Episcopal Church (United States)

The Episcopal Church (TEC), also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (PECUSA),^[5] is a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, based in the United States. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The current presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Sean W. Rowe.^[6]

In 2023, the Episcopal Church had 1,547,779 active baptized members.^[7] In 2011, it was the 14th largest denomination in the United States.^[8] In 2025, Pew Research estimated that 1 percent of the adult population in the United States, or 2.6 million people, self-identify as mainline Episcopalians.^[9] The church has seen a sharp decline in membership and Sunday attendance since the 1960s, particularly in the Northeast and Upper Midwest.^[10]

The church was organized after the American Revolution, when it separated from the Church of England, whose clergy are required to swear allegiance to the British monarch as Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The Episcopal Church describes itself as "Protestant, yet Catholic",^[11] and asserts it has apostolic succession, tracing the authority of its bishops back to the apostles via holy orders. The Book of Common Prayer, a collection of rites, blessings, liturgies, and prayers used throughout the Anglican Communion, is central to Episcopal worship. A broad spectrum of theological views is represented within the Episcopal Church, including evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, and broad church views.

Historically, members of the Episcopal Church have played leadership roles in many aspects of American life, including politics, business, science, the arts, and education.^{[12][13][14][15]} About three-quarters of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were affiliated with the Episcopal Church, and over a quarter of all Presidents of the United States have been Episcopalians.^[16] Historically, Episcopalians were overrepresented among American scientific elite and Nobel Prize winners.^[17][18] Numbers of the most wealthy and affluent American families, such as Boston Brahmin, Old Philadelphians,^[19] Tidewater, and Lowcountry gentry or old money, are Episcopalians.^[13][20] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many Episcopalians were active in the Social Gospel movement.^[21]

Since the 1960s and 1970s, the church has pursued a more liberal Christian course; there remains a wide spectrum of liberals and conservatives within the church. In 2015, the church's 78th triennial General Convention passed resolutions allowing the blessing of same-sex marriages and approved two official liturgies to bless such unions.^[22] It has opposed the death penalty and supported the civil rights movement. The church calls for the full legal equality of LGBT people.^[23] In view of this trend, the conventions of four dioceses of the Episcopal Church voted in 2007 and 2008 to leave that church and to join the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone of America. Twelve other jurisdictions, serving an estimated 100,000 persons at that time, formed the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) in 2008. The ACNA and the Episcopal Church are not in full communion with one another.

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