The Episcopal Church is the American branch of the Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Communion is an inheritor of 2000 years of catholic
and apostolic tradition dating from Christ himself, rooted in the
Church
of England. When the Church of England spread throughout the British
Empire, sister churches sprang up. These churches, while autonomous in
their governance, are bound together by tradition, Scripture, and the
inheritance they have received from the Church of England. They together
make up the Anglican Communion, a body headed spiritually by the
Archbishop of Canterbury and having some 80 million members, making it
the second largest Christian body in the world.
The Episcopal Church
came into existence as an independent denomination after the American
Revolution. Today it has between two and three million members in the
United States, Mexico, and Central America, all of which are under
jurisdiction of the
Presiding
Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Frank Griswold. 
A message from
General Convention in Columbus, Ohio dated June 18, 2006 reports
that
Katharine Jefferts Schori will be the next Presiding Bishop. However,
Bishop Griswold will continue to be the Presiding Bishop for the next
five months until Bishop Schori will have been installed.
Bishops in the American Episcopal Church are elected by individual
dioceses and are consecrated into the Apostolic Succession, considered witness to an unbroken line of Church leadership beginning with the
Apostles themselves. For more than two decades the American Episcopal
Church has ordained women to the priesthood. In 1988, the Diocese of
Massachusetts elected the first Anglican woman bishop,
Barbara Harris.
Although it subscribes to the historic Creed [the
Nicene Creed and
the Apostles' Creed], considers the Bible to be divinely inspired, and
holds the Eucharist or Lord's Supper to be the central act of Christian
worship, 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, stands
today as a major source of unity for Anglicans around the world.
The Church of England has always valued the life of the mind and
dialogue with fields of secular study. Isaac Newton was an Anglican
clergyman and theologian as were several of the founders of the Royal
Society, the earliest institution organized for the promotion of
science. The Episcopal Church maintains this tradition, routinely
requiring its clergy to hold university as well as seminary degrees and
supporting many university chaplains.
The Rev. Scott I.. Paradise
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The beliefs of Anglicans are quite diverse. The official standard is the
Book of Common Prayer, but some parts of that are more clearly doctrinal
than others.The ecumenical creeds, both
Nicene and
Apostles', are
used by the Episcopal Church in its worship day by day and week by
week. They are ancient and universal statements of Christian faith. In
addition, the Episcopal Church follows ancient tradition and includes
the Athanasian Creed among its statements of faith.
Another very important ancient statement of faith is the
Chalcedonian Formula, which defined the limits of Christological
orthodoxy.
The Thirty-Nine Articles were important at the Reformation, but are
less so today.
The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral describes the general ecumenical
principles of Anglicans.
The Episcopal Church also has a
Catechism, which summarized the faith
in question and answer format.
Source: St. John the Divine Episcopal Church Website, 183 East Bay
Street, Costa Mesa, California 92627 - 2145.
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St.
John's Episcopal Church
