Philippine Independent Church
The Philippine Independent Church (PIC) was founded in August 1902 by the Filipino journalist and modern reformer Isabelo de los Reyes. It is also known as Iglesia Filipina Independiente or the Aglipayan Church, after its first bishop, Gregorio Aglipay y Labayan (1860–1940), an excommunicated Catholic priest and supporter of Philippine independence. Aglipay led the church from 1902 until his death and, having failed to win acceptance from the Vatican, aligned it with Unitarian Church. The new church was in part a reaction to the restricted role for native Filipino clergy in the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines and was also, in part, an expression of Filipino nationalism and resistance to American control. The church is led by a supreme bishop (obispo maximo) who is elected by a general assembly of lay and clerical delegates. Since 1999 the supreme bishop has been the Rev. Thomas A. Millamena. PIC is a member of the World Council of Churches and has ties with Old Catholic chuches in Europe and the Anglican and Episcopal churches. Its clergy is trained at Saint Andrew's Theological Seminary, which serves the PIC and the Episcopal Church in the Philippines.
After attracting about 25 percent of the Philippine population soon after it was formed, the membership declined and the church was damaged by conflict among different factions and disputes over how far church doctrine should deviate from Roman Catholicism. After Aglipay's death in 1940 the church moved away from Unitarianism, and in 2002 PIC doctrine and practice is in general accord with the Episcopal Church. The church membership in the 1990s is estimated at between 2.5 and 4.5 million.
Catholicism, Roman—Philippines
Further Reading
Achutegui, Pedro S. de (1961) Religious Revolution in the Philippines: The Life and Church of Gregorio Aglipay, 1860-1940. Manila: Ateneo de Manila.
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