Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (Spanish: Iglesia Española Reformada Episcopal) considers itself to be part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Christ and his apostles; it maintains apostolic succession via the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

and the threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons; it keeps the three creeds of the Primitive Church; it considers itself to morally be the continuing church of the ancient Hispanic Church; it has its own liturgy: the Mozarabic Rite

Mozarabic Rite

The Mozarabic, Visigothic, or Hispanic Rite is a form of Catholic worship within the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and in the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church . Its beginning dates to the 7th century, and is localized in the Iberian Peninsula...

also called 'Visigothic Liturgy'; it maintains the sacramental system. Due to its Reformed tradition this is an Evangelical church; and due to its Anglican (Catholic) tradition it has full membership in the worldwide Anglican Communion

Anglican Communion

The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...

; it belongs to the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain (FEREDE) and is member of the World Council of Churches

World Council of Churches

The World Council of Churches is a worldwide fellowship of 349 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service. It is a Christian ecumenical organization that is based in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland...

. The IERE is in full communion with the Old Catholic Church

Old Catholic Church

The term Old Catholic Church is commonly used to describe a number of Ultrajectine Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, most importantly that of Papal Infallibility...

es as well as being part of the Porvoo Communion

Porvoo Communion

The Porvoo Communion is a communion of 12 mainly northern European Anglican and Lutheran churches. It was established in 1992 by an agreement entitled the Porvoo Common Statement which establishes full communion between and among the churches...

with the Scandinavian Lutheran churches. The IERE is the representative of the Anglican Communion in Spain.
It was organised in 1880 by dissident members of the Roman Catholic Church in Spain wishing to reform Catholicism based on Reformation principles and to establish a true Spanish Church with apostolic succession.

History

The IERE was organised in 1880, by Juan Bautista Cabrera, former Roman Catholic priest, and other ex-Catholic priests and Reformed ministers. In 1878 he had requested the Church of England

Church of England

to consecrate a bishop. In 1880 the (Anglican) Episcopal Church in the United States sent a missionary-bishop of Mexico, to visit Spain and Portugal, and contributed in organizing the congregations into the IERE and the Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church

Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church

The Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church is the Anglican church in Portugal. Like all Anglican Communion churches, it recognises the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury...

, each with its own synodical government.
At the Synod of 1880, Cabrera was elected the first bishop of the IERE, under the pastoral care of William Plunket, 4th Baron Plunket, Bishop of Meath and later Archbishop of Dublin. He had been interested in the two Iberian churches and determined to act to consecrate a bishop in Spain. The church remained without a bishop for a time after Cabrera died, and was placed under the authority of the Church of Ireland.
The IERE suffered persecution during the regime of General Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

. In 1954 Santos M. Molina was consecrated bishop and the church experienced a regrowth.
In 1980 the IERE became an extra-provincial diocese under the metropolitan authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

.
As of 2001, the IERE had 1 diocese and 22 licensed priests (one woman) serving 20 parishes. The IERE is a member of the World Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches

Conference of European Churches

The Conference of European Churches was founded in 1959 to promote reconciliation, dialogue and friendship between the churches of Europe at a time of growing Cold War political tensions and divisions. It is an ecumenical fellowship of Christian churches in Europe; its membership consists of most...

Liturgy

The Mozarabic, Visigothic, or Hispanic Rite

Mozarabic Rite

is a form of Catholic

Catholicism

Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

worship

Worship

Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...

within the Latin Rite. It dates principally to the 7th and 8th centuries. St. Isidore of Seville (d. 636), who was influential at the Fourth Council of Toledo 633, according to the wishes of that Council, gave the Hispanic rite its final form before the invasion of the Muslims. Mozarab

Mozarab

The Mozarabs were Iberian Christians who lived under Arab Islamic rule in Al-Andalus. Their descendants remained unconverted to Islam, but did however adopt elements of Arabic language and culture...

is the term for the Christian population living under Muslim rulers in Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...

Organisation

The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church has a democratic, synodical (parliamentary) polity. The Synod is the highest authority in the Church; the laity and clergy have equal representation in it. The parishes are represented by one clergy and by one lay person. The Synod elects the Standing Committee, which governs the Church between synods. The IERE is not a Church with an episcopal government, like the Roman Catholic Church, but is a synodical Church governed by a bishop in synod. Neither the bishop can do without the synod nor the synod can do without the bishop.

The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church is divided for administrative purposes into three zones: Catalonia, Levant, and Balearic Islands; Andalusia and Canary Islands; Centre and Northern Spain.

It has parishes in Salamanca, Valencia, Valladolid, Seville, Oviedo, Tarragone, Murcia, Alicante, and Madrid.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.