Traditional Episcopal Churches Sign Concordat of Intercommunion The term "Continuing Church" or "Traditional Episcopal" refers to churches that are Anglican but that are not in communion with the See of Canterbury. The Anglican Province of America ( formerly the "American Episcopal Church" ) represents what some see as the most open and classically Anglican strain within the Continuing Churches. The APA was founded in 1968 and was in formal talks with ECUSA in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Reformed Episcopal Church separated from PECUSA in 1873. From an Anglican Province of America press release 12 JUNE 1998: On June 12th, a concordat of Intercommunion was signed in Philadelphia by the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Anglican Province of America, marking an important coming together of traditional Episcopal bodies. The signers of the concordat were the Right Reverend Leonard Riches and the Right Reverend Royal Grote of the Reformed Episcopal Church and the Right Reverend Walter Grundorf and the Right Reverend Richard Boyce of the Anglican Province of America. This is the first time that the Reformed Episcopal Church, which separated from the Episcopal Church in 1873, has entered into communion with another traditional Anglican body. The concordat is the culmination of conversations between the two churches which began informally in the early 1970ies. Both churches affirmed their common acceptance of the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, as expressed in the suffiency of Holy Scripture, the necessity of the historic episcopacy, the central authority of the Creeds, and the indispensibilty of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. The APA and the REC accept the faith of the Church, its doctrine, discipline and worship as the Anglican tradition has received the same. The concordat permits members of each jurisdiction to receive communion in the other, for clergy to serve in either and for delegates from each body to participate in the synods of the other. The Reformed Episcopal Church is in communion with the Free Church of England. The APA has a sister diocese in South India.