Anglican Communion Congratulates U.S. Church
Episcopal News Service. July 21, 1976 [76246]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Anglican primates around the world offered congratulations and prayer for the United States and the Episcopal Church on the occasion of the country's 200th birthday.
The Bishop of London, the Rt. Rev. and Rt. Hon. Gerald Alexander Ellison, cabled to Presiding Bishop John M. Allin: "Mindful of the services of his predecessors, the Bishop of London sends greetings to USA and Episcopal Church on Bicentennial." In the country's colonial period, the Anglican Church was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London.
In replying to the Most Rev. R.K. Wimbush, Primus of the Episcopal Church in Scotland, Bishop Allin said: "For your gracious and thoughtful Bicentennial greeting I personally thank you and also express the appreciation and gratitude for our relationship within the Anglican Communion. We remember our special gift from the Church in Scotland." It was Scottish bishops who consecrated the Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, first bishop of the U.S. Church.
Greetings were also received from the Primate of Australia, the Most Rev. Frank Woods, Archbishop of Melbourne, who wrote, "We thank God for the quite wonderful contribution the church has made, richly enhancing our Anglican heritage and, so often, giving the lead in ecumenical affairs."