The Independent Anglican Church (Canada Synod) (IACCS) is a Christian denomination in the Anglican tradition with churches in Canada and the United States of America. It is not affiliated with the Anglican Communion headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Most Rev. Peter Wayne Goodrich of Niagara Falls, Ontario, is its Primate. There are three suffragan bishops.
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The IACCS descends from a single parish that separated from the Anglican Church of Canada in 1934 under the leadership of William H. Daw,[1] later created additional parishes, and adopted the present name in the 1980s.
The Order of the Oblates of St. John the Evangelist was formed within the church in September, 2003. The order is open to both clergy and lay persons.
In 2006, the Anglican Independent Communion in the Americas, led by the Rt. Rev. John W. Gains of Georgetown, Delaware, merged with the IACCS to become a newly-named "Anglican Church, Province of North America, Inc." The venture was dissolved in 2008, and the Canadian church resumed its earlier identity. Bishop Gains and his parish subsequently joined the IACCS as did Bishop Michael Fedechko, formerly Bishop Primus of the Reformed Episcopal Church of Canada, along with his parish in New Liskeard, Ontario.
The Independent Anglican Church (Canada Synod) considers itself to be conservative, having retained the use of the historic Book of Common Prayer, the Book of Common Praise 1938, and Anglican Chant for the Psalms and Canticles. This conservatism is also apparent in its requirement that all clergy subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and lead lives compatible with Scripture. The church is committed to the male priesthood and episcopate.
The Independent Anglican Church (Canada Synod) has published two service books for use by its congregations. The Book of Common Prayer, 1991 Canada, and The Psalter, Psalms and Canticles Pointed and Set to Anglican Chants, were both published in 1991. A companion Holy Week and Other Services book was published by the church in the Fall of 2000. An Anglican Book of Occasional Services is a work in progress and is expected to be published early in 2012.
The discipline and public worship of the church ranges from Anglo-Catholic to (Low) Evangelical. Most congregations are described as being in between the two.
The church has its own educational facility, St. Matthew’s Cathedral College, which prepares students for the ministry. The minimum requirement for admission to the college is a Bachelor of Arts degree from a recognized University, although special consideration is given to mature students of suitable background to study for certification in the sacred ministry. A new campus of the college has been authorized for Niagara Falls, New York and classes are scheduled to begin in early 2012. The course outlines will include both on campus and distance learning.
The Diocesan Library houses approximately 4,000 volumes. This collection features books and information about virtually every religion, having been collected over the past forty years by Archbishop Goodrich. The library is available for students of St. Matthew’s Cathedral College as well as other students of religion.
The IACCS is not in formal communion with the Continuing Anglican Movement or with any other independent Anglicans, but considers itself to be unilaterally in communion with any Anglican jurisdiction that has "a valid Apostolic Succession and maintains the Anglican Tradition of Common Prayer worship."
Unlike some other independent Anglican church jurisdictions, the policy of the Independent Anglican Church (Canada Synod) is not to encourage members, either clergy or lay, of the Anglican Church of Canada to desert the Anglican Communion. The intention of the Independent Anglican Church (Canada Synod) is to be available for those who, for whatever reasons, have already left the Anglican Church of Canada or any other Church within the Anglican Communion.
Under Archbishop Goodrich, new parishes were established in the USA and in several cities in Ontario. At present, the church has a parish in Hamilton (St. Mary the Virgin); one in Stoney Creek (St. George's); one in Toronto (St. Matthew's Cathedral); one in New Liskeard (Trinity); two in New York State (St. George the Martyr, Niagara Falls, and St. Stephen's, Williamsville); one in Georgetown, Delaware (St. James); and Deacon Samuel P. Lundy is a Fire Chaplain in Watertown, New York.