The Anglican Catholic Church (ACC), also known as the Anglican Catholic Church (Original Province), is a body of Christians in the continuing Anglican movement, which is separate from the Anglican Communion led by the Archbishop of Canterbury (and symbolically and ceremonially, by the British monarch, as Supreme Governor of the Church of England). This denomination is separate from the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia and the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. The continuing Anglican movement, including the Anglican Catholic Church, grew out of the 1977 Congress of St. Louis. The name "Anglican Catholic" is defined as "Anglican – simply means English" and "Catholic – in the ordinary sense means Universal" with the explanation that "The ACC affirms the Canon of St. Vincent of Lérins, who defined the Catholic Faith as, 'That which has been believed everywhere, always and by all' (i.e. universally within the undivided Christian Church)." Within historic Anglicanism the ACC sees itself as "rooted in a Catholic stream of faith and practice that embraces Henrician Catholicism, the theological method of Hooker and the Carolines, the piety and learning of Andrewes, the recovering liturgical practice of the Non-Jurors, the Oxford Movement, through the Ritualists, to modern Anglo-Catholicism." History The Congress of St. Louis was held in response to the Episcopal Church's revision of the Book of Common Prayer, which organizers felt abandoned a true commitment to both scripture and historical Anglicanism. The decision to allow the ordination of women was one part of a larger theological position opposed by the congress. As a result of the congress, various Anglicans separated from the Episcopal Church and formed the "Anglican Catholic Church" to continue the Anglican tradition as they understood it. Its adherents have therefore claimed that this church is the true heir of the Church of England in the United States. The congress's statement of principles (the "Affirmation of St. Louis") summarized the new church's reason for being as follows: In January 1978, four bishops (Charles Doren, James Orin Mote, Robert Morse, and Francis Watterson) were consecrated. What had provisionally been called the Anglican Church in North America (Episcopal), was renamed Anglican Catholic Church at the constitutional assembly in Denver, 18–21 October 1978. Questions over jurisdiction and authority caused the church to be eventually divided. The Canadian parishes formed the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, and American parishes formed three separate bodies, the Anglican Catholic Church, the United Episcopal Church