The Traditional Anglican Church (TAC), formerly the Traditional Anglican Communion, is an international church consisting of national provinces in the continuing Anglican movement, independent of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

and the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Just ...

. The TAC upholds the theological doctrines of the Affirmation of St. Louis. Each of the respective jurisdictions utilizes a traditional

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

deemed to be free of theological deviation. Most parishioners of these churches would be described as being traditional Prayer Book Anglicans in their theology and liturgical practice. Some Anglo-Catholic parishes use the Anglican Missal in their liturgies. The TAC is governed by a college of

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

s from across the church and headed by an elected

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...

. The TAC was formed in 1991. Archbishop Louis Falk was its first

. He was succeeded in 2002 by Archbishop

John Hepworth John Anthony Hepworth (23 March 1944 – 1 December 2021) was an Australian bishop. He was the ordinary of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia and the archbishop and primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, an international body o ...

of the

Anglican Catholic Church in Australia The Anglican Catholic Church in Australia (ACCA) is the regional jurisdiction of the Traditional Anglican Church for Australia. The former bishop ordinary of the ACCA, John Hepworth, was also the primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion ...

. The current primate is Archbishop Shane Janzen of the

Anglican Catholic Church of Canada The Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC) (french: Église Catholique Anglicane du Canada) is a Continuing Anglican church that was founded in 1979 by traditional Anglicans who had separated from the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC). The ACCC h ...

. TAC member churches were established outside the Anglican Communion 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 apostolic tradition within the church.

History

In 1991, the then Traditional Anglican Communion was formed to create a united communion of Continuing Anglican churches, which originated in the Affirmation of St. Louis, which repudiated the revision of the

, in addition to other issues, such as the

ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordin ...

. With the beginning of the 21st century, "the communion reported 14 member churches with a total of 300,000 members spread over six continents." In October 2007 the bishops of TAC formally expressed the desire to enter into full unity with the

See of Rome The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

without losing core Anglican distinctives. The full petition accepted the ministry of the Bishop of Rome and the ''Catechism of the Catholic Church''. The Vatican's

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsib ...

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 Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereig ...

's intention to create a new type of ecclesiastical structure, called a ''

personal ordinariate A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"...the liturgies approved for the Anglican ordinariates..." "Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." i ...

'', for unspecified groups of Anglicans entering into

full communion Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constitutes full communion, but ...

with the See of Rome. 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. On 17 March 2010, leaders of the Canadian branch of the TAC (the

) decided to do the same. The TAC member churches in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

also petitioned for the formation of respective ordinariates. 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 of bishops also made it known that the TAC would not be accepting the offer made to Anglicans by the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. On October 14, 2016, the college of bishops elected Archbishop Shane B. Janzen as the third primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion. The new constitution of the Traditional Anglican Church, which reconstitutes the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion into the global Traditional Anglican Church, was adopted and ratified in March 2020.

Provinces

At present the Traditional Anglican Church consists of 10 Provinces and various Dioceses:Provinces of the Church
updated 17 Feb 2021 Africa: * Anglican Church in Southern Africa *Continuing Anglican Church of Zambia *Continuing Anglican Church in Zimbabwe Americas: * Anglican Church in America *

*Traditional Anglican Church - Latin American Province Asia: *Anglican Church of India Europe: *Traditional Anglican Church in Britain * Church of Ireland - Traditional Rite Oceania: *

*Church of the Torres Strait

References

External links

* Anglo-Catholicism Christian organizations established in 1991 Continuing Anglican denominations {{DEFAULTSORT:Traditional_Anglican_Church

History

Provinces

See also

References

External links