Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church
| Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Primate | Justin Welby |
| Headquarters | Madrid, Spain |
| Territory | Spain |
| Bishops | Carlos López Lozano |
| Website | Official Site of the Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church (in Spanish) |
The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church or IERE (Spanish: Iglesia Española Reformada Episcopal) is the church of the Anglican Communion in Spain. It was founded in 1880 and since 1980 has been an extra-provincial church under the metropolitan authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Its cathedral is the Cathedral of the Redeemer in Madrid.
In keeping with the rest of mainstream Anglicanism, the IERE considers itself to be part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church established by Christ and his apostles. It claims to maintain apostolic succession via the Church of Ireland's bishops and it holds to the threefold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons. It keeps the three creeds of the Primitive Church.
The IERE considers itself to morally be the continuing church of the ancient Hispanic Church by maintaining the sacramental system as handed down through the Mozarabic Rite. Due to its Reformed tradition, some would say this is largely a Church that places itself within the confines of the Evangelical stream of Anglicanism.
The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church was formed "...being born of individuals who left the Church of Rome for reasons of Biblical conscience but desired epsicopacy and an ordered vernacular liturgy for which Anglicanism provided the original precedent." The IERE was organised in 1880, by Juan Bautista Cabrera, former Roman Catholic priest, and other former 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.
...
Wikipedia