Irl A. Gladfelter

Augustana Catholic Church
Official logo
Classification	Lutheran
Orientation	Evangelical Catholic
Polity	Episcopal
Associations	Augustana Catholic Communion
Founder	Irl A. Gladfelter
Origin	1997 Kansas City, Missouri
Branched from	Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
Merger of	Athanasian Catholic Church of the Augsburg Confession

Lutheranism in the United States
Mainline Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Abroad Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Evangelical Mekane Yesus Fellowship in North America Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Lithuanian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Diaspora Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ North American Lutheran Church
Heritage of the Synodical Conference of North America Association of Confessional Lutheran Churches Church of the Lutheran Confession Concordia Lutheran Conference Evangelical Lutheran Synod Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod Lutheran Churches of the Reformation Orthodox Lutheran Confessional Conference Protes'tant Conference United Lutheran Mission Association Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Heritage of the LFC or ALC American Association of Lutheran Churches Association of Free Lutheran Congregations Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium of North America Conservative Lutheran Association Lutheran Ministerium and Synod – USA
Heritage of the Awakening Apostolic Lutheran Church of America Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America Laestadian Lutheran Church
High Church Revival Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church Evangelical Catholic Church Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America International Lutheran Fellowship
Charismatic Revival Alliance of Renewal Churches

The Augustana Catholic Church (ACC), formerly the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church (ALCC) and the Evangelical Community Church-Lutheran (ECCL), is an American church in the Lutheran Evangelical Catholic tradition. The ACC says it is unique among Lutheran churches in that it is of both Lutheran and Anglo-Catholic heritage and has also been significantly influenced by the Roman Catholic Church. The church was founded in 1997 by former members of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Its headquarters are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The ACC has long had a policy of seeking union with the Catholic Church and announced in 2011 that it would accept the conditions of Anglicanorum coetibus and join the personal ordinariates as they are established. Later developments on limitations of joining the ordinariate caused the ACC to hold their offer while they established intercommunion with groups such as the Old Roman Catholic Church of North America. The Church claims a membership in excess of 60,000 in 12 countries.

The Augustana Catholic Church considers Lutherans to be Catholics in a temporary involuntary schism imposed on it by the Roman Catholic Church when Martin Luther's attempt to start a renewal movement within Roman Catholicism slipped out of his control. The ACC teaches that Lutheranism in general is a form of non-Roman Catholicism, and considers the other Lutheran churches to be "Protestant" only to the extent that they have accepted insights from the Calvinist and Zwinglian phases of the Reformation.

The Augustana Catholic Church accepts the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, and Martin Luther's Small Catechism, but only insofar as they are in full agreement with Roman Catholic faith and order, doctrines, and traditions. The ACC recognizes the other documents contained in The Book of Concord—except for the Formula of Concord—but only insofar as they are in full agreement with Roman Catholic faith, order, doctrines and traditions. It does not accept the Formula of Concord on any level, nor is it bound by any of its terms and provisions, though it does respect it as a historical Lutheran document.

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