The Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom (APUC) was originally established by Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps De Lisle in 1857 within England to promote unity among Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox Christians.[1] Condemned by Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman and defunct by the early twentieth century,[2] two successor organisations descended from it: the Catholic League and the Order of Corporate Reunion—two Anglo-Papalist societies.[3] Since 2023, a branch of the Order of Corporate Reunion incorporated within the United States by Peter Paul Brennan and others reorganized themselves as APUC.[4] The newly established incarnation of APUC seeks reformation or restoration within Anglicanism, Catholicism, and Eastern Orthodoxy.[5]
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For almost one hundred and fifty years, we undertook our public work in the name of the Order of Corporate Reunion. In 2023, however, we made the decision to reprise the public name of our predecessor organization, The Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom. This decision was intended as an act of "Kingdom-thinking." On account of the liberalizing trajectory pursued by certain elements, the name of the Order of Corporate Reunion acquired a negative association in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In addition, due to a variety of personality conflicts which have given rise to acts of separation, there are now four organizations claiming to be the Order of Corporate Reunion which are engaged in various disputes with each other. For these reasons, as an organization, we decided that the best course of action was to withdraw from all of these disputes and make a break with the past so that we could distance ourselves from the schisms and scandals of the past and serve as a more effective witness to Christian truth.
In this day and age, in the wake of the crisis facing the modern Anglican and Roman Catholic churches, the Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom directs its efforts not merely to the reconciliation of opposing elements within the broadly Catholic religious traditions but also to the process of authentic reformation or restoration within these religious traditions. In particular, the Association advocates for a return to the historic doctrine of the sacraments as represented in the 1537 "Bishops' Book" and in the 1604 Canons of the Church of England.