Episcopal Church: Declining Numbers and the Anglican Ordinariate

As Episcopalians continue to leave a denomination sliding ever deeper into heresy, some are joining new Anglican jurisdictions. The Anglican Ordinariate in the Catholic Church may make the difference for many who are fleeing seeking safe refuge.
By Randy Sly
8/30/2011
Catholic Online

WASHINGTON, DC - David Virtue of Virtue Online has been crunching numbers, trying to confirm claims of The Episcopal Church to having 2.3 million members. Virtue believes that many on the rolls are dead, have left the church or attend only a couple of times a year.

While membership is a valid statistic, the real question focuses upon how many people are actually attending services. What is the "average Sunday attendance (ASA)?"

The Episcopal Church (TEC) claims to have 6,825 parishes active in the United States. Of that number, Virtue's staff discovered that over 2, 000 of those parishes have a demographic with the majority at age 60 plus. In addition, more than 2,200 parishes (around one third) have an average Sunday attendance (ASA) of 40 people of less. Another 2,300 parishes are between 41 and 100 people.

Virtueonline Online reported the following:
- Churches with an ASA of 20 or less totaled 903.
- Churches with an ASA of 20 - 30 totaled 612.
- Churches with an ASA of 31 - 40 ASA totaled 704
- Churches with an ASA of 41 - 50 ASA totaled 552
- Churches with an ASA of 51 - 100 ASA totaled 1,826
- Churches with an ASA of 101- 200 ASA totaled 1,454
- Churches with an ASA of 201 - 500 ASA totaled 677

Such attendance figures beg the question of how long can these parishes survive? the rest