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TheBartonville Agreement came from a meeting held in May 1999 by bishops representing both theAnglican Communion's American province (The Episcopal Church) and a number ofContinuing Anglican jurisdictions in North America. As such, it was an early effort made by conservative Episcopal bishops and Continuing Anglican bishops to voice a common set of principles which might become the basis of future cooperation between their churches or dioceses. The schism that had divided these church bodies had occurred in 1977 at theCongress of St. Louis when "Continuers" met and formed a new Anglican church in reaction to changes in doctrine and practice that had been approved by theEpiscopal Church and theAnglican Church of Canada.
These bishops assembled inBartonville, Illinois atSt. Benedict's Abbey. In his opening comments the host, AbbotJuan Alberto Morales, encouraged those present "to let the Holy Spirit guide us and show us the way that we should go...that as we face the new millennium we may present to the world a portion of theAnglican Communion reconciled and united, which in turn, may be an example to imitate for all good and faithful Anglicans and for the Church in general." The result of the meeting was the signing of a "Call to prayer" for unity and a determination to meet again.
A secondconvocation of bishops took place in Bartonville on October 29 of the same year. The result of this meeting was the signing of theArticles of Ecclesiastical Fellowship.
The signatories of the original compact were the following:
Present but not empowered to sign were:
The following were signatories of the Articles of Ecclesiastical Fellowship:[1]
