Continuing Anglican Fellowship – The Bartonville Agreement

On October 28, 1999, bishops from the American Anglican Church, the Anglican Church in America, the Anglican Province of America, the Anglican Rite Synod in the Americas, the Episcopal Missionary Church, and The Orthodox Anglican Church (the U.S. representative of the Orthodox Anglican Communion) signed the following Articles of Ecclesiastical Fellowship in Bartonville, Illinois.

Articles of Ecclesiastical Fellowship

WHEREAS the American Anglican Church, the Anglican Church in America (with its sister Churches and Provinces in the Traditional Anglican Communion), the Anglican Province of America, the Anglican Rite Synod in the Americas, the Episcopal Missionary Church, and The Orthodox Anglican Church, adhere to the Old and New Testaments as the revealed Word of God; the Ecumenical Creeds; the Historic Episcopate; and the historic Anglican liturgies, and further adhere to the doctrine, discipline, and worship set forth in the Articles of Religion of 1801, the Chicago (1886), and Lambeth (1888) statements of the Lambeth Quadrilateral; BE IT UNDERSTOOD THAT:

Article 1.As evidence of our fellowship in Christ and the shared Standards of Faith existing between the above named Jurisdictions, a delegation of ministers and laymen may be sent as observers to each other’s Synods and/or Conventions.

Article II.Clergy and/or congregations of the above named Jurisdictions shall not transfer their connection to the other without the mutual assent of the appropriate authority of said Jurisdictions.

Article Ill.The ecumenical officers of each Jurisdiction pledge to meet at least once a year to discuss ways of establishing a confederation of traditional Anglican Jurisdictions in the United States.

Article IV. Recognizing they are working together in the same great cause, and on the same basis, the above named Jurisdictions pledge to each other their mutual cooperation, sympathy, and support by agreeing to foster growing fellowship among their respective congregations through joint youth events, spiritual retreats, charitable initiatives, occasional worship services, and other godly activities.

Further, the Right Revd Royal Grote, the official Representative of the Reformed Episcopal Church, commends the signatory Jurisdictions above, and supports the spirit of these Articles of Ecclesiastical fellowship.

THIS, the 28th Day of October, being the Feast of Saint Simon and Saint Jude, Apostles, at Saint Benedict’s Abbey, Bartonville, Illinois.

A Call to Prayer and The Pursuit of Unity

Endeavouring to keep the Unity Of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:3

We, the Bishops of the Continuing Anglican Churches and Traditionalist Bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America meeting at the call of the Abbot of Saint Benedict’s Abbey at Bartonville, in the Diocese of Quincy, recognize the deep divisions which have afflicted our individual jurisdictions. We acknowledge that these divisions have been caused by our pride, anger, envy and other sentiments contrary to the Gospel, and that these have caused deep hurt to those entrusted to our care.

We are mindful that we as individuals, and our Jurisdictions as portions of the Christian family, must grow in forgiveness and reconciliation in order, to fulfill our Lord’s, will that his Church be one. To begin this growth, we constitute ourselves a confraternity and community of prayer, and call upon the clergy, religious and laity under our care, to join themselves to us in regular corporate and private prayer for each other, and neither to speak nor to do ill against each other, that the Holy Spirit will work among us to heal these sad divisions.

During our meeting, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we have discovered mutual unity, respect and repentance; and providentially have unexpected and convenient opportunities to continue our discussions throughout the coming year. To prepare ourselves for these continuing meetings, we ask that our clergy, religious and laity join us each day in the following traditional prayers.

For the Unity of God’s People

0 God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace; Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions. Take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatsoever else may hinder us from godly union and concord: that as there is but one Body and one Spirit, and one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, United States of America, 1928

For Deliverance from Peril

0 Eternal God, our heavenly Father, who alone makest men to be of one mind in a house: We bless thy holy Name, that it hath pleased thee to end the strife which hath lately prevailed among us; and we humbly beseech thee to grant us grace, that we may ever abide in unity before thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, Canada, 1962

The Feast of Saint Boniface

May 5, 1999 at The Abbey of Saint Benedict

Bartonville, Illinois

The Rt. Revd. Keith Ackeman

The Rt. Revd. Robert Crawley

The Rt. Revd. Donald Davies

The Rt. Revd. Louis Falk

The Revd. Dr. Robert Godfrey

The Rt. Revd. Herbert Groce

The Rt. Revd. Walter Grundorf

The Rt. Revd. John Hepworth

The Rt. Revd. Jack Iker

The Rt. Revd. Joel Johnson

The Rt. Revd. Edward MacBurney

The Rt. Revd. Scott McLaughlin

The Rt. Revd. Robert Mercer

The Rt. Revd. Donald Parsons

The Rt. Revd. Donald Perschall

The Rt. Revd. Larry Shaver

On 25 February, AD 2004, in Florence, Italy, the Most Revd Dr Scott McLaughlin, Archbishop of The Orthodox Anglican Church and the Rt Revd Dr Maternus Kapinga, Bishop of the Diocese of Ruvuma, in the Anglican Church of Tanzania (Anglican Communion), signed an agreement of intercommunion and mutual labour in the Kingdom of God.

In accordence with this Agreement, the two Bishops jointly provide episcopal oversight of the Episcopal Orthodox Mission in Italy. In addition, the Rt Revd Dr Maternus Kapinga appointed the Most Revd Dr Scott McLaughlin Canon Emeritus of the Cathedral Chapter of the Diocese of Ruvuma. The Most Revd Dr Scott McLaughlin appointed the Rt Revd Dr Maternus Kapinga as Sufragan Bishop of the Orthodox Anglican Church, USA.

On 25 April, AD 2007, at St. Lazzaro Church, Lucca, Italy, the Most Revd Scott McLaughlin, Archbishop of The Orthodox Anglican Church signed a Covenant of Intercommunion with the Most Revd Augustin Bacinsky, Archbishop of The Old Catholic Church in Slovakia.

The first paragraph of the Covenant, signed “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” begins: “Humbly acknowledging the Will of God that all Christians are called to be one so that the world will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; recognizing our common baptism in the name of the Blessed and Undivided Holy Trinity; acknowledging the validity of our Orders; encouraged by many years of dialogue, cooperation, and friendship between our Churches; wishing to respond to the pastoral needs of our people and to be a more effective evangelistic witness to the world, we, the Bishops of The Old Catholic Church in Slovakia and The Orthodox Anglican Church, in the name of our clergy and people, enter into this covenant.”