Congress of St. Louis

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The 1977 Congress of St. Louis was an international gathering of nearly 2,000 Anglicans, united in their rejection of perceived theological changes introduced by the Episcopal Church in the United States of America in the General Convention of 1976 and, ultimately, by the 1979 revision of the Book of Common Prayer. Anglicans who attended this congress felt that these changes amounted to foundational changes in the Episcopal Church and meant that it had "departed from Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church."^[1]

The Congress of St. Louis produced the Affirmation of St. Louis and authorized the formation of the Anglican Church in North America. Despite the plans for a united church, the result was division into several Continuing Anglican churches: the Anglican Catholic Church, the Anglican Province of Christ the King and the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada.

These continuing churches consider themselves to be maintaining the American Episcopal church rather than breaking away from it, and insist it was the Episcopal Church in the United States of America which introduced changes departing from commitment to scripture, the Anglican tradition, and the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.^[1] Theological liberalism and ordination of women are not the only reasons for the split, but are seen, by these churches as further evidence of the mainline church's departure from Anglican orthodoxy^[2] .

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b} Excerpt from the Affirmation of St. Louis as printed in an ACC brochure, “Who we are”
2. ^ The Path of the Episcopal Church : Walking Apart

[edit] External links

• History of the Province, from the website of APCK.
• About The Anglican Catholic Church, a section containing history of the ACC.
• Walking Apart, a wiki documenting actions by and milestones of ECUSA in their perceived departure from Anglicanism.