[Alkhin]

Nope...doesnt fall into the heirarchy of the CoE either. Its a completely separate church. The REALLY confusing thing is that there are a whole bunch of churches out there now who have broken off either from the RCC or from the CoE in an attempt to distinguish themselves from those mainline churches, but they still use things like "Old Catholic" or "Anglican".

the way it was explained to me, as far as the ACC is concerned, is that they were not trying to form a 'new' church per se, but simply trying to 'go back to the roots' of when the Church started in England. For me there was no real draw as far as England was concerned. I was looking for a church home and I felt I was INVITED to be a part of this church. The language of the Book of Common Prayer was so unlike anything I had read in an RCC service that I felt I had found a church that had been hidden for ages. To me, at any rate, the prayers and focus of worship are humble and clearly focused, that I felt was finally able to figure out what my place in the world was. For someone who is adopted and feeling very much at odds with her environment, this was very appealing to me.

[msdrby]

The church that PE and I attend is at odds with the ECUSA. They have joined what is known as the Anglican Communion. I am not sure that it is a church governing body or whether it is within the CoE. I think it is apart from both ECUSA and CoE, but I am not sure.

[msdrby]

I was raised Methodist and joined the Lutheran church in college. Little did I know that my dad's family was traditionally Lutheran, LOL. PE is Episcopal, and we decided to attend the Episcopal church here in town. It still calls itself Episcopal, but the entire diocese is extremely conservative and does not really associate with the ECUSA, except when it otherwise cannot be avoided. The parish is now associated with the Anglican Communion.
http://www.anglicancommunionnetwork.org/home/index.cfm

http://www.faith-church.org/
It is a conservative church, and extremely welcoming. Like you, that was my draw to it. I am comfortable there because the liturgy is very close to if not the same as what the Lutheran church uses. It isn't high-church, but it is just as meaningful. Add to it that it is not some megachurch with all the frills. Okay, there are cookies and juice after the service, but you have to be quick to beat the kiddos. I do not believe that megachurches are necessarily wrong, I am just more comfortable in a much smaller setting.

Another plus is that our priest is a Tolkien fan!