in addition to its four REC parishes; from 2009).11 (3)
Known orthodox parishes within other ACNA dioceses (incomplete)…...35 (16)
Total..………………………………………………………………….. 337 (200)

Note: The ACNA is in communion with the officially Anglican provinces of Nigeria and Uganda; and ACNA’s primate, the Most Rev. Robert Duncan, serves with his counterparts from these two provinces and five others (Kenya, Rwanda, Southern Cone, Tanzania, and West Africa) on the Council of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON)/Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA). The first three dioceses listed above – San Joaquin, Fort Worth and Quincy - are simultaneously members of the Province of the Southern Cone. The MDAS has incorporated the majority (15) of the Communion of Christ the Redeemer (CCR), a body with origins in the Charismatic Episcopal Church (see below), and the CCR’s former head, the Rt. Rev. Richard Lipka, has become MDAS suffragan.

IV. North American Anglican Conference (NACC, from 2008)

Anglican Episcopal Church (from 2000?)……………………………....... 6 (3)
Diocese of the Great Lakes (DGL, from 1998)……………………………. 5 (1)
Anglican Diocese of Texas (ADT, from 2010?; formerly Anglican Missionary
Diocese of Texas or AMDOT)
……………………………..………………..2 (4)
Total………………………………………………………………………...13 (8)

Note: The DGL cited above, which is in communion with the UECNA, is not to be confused with the Anglican Diocese of the Great Lakes, a constituent of the ACNA (see above)

V. Unattached to any other domestic orthodox jurisdiction:

Charismatic Episcopal Church (CEC, from 1992)……………….. 84 (91)
Within the Episcopal Church (TEC)……………………………………. 45 (92)
Southern Episcopal Church (SEC, from 1962)…………...23 (1)
Holy Catholic Church-Anglican Rite (HCC-AR, from the ACC in 1997?)….21 (3)
Anglican Church-International Communion (ACIA, from 2001).……....19 (15)
Orthodox Anglican Church (OAC, from the AOC in 1964)……….……….18 (3)
Anglican Orthodox Church (AOC, from 1963)…………………………….16 (5)
American Anglican Church (AAC, from 1992)……………………………….13 (10)
Anglican Rite-Catholic Province (AR-CP, from HCC-AR in 2010)….………………….13 (13)
Independents…………………………………………………………….………………….12 (23)
United Anglican Church (UAC, from a merger of the Traditional Episcopal Church &
the Anglo-Catholic Church of the Americas in 2002)
……………………... 9 (11)
Independent Anglican Church-Canada Synod (IAC-CS, formerly Anglican Church, Province of North America [AC-PNA], from 1934……………………6 (3)
Christian Episcopal Church (XnEC, from the Anglican Church of Canada in 1992
and EMC in 2002)
………………………………………………………….5 (4)
Within the Anglican Church of Canada (the Canadian province still recognized by Canterbury)………………………………………..4 (4)
Anglican Churches of America and Associates (ACAA, formerly Anglican Churches of America)…………………………………………..2 (3)
Missionary Episcopal Church (MEC)…………………………………………….1 (2)
Anglo-Catholic Church (AnCC………………………………………………..1 (1)

Note: Of the 47 parishes that have left our orthodox TEC category since the 2007 Directory was published, it appears that 38 went into the ACNA, 3 went to Rome, one to the ACC, and five became defunct or went liberal. Of the 23 independent orthodox Anglican parishes in 2007, five became defunct and six went to existing jurisdictions. Parishes listed in parentheses were not necessarily in the jurisdiction indicated in the 2007 Directory, but are now.

VI. 2007 Directory jurisdictions no longer listed as such (parish numbers in parentheses)

Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (39) - 28 to Rome, 3 defunct, 5 to ACC, 1 to APCK
Communion of Christ the Redeemer (21) – 15 to ACNA/MDAS, 4 defunct, 1 to Orthodoxy, 1 to ACA
Mexican National Catholic Church (3) – not in Anglican tradition
Anglican Diocese of the Chesapeake (2) – both defunct?
Communion of Corpus Christi (2) – 1 defunct, 1 to Orthodoxy
Traditional Protestant Episcopal Church (2) – both to AOC

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS TO THIS TABULATION ARE WELCOME.

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Wallace Spaulding is president of the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen. This story is published with kind permission from the The Certain Trumpet, newsletter of the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen. Fall, 2011

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