Domestic membership in the Episcopal Church dropped by 3 percent in 2008, continuing a decline in which the denomination has lost almost 200,000 U.S. members since 2004, according to Episcopal researchers.
It now counts slightly more than 2 million members in about 7,000 parishes. "We find ourselves facing a society that is gravitating toward secularism," Matilda Kistler, who heads a state-of-the-church committee, said in a statement.
She acknowledged that "internal conflicts within the Episcopal Church have also distracted from the message of hope our clergy and lay leaders seek to share."
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Comments
James Hyatt
Posted at 9:36 am (U.S. Eastern) 1/31/2010
I think this a problem not limited to the Episcopal Church.
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