Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church

The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (La Iglesia Española Reformada Episcopal)

The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (IERE) 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 Ireland 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 or 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; it belongs to the Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain (FEREDE) and is member of the World Council of Churches. The IERE is in full communion with the Old Catholic Churches as well as being part of the Porvoo Communion 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 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, 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. 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.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.

Liturgy

The Mozarabic, Visigothic, or Hispanic Rite is a form of Catholic worship 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 is the term for the Christian population living under Muslim rulers in Al-Andalus.

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 Northen Spain.

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

External links

* [http://www.anglicanos.org Official Site of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (in Spanish)]
* [http://www.terra.es/personal/iere.es/ Iglesia de la Ascensión]
* [http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Spain/index.htm Liturgia de la Iglesia Española Reformada Episcopal (1954)]
* [http://anglicanhistory.org/ireland/plunket/movements1885.html Reformation Movements in Foreign Churches (with Special Reference to Spain and Portugal), by William Conyngham Plunket (1885)]