Episcopal Church (United States)

Episcopal Church (United States)

The Episcopal Church (also officially known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America) is a mainline Anglican Christian denomination found mainly in the United States, as well as in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe. The Episcopal Church is the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States and many other territories where it has a presence (excluding Europe). The Episcopal Church describes itself as being "Protestant, yet Catholic." In 2010, the Episcopal Church had a baptized membership of 2,125,012 both inside and outside the United States. In the U.S., it had a baptized membership of 1,951,907, making it the nation's 14th largest denomination.

The Church was organized shortly after the American Revolution when it was forced to separate from the Church of England, as Church of England clergy were required to swear allegiance to the British monarch, who is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. It became, in the words of the 1990 report of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Group on the Episcopate, "the first Anglican Province outside the British Isles." Now it is divided into nine provinces and has dioceses outside the U.S. in Taiwan, Central and South America, and the Caribbean. The Episcopal Diocese of the Virgin Islands encompasses both American and British territory. In Europe, the Church's Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe co-exists with the Church of England's Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe and with the Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain.

The Episcopal Church was active in the Social Gospel movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Since the 1960s and 1970s, it has opposed the death penalty and supported the civil rights movement and affirmative action. Some of its leaders and priests marched with civil rights demonstrators. Today the Church calls for the full civil equality of gay men and lesbians, and the Church's General Convention has passed resolutions that allow for gay and lesbian marriages in states where it is legal. The Convention also approved an official liturgy to bless such unions. On the question of abortion, the Church has adopted a nuanced position. About all these issues, individual members and clergy can and do frequently disagree with the stated position of the Church.

The Episcopal Church ordains women to the priesthood as well as the diaconate and the episcopate. The current Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first female Primate in the Anglican Communion.