Who was the founder of the Episcopal Church?

Answer 1

While there are many who might lay claim to founding the Episcopalian Church of the USA, as a national church, you have to realise that this church is actually a member of the worldwide Anglican Church in communion with the founding member of the Anglican Church - the Church of England. Therefore, theoretically, the founder of the Church of England would be the ultimate and original founder of the Episcopalians. The founder of the Church of England was King Henry VIII in the 1500s. Before then there had been the Great Schism - an argument that split the Church into what is now the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. After this, there was a protestant movement in Germany led by Martin Luther, and others including Calvin and Zwingli, who were concerned about corruption in the remaining Roman Church. As a result the Protestant Church split away forming the Lutheran Church and the Calvinists. Much of this dissent had already spread to England where Henry VIII was under pressure from the people to 'do something about' the corrupt monasteries who held power over normal people in his kingdom. The Pope's refusal to grant Henry a divorce from his wife Anne Boleyn (despite divorce being allowed under certain circumstances within the Church) was the last straw and so Henry himself broke from Rome and was excommunicated as a result. He set up his own Church in England with Jesus Christ as head (not the pope) and himself as Supreme Governor of the Church under Christ. The spiritual leader was the Archbishop of Canterbury. Unlike many of the protestant churches that already existed (like the Lutherans and the Calvinists) the Church of England retained the office of Bishop in much the same way as the Roman Church - hence it became an 'episcopalian' church ('episcopalian' means - 'with bishops'). Since then there have been several 'provinces' of this church set up all over the world including the Church in Wales, the Episcopal Church of Scotland, the many Anglican churches in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, South America and so on, and the Episcopalian Church of the USA. Each church is overseen by an Archbishop who is under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, England, the Anglican Church's spiritual leader. The current head of the Church is still, of course, Jesus Christ. The Supreme Governor of the Church of England is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and the spiritual leader of not only the Church of England but the whole of the Anglican Church worldwide is the Rt Revd Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.