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A Brief
History of the
Reformed Episcopal Church
The
Reformed Episcopal Church was organized in
New York City
in 1873 by eight clergymen and twenty laymen who were formerly
priests and members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. A long
debate over the excessive ritualism and exclusive attitude of the
Protestant Episcopal Church toward other denominations lay behind
the separation.
The
immediate cause of the division lay in the participation of Bishop
George David Cummins, Assistant Bishop of
Kentucky
, at a Communion Service held in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian
Church in
New York City
. In the face of criticism and with the conviction that the
evangelical and catholic nature and mission of the Protestant
Episcopal Church were being lost, Bishop Cummins resigned as
Assistant Bishop of Kentucky and transferred his Episcopal oversight
to a new jurisdiction called the Reformed Episcopal Church.
The
Reformed Episcopal Church has added over fifty new parishes and
missions in the last decade. Foreign missions are maintained in
India
,
Liberia
,
France
,
Uganda
,
Brazil
, and
Germany
. In
India
there is a primary school, hospital, and orphanage. In
Liberia
there are twenty parishes with a membership of over 3000. There are
three Theological Institutions within the
United States
(
Philadelphia
,
PA
;
Summerville
,
S.C.
;
Houston
,
TX
). The Reformed Episcopal Church is in fellowship through concordat
with the Free Church of England (Otherwise known as the Reformed
Episcopal Church in
England
) and the Anglican Province of America. There are 13,422 members in
137 local parishes and missions.
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