Anglican Communion

Anglican Communion Autonomous, episcopal, protestant Churches in fellowship with the Church of England. Its origins go back to 1534, when the British Parliament rejected the role of the papacy and recognized the King, Henry VIII, as the ‘Supreme Head in Earth of the Church of England’. Subsequently, most of the English population became members of the new Church. Sister Churches were soon established in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and throughout the British Empire in subsequent centuries. The twentieth century has seen the emergence of a consciousness from a body of loosely connected churches as a worldwide Protestant Church, even though it has continued to emphasize the importance of consensus and discussion instead of the establishment of a unitary, authoritarian structure. The Communion recognizes the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who presides over the decennial Lambeth Conference (since 1857), the principal meeting of Anglican bishops. However, his leadership is more titular than real. The recommendations of the Lambeth Conferences are not binding to the individual parts of the Communion, so that its coherence and unity is dependent on consultation and consensus. During the twentieth century, its relationship with the Roman Catholic Church improved, and communion was established between the Church of England and the Lutheran Churches in the early 1990s. The Communion has around seventy-three million members, principally in Britain, Nigeria, Uganda, Australia, and North America. In 2003 the Church split over the ordination of a practising homosexual as Bishop of New Hampshire (USA), which triggered threats of schism.

http://www.anglicancommunion.org