National Anglican Catholic Church

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The National Anglican Catholic Church of the United States is an independent fellowship which worships in the Anglican faith and in the Catholic tradition.

Chartered under the religious organization laws of the State of New Jersey, it had its formal foundation set in 2003 with the publication of its Principles, Positions and Practice handbook. The Church can trace its roots however to an early association with the American Fellowship Church and the Western Orthodox Church in America. It is from here that the priests of the Church, persons ordained within the Servants of the Resurrection, obtained their Apostolic line of succession from Bishop C. David Luther, SGS, founder of the Western Orthodox Church in America who did consecrate Bishop Nicholas Owens in September 1977 in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Bishop Owens, together with others, later established The National Anglican Catholic Church.

Both the Church and the Servants of the Resurrection, recognize the Archbishop of Canterbury as spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion; though no formal ties exist between the two churches.

This is in part due to the many contemporary positions held by the Church. These include the ordination of women and homosexual priests, tolerance of divorce as to not separate a catholic from Communion and the progressive positions on euthanasia, homosexuality, same sex civil unions and scriptural inspiration and interpretations. The Church challenges others and itself to believe that Jesus Christ leads today in an ever changing contemporary world and "is not locked away in the books of a first century theology or behind isolated marble walls". Making strides in New Jersey and New England where many states have tolerant laws regarding sexual orientation, the Church is embraced by the gay and lesbian community.

Priests ordained within the Church, serve in a religious order known as The Servants of the Resurrection, and usually find themselves in hospital and hospice work, as well as community outreach based programs. In 2007 the Presiding Bishop of the Church was the Most Right Reverend Michael Leaf, S.R.

The webiste for the church is www.thenationalanglicancatholicchurch.org