|
|
|
Click the shield
to go to the Episcopal Church’s website or
here to find out more
about the shield |
About the Episcopal Church
 As the Anglican Communion’s church in the United States of America, the Episcopal Church continues two millennia of catholic and apostolic tradition dating from Christ himself.
The Episcopal Church is self-governing, having become an independent denomination after the American Revolution
(before the Revolution it was the Church of England in the British colonies of America).
|
|
Click the book to go to
the Justus Society’s BCP website
|
Our beliefs are traditional to the Christian faith—but lite on dogma
The Episcopal Church subscribes to the historic creeds (Nicene
Creed and Apostles’ Creed). It considers the Bible to be divinely
inspired and holds the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper to be the central act of Christian
worship. However, the Episcopal Church grants great latitude in interpretation of doctrine. It tends to
stress less the confession of particular beliefs than the use of the Book of Common Prayer in public
worship. This book, first published in the sixteenth century, even in its revisions, is today a major source of unity for Anglicans around the world. |
A good—but short—treatise
about scripture, tradition, and reason. |
As part of the world-wide Anglican Communion, our members share a fellowship that acknowledges the authority of
God received through three interdependent sources: scripture, tradition, and reason grounded in experience.
|
|
Click on the map to see a larger graphic
showing the provinces of the Episcopal Church |
About our organizational structure
Dioceses are the smallest organizational grouping within the Episcopal Church. Currently there are 109 dioceses
in the ECUSA, grouped into nine provinces, and about 2.4 million members. (Double-clicking on the map on the left will show the
dioceses and provinces that make up today’s Episcopal Church.)
The trend is toward fewer dioceses as Central American provinces
that once were included in the Episcopal Church become autonomous.
|
The next Lambeth Conference
is scheduled for 2008 |
About our ordained leaders
Each diocese elects one or more bishops, who once consecrated remain bishops for life. There
are several types of bishops: diocesan, coadjutor, assisting, and suffragan, depending on the level of responsibility and whether succession as diocesan bishop intended. All Episcopal bishops, though, are consecrated
into the Apostolic Succession, considered an unbroken line of church leadership beginning with the apostles themselves.
|
|
Click on the image
to go to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s website |
The Archbishop of Canterbury is considered the head of the Anglican Church. However,
the person who fills this position is neither considered infallible nor has direct control over the entire communion. Rowan Williams will be
enthroned February 27, 2004, as the Archbishop of Canterbury. |
|
Meet the leaders of the Episcopal Church
|
|
Click on the image
to go to information about our Presiding
Bishop |
The Rt. Rev.
Katharine Jefferts Scori was elected the Episcopal Church’s 26th Presiding Bishop and Primate,
serving a nine-year term that will end December 31, 2016.
As Presiding Bishop, she serves as the chief pastor of the Episcopal Church, the
president of the House of Bishops, the president and chief executive officer
of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, and the president or chair
of numerous Episcopal Church boards and agencies.
|
|
Click on the image
to go to the President of the House of
Deputies’ Web site |
Bonnie
Anderson, vice president of the House of Deputies and a lay deputy from
the Diocese of Michigan, was elected unanimously as the next president of
the House of Deputies June 14, 2006.
As Deputies president, Anderson will
serve as presiding officer during the meeting of the House of Deputies at
the 76th General Convention. In addition, she will serve as vice president
of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, the elected body that
carries out programs and policies adopted by the General Convention and
oversees the ministry and mission of the Church. The president also appoints
lay and clergy members of most committees, commissions, agencies and boards
that serve the church. |
|
Click on the image
to go to the Secretary of the House of
Deputies’ website |
The Rev. Dr. Gregory S.
Straub, 56, became Secretary of the Episcopal Church, Secretary of
Executive Council, and Executive Officer of General Convention on April 15,
2005. Among his responsibilities is helping to plan General
Conventions, production of the so-called
“blue book” and journal at GC, liaison to commissions, committees, and
appointed boards of the national church, and secretary of the Executive
Council of ECUSA.
|
Other
tidbits about the Episcopal Church
|
The Anglican Communion
|
Click on the logo to go to the Anglican Communion’s website or
click
here to read about what the Anglican compass rose means. |
Collectively
there are some 70 million members of the Anglican Communion churches, making it the second largest Christian body in the world. Visit the Anglican Communion website for a
virtual tour of the 57 denominations comprising the Anglican communion.
The Anglican Communion is headed spiritually by the Archbishop of Canterbury. |
Churches with which the Episcopal Church is in direct full communion
|
| |
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |
Churches with which Anglican Churches are in full communion
|
|
AnglicansOnline
lists churches that are “in full communion” with the See of Canterbury, as
defined by the 1958 Lambeth Conference, but which are not culturally or denominationally Anglican. Churches
that are not in communion with the See of Canterbury are listed on the Not
In Communion page. The “in full communion” page also explains how a church
can be “in full communion.”
|
