The Southern Episcopal Church (SEC or SEC/USA) was established in 1962 in reaction to liberal political and theological trends of the 1960s within the Episcopal Church USA.It was founded in Nashville, Tennessee, by a physician turned clergyman, Burnice Hoyle Webster, and a number of former members of the Episcopal Church USA. Webster became the SEC's first presiding bishop. The SEC now considers itself a "Continuing Anglican" church, but its members point out that the founding of the SEC preceded the start of the Continuing Anglican Movement by a decade and a half.