The American Episcopal Church (AEC) was a conservative Anglican denomination that existed in the USA between 1968 and 1991. Its growth was temporarily slowed by the relative success of the Continuing Anglican movement of 1977 and 1978 which culminated in the creation of its own version of an alternative to the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Following the 1976 General Convention of the Episcopal Church, one in which the ordination of women to the priesthood and a new Prayer Book were approved, traditionalist clergy and laypersons unwilling to accept the recent changes met in St. Louis, Missouri and founded the new "Anglican Church in North America (Episcopal)". That provisional name was formally changed to Anglican Catholic Church at the new church's first convention held