As COVID deaths shot up, Episcopal burials dropped By Mary Ann Mueller VOL Special Correspondent www.virtueonline.org August 30, 2023 A funny thing happened as a result of COVID. The result is that the 2020 and 2021 Episcopal Church statistics have been skewed particularly for the number of church burials which were conducted. VirtueOnline has done a deep dive Read More
Lifeway Research reports that church attendance across Christian denominations in 2022 returned to 85 percent of pre-pandemic levels. But Anglican Watch’s review of data suggests that Average Sunday Attendance, or ASA, in the Episcopal Church remains much lower, probably about 70 percent churchwide versus pre-pandemic numbers. Per reports from the Office of General Convention, ASA declined from 547,107 in 2019 to Read More
The first set of full-year data, reflecting the effect of COVID on the Episcopal Church, has been released. As expected, the numbers are dire. Even worse, official commentary about the numbers is misleading. Highlights: Reporting parishes and missions declined by 62 for the year, from 6,356 in 2020 to 6,294 in 2021. The rate of loss of active Read More
In the course of my travels, both in-person and cyber-based, I am hearing a recurring criticism from Episcopalians, particularly those who are elderly, shut-in, or isolated. That criticism, and it is deeply concerning, is that the church is ignoring them during the pandemic; that they feel ignored, brushed off, and irrelevant. I don’t have hard numbers, but I Read More