Affirming Anglican Catholicism is not just for Anglo-Catholics. It is for all Anglicans, all Episcopalians, who wish to affirm the faith of the Church as well as all the people of God who love, and seek to live, that faith.

The ministry of Affirming Catholicism is largely a teaching ministry. We organize conferences and provide a constantly growing library of scholarly and inspirational writings. We address the issues most debated in the Church today with essays, papers and books written by some of the best minds in the Anglican Communion.

This ministry is international in scope, and seeks to provide a crucial antidote to the rising tide of biblical fundamentalism that, in many parts of the Anglican Communion, is weaking the historic Anglican commitment to a balanced theology.

Our Aims

• Reappropriating the fullness of catholic doctrine.
• Because of the Incarnation, encouraging the full insights of a catholic feminism.
• Refashioning a catholic social praxis for our time.
• Encouraging catholic spirituality and discipline in the contemporary world.
• Developing quality continuing education for laity and clergy from the catholic perspective.
• Provide a forum for a catholic voice in the modern church.

We Affirm

• The Episcopal Church is part of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church throughout the world.
• The riches of our catholic tradition are needed throughout the Church to further the Christian mission.
• Genuine catholicism means full inclusion of members of the Church in the threefold ministry, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

The History of Affirming Anglican Catholicism

Affirming Anglican Catholicism began with a conference on Saturday, June 9, 1990, at St. Alban's Church, Holborn - just outside the city of London. The clarion call from Rowan Williams, now the Archbishop of Canterbury, was for Anglo-Catholics to affirm tradition 'in its power and fullest sense,' not as a 'lifeboat in which to escape the present' but as 'a crucible in which the experiment of Christian life is constantly tested.'

Archbishop Williams, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, Bishop Christopher Epting and others have supported and addressed Affirming Anglican Catholicism meetings in the United States and Canada. Bishops Griswold and Epting are the American co-Patrons; The Right Reverend Keith Whitmore, Bishop of Eau Claire, is the American Chair; The Most Reverend Andrew Hutchinson, Primate of Canada, is the Canadian Chair.