The Episcopal Church in the USA is the American branch of the world-wide Anglican Communion, which in turn has its origins in the Church of England.
If you are thinking, “Oh yes, that’s the church founded by Henry the 8th", you are, well, wrong. The Church of England is and has been the same Catholic Church founded in those islands sometime in the 2nd Century A.D. and continuing to this day. Henry the 8th did indeed separate the English Church from the control of the Pope, but it was not until the reign of his daughter Elizabeth I that a final break occurred between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. It was in Elizabeth’s time that Anglicanism began to understand itself as a unique expression of Christianity that represents a via media between Protestantism and Catholicism.
The Episcopal Church today continues to value the Bible and to emphasize the importance of personal faith and intellectual freedom in the church, which is the more “protestant” side of our tradition. We also maintain the historic catholic ministry of bishops, priests and deacons, as well as sacramental worship and other marks of our “catholic” identity. Many people experience Episcopalian church life as an open, accessible, biblical, yet democratic expression of historic Christian faith.
This page last updated: 04/05/2002