Traditional Anglican Communion

Coat of Arms of the Traditional Anglican Communion.

Part of a series on the Continuing Anglican Movement
Background
Christianity · Western Christianity · English Reformation · Anglicanism · Controversy within The Episcopal Church (United States) · Book of Common Prayer · Congress of St. Louis · Affirmation of St. Louis · Bartonville Agreement · North American Anglican Conference
People
Albert A. Chambers · James Parker Dees · Charles D. D. Doren · Thomas Gordon · William Millsaps · Robert S. Morse · Stephen C. Reber · Peter D. Robinson · Peter Toon
Churches
Anglican Catholic Church Anglican Catholic Church in Australia Anglican Catholic Church of Canada Anglican Church in America Anglican Episcopal Church Anglican Orthodox Church Anglican Province of America Anglican Province of Christ the King Christian Episcopal Church Church of England (Continuing) Diocese of the Great Lakes Diocese of the Holy Cross Episcopal Missionary Church Holy Catholic Church—Western Rite Orthodox Anglican Church Orthodox Anglican Communion Traditional Anglican Church of America Traditional Anglican Communion United Episcopal Church of North America

The Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) is an international communion of churches in the continuing Anglican movement independent of the Anglican Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The TAC upholds the theological doctrines of the Affirmation of St. Louis and an Anglo-Catholic interpretation of the Thirty-Nine Articles. Each of the respective jurisdictions utilizes a designated Book of Common Prayer deemed free of innovation. Most parishioners of these churches would be described as being traditional Anglo-Catholics in their theology and liturgical practice. Some parishes use the Anglican Missal in their liturgies. The TAC is guided by a college of bishops from across the communion and headed by an elected primate.^[1]

The TAC was formed in 1991. Archbishop Louis Falk was its first primate. He was succeeded in 2002 by Archbishop John Hepworth of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia. At present Archbishop Samuel P. Prakash (India) is the Acting Primate.

The TAC churches have been formed outside of the Anglican Communion churches over a number of different issues. The principal issue has been the ordination of women. Other issues include liturgical revisions, the acceptance of homosexual activity and the importance of tradition within the Church.

The most commonly quoted membership, from the TAC itself, is 400,000.^[2]

History

In 1991, the Traditional Anglican Communion was formed to create an Episcopal see of Continuing Anglican Churches, which originated in the Affirmation of St. Louis, which repudiated the revision of the Book of Common Prayer, in addition to other issues, such as the ordination of women.^[3][4] With the beginning of the 21st century, "the communion reported 14 member churches with a total of 300,000 members spread over six continents."^[5]

In October 2007 the bishops of TAC formally expressed the desire to enter into full unity with the See of Rome without losing core Anglican distinctives.^[6][7]The full petition accepted the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.^[8] The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated, on 5 July 2008, that it was giving serious consideration to the prospect of corporate union with groups of Anglicans and on 29 October 2009 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced Pope Benedict XVI's intention to create a new type of ecclesiastical structure,^[9] called a personal ordinariate, for unspecified groups of Anglicans entering into full communion with the See of Rome.^[10] On 4 November 2009, Pope Benedict signed the apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, which was released on 9 November 2009 and on 3 March 2010, in Orlando, Florida, the eight members of the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America — the United States branch of the TAC — voted unanimously to formally ask the Holy See to be accepted as a personal ordinariate.^[11][12][13] On 17 March 2010, leaders of the Canadian branch of the TAC (the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada) decided to do the same. The TAC member churches in the United Kingdom and Australia also petitioned for the formation of respective ordinariates.^[14] On 1 March 2012, the TAC College of Bishops announced the acceptance, with immediate effect, of Archbishop Hepworth's resignation as Primate and the appointment of Archbishop Samuel Prakash as Acting Primate. The college also made it known that the TAC would not be accepting the offer made to Anglicans by the Holy See.^[15]

Member churches

At present the Traditional Anglican Communion consists of 15 member churches:^[16]

Africa:

• Anglican Church in Southern Africa - Traditional Rite
• Church of Umzi Wase Tiyopia
• Continuing Anglican Communion in Zambia
• The Missionary Christian Church of Kenya (In Kenya)

Americas:

• Anglican Church in America
• Anglican Catholic Church of Canada
• Missionary Diocese of Central America
• Missionary Diocese of Puerto Rico

Asia:

• Anglican Church of India
• Orthodox Church of Pakistan
• Nippon Kirisuto Sei Ko Kai

Europe:

• Traditional Anglican Church (England)
• Church of Ireland - Traditional Rite

Oceania:

• Anglican Catholic Church in Australia
• Church of Torres Strait

References

1. The Traditional Anglican Communion Concordat.
2. Tom, Heneghan (14 January 2010). "Traditional Anglican bloc eyeing union with Rome is far-flung group". FaithWorld: Religion, faith and ethics (Reuters). Retrieved 23 July 2011.
3. Testing Pluralism: Globalizing Belief, Localizing Gods. Brill Publishers. 20 June 2013. p. 158. ISBN 9789004254756. Separately from this Provision, an international organization, the Traditional Anglican Communion was formed by a variety of "continuing" groups throughout the world to coordinate responses to various concerns among their constituents.
4. Leonard, Thomas M. (18 October 2013). Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Routledge. p. 52. ISBN 9781135205089. The Anglican Communion should not be confused with the Traditional Anglican communion, a much smaller group that split off from the Episcopal Church in 1977 over doctrinal issues such as the role of women as clergy.
5. Melton, J. Gordon (1 January 2005). Encyclopedia of Protestantism. Infobase Publishing. p. 29. ISBN 9780816069835. Meanwhile, several of the more substantial conservative Anglican groups have formed the Traditional Anglican Communion to resist what they see as the continuing secularization of the church. As the new century began, the communion reported 14 member churches with a total of 300,000 members spread over six continents.
6. Hepworth, John. "Anglican Communion: Rome and the TAC"
7. David Virtue (interview with Archbishop John Hepworth). "Traditional Anglican Communion Primate Seeks Union with Rome". Virtue Online.
8. "Text of the TAC Petition to the Holy See". Retrieved 2015-09-09.
9. NOTE OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH ABOUT PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICANS ENTERING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
10. "Pope Benedict approves structure for admitting large groups of Anglicans into Catholic Church". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
11. Campbell, Christian (March 3, 2010). "TAC Formally Requets Personal Ordinariate for USA". The Anglo-Catholic.
12. Weatherbe, Steve (March 14, 2010). "Anglo-Catholic Bishops Vote for Rome". National Catholic Register. Retrieved 2010-03-08. Although the Holy See had yet to respond to the ACA, the bishops of the Anglican Church in America voted to have the ACA and its 3,000 claimed communicants in 120 parishes join the Roman Catholic Church. See also: Anglicanorum Coetibus#Anglican Church in America.
13. "Text of Joint ACA/Anglican Use Petition for USA Ordinariate". Retrieved 2015-09-09.
14. Simon Caldwell Canadian Anglican parishes ask Vatican for Personal Ordinariate. Catholic Herald, 19 March 2010
15. Statement by TAC bishops
16. Member Churches, Last updated 9 March 2009

External links

• Traditional Anglican Communion website