Episcopal Church: Declining Numbers and the Anglican Ordinariate

Where are those that leave going to go?

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

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - 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.

Virtue 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?

A mass exodus by Episcopalians is not new, this has been going on for several years. Many have found a new home in the multitude of Anglican jurisdictions that have either been waiting since the 1970's for more people to wake up and smell the coffee. Others have joined one of the newly established denominations who have become a lifeboat for those jumping ship.

With the anticipated establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States very soon, which will launch a number of new Anglican Use parishes, we can see that another exciting opportunity that many will prayerfully consider.

With the already-established Book of Divine Worship (based on the Book of Common Prayer) and an invitation to bring the richness of Anglican patrimony into the life of the Catholic Church, many can now prayerfully consider coming into full-communion with the Catholic Church amidst the familiarity of the liturgy.

In another post Virtue concluded with great accuracy, I'm confident, "The birth of The Anglican Mission in America (AMIA), CANA and subsequently ACNA with its two cousins in Canada, the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and the Anglican Coalition in Canada (ACiC) mark an evangelical awakening and a new Anglican reformation that won't be stopped."

While the evangelical awakening is certainly taking place and a new Anglican via-media is being established, Anglo-Catholics must still answer some critical questions. What is the stand of my new jurisdiction regarding women's ordination, which is still a complex subject in the new Anglican world? What is the teaching of this jurisdiction concerning the seven sacraments? What about apostolic succession?

Episcopalians who are received into the Church through the Anglican Ordinariate are fully Catholic - they aren't just "associate members" or "Catholic lite." How amazing it is that, as Catholics, we are able to visit an Anglican Use parish or Eastern Rite parish and fully participate as brothers and sisters in Christ! We are in full communion.

We are witnessing in our day a demonstration of the Church Catholic, where the Church transcends language and culture and embraces the fullness of the Tradition without sacrificing her dogmas and doctrines.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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