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FULL COMMUNION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ANGLICAN PROVINCE OF AMERICA AND THE TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN CHURCH

FULL COMMUNION AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ANGLICAN PROVINCE OF AMERICA AND
THE TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN CHURCH

TAC Press Release
February 16, 2022.

Dearly Beloved in Christ,

Please find provided with this media release the official concordat which establishes full sacramental communion (communio in sacris) between the Anglican Province of America (APA) and the Traditional Anglican Church (TAC). The concordat was unanimously approved by the TAC College of Bishops on 3rd February 2022 and by the APA House of Bishops on 11th February 2022.

This full communion agreement advances the growing unity of Continuing Anglicans worldwide, and links two greater portions of the Continuing Church together for the first time, expanding upon the existing full communion agreement between the Anglican Province of America and the Anglican Church in America (the American Province of the Traditional Anglican Church). It is also the first agreement establishing full communion between another Continuing Anglican jurisdiction and the entire global Traditional Anglican Church.

Let us pray that this effort toward the reunification of the Continuing Anglican Churches will bear fruit in the Kingdom of God, and enliven further ecumenical discussions with our brethren across the Anglican Continuum. This is another important step forward in reuniting the Continuing Anglican Churches as we seek to strengthen our common witness in our Lord Jesus Christ, to His saving Gospel, and to the historic Anglican tradition within the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

Together, the Anglican Province of America and the Traditional Anglican Church have achieved another stage in the direction towards the reconciliation and reunification of the Christian Church in her Anglican expression.

This Concordat will be formally signed at a Solemn Pontifical Mass at Saint Barnabas Cathedral in Atlanta, Georgia on Sunday, May 22, 2022, being the Fifth Sunday After Easter.

May we all be one -- Ut unum sint!

The Most Reverend Chandler Holder Jones, SSC
Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America
Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Eastern United States

The Most Reverend Shane B. Janzen, OSG
Primate of the Traditional Anglican Church
Metropolitan of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of Canada West

Media Release (APA-TAC Full Communion Agreement)

AGREEMENT ESTABLISHING FULL SACRAMENTAL COMMUNION (COMMUNIO IN SACRIS) BETWEEN
THE ANGLICAN PROVINCE OF AMERICA AND THE TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN CHURCH

THE Anglican Province of America (together with the APA Global Mission Partners
set out in the attached Schedule) and the Traditional Anglican Church, desiring to
walk together in the Way of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, believing and upholding the
Christian Faith and Catholic Religion, and particularly as the same was received and is
expressed in the historic Anglican Tradition, and seeking full sacramental communion
(communio in sacris) one with the other, do hereby agree and bind ourselves to the
following Agreement:

1. We do, in accordance with this Agreement, enter into full sacramental communion
(communio in sacris) one with the other; and do thereby recognize each other's
Orders, Liturgy, Doctrine, and Discipline, while respecting the canonical
independence and doctrinal integrity of each Church.

2. We acknowledge each other to be orthodox and catholic Anglicans in virtue of our
common adherence to the fundamental principles and authorities accepted by and
summarized in The Affirmation of Saint Louis (1977).

3. We recognize in each other in all essentials the same faith; the same sacraments; the
same moral teaching; and the same worship; likewise, we recognize in each other the
same Holy Orders of bishops, priests, and deacons in the same Apostolic Succession.

4. We do by this Agreement admit all members in good standing of each Church to full
participation in the liturgy of each Church and to receive the Sacraments one of the
other.

5. We recognize and honor the jurisdictional integrity of each Church, seeking always to
respect the authority of each with regard to its parishes, clergy and people.

6. We do by this Agreement recognize and encourage the clergy of each Church to
minister, preach, and otherwise participate in the liturgy of each Church, subject
always to the canonical discipline and liturgical practice of the respective Church and
the prior expressed permission of the respective Bishops Ordinary.

7. We recognize and respect that the clergy of each Church remain under the authority
of their respective Bishop Ordinary until they are transferred by Letters Dimissory or
other instruments of transfer. We will permit no clergy to transfer from one
jurisdiction to another without the permission of the Bishop Ordinary who has
licensed him.

8. While seeking unity with other Christians within the fellowship of the one holy
Catholic and Apostolic Church, and working for a true restoration of the visible Unity
of all orthodox Christians, it is our desire to preserve and maintain our Anglican
identity; that is to say, to uphold and remain faithful to the Catholic Faith, Apostolic
Order, Orthodox Worship, and Evangelical Witness of the historic Anglican Tradition
revealed in Holy Writ, defined in the three Creeds, maintained by the undivided
primitive Church in the Seven Ecumenical Councils, and set forth in the Book of
Common Prayer.

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