Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. Happy ping for later.
The Times Almanac puts membership at 900k.
The author still doesn't get it... The Episcopal Church (TEC) 's leaders do not measure their strength is headcount. Why should they? The certainly don't believe that attendance, let alone faith, is required for salvation. They measure in dollars.
There are not 230,000 Episcopalians, nor 900,000, nor 1.3 million, nor 2.2 million, nor 3.6 million. There are 5 million living people who consider themselves Episcopalians, and millions more who have died already. And even disaffected, marginalized, liberalized, sanitized, nominalized Christians give to the Church when they die. And that Church is TEC to all but the tiny minority who actually care enough about their faith to attend while they are still living.
My close friend, recently Episcopalian, asked, "Why don't they care about Heterosexuals getting married?" Well, heterosexuals are more likely to give to the church when they die if they have no families of their own! Gays die young and fast and rich.
So TEC keeps all their donors, and what do they have to spend it on?
Maintainence? What maintainence do museum-churches need? They even only need heating for just an hour a week.
African missionwork and charities? No, the Africans are no longer part of their flock, just "intolerant" ingrates.
Administration? Sunday School? Physical-plant expansions? Education? No, no, no, no.
Schori et al get to keep all the money, minus, perhaps, a small portion of the real estate. That's why she was picked: she was the surest to shoo away the "expenses." Picking her would be like Bush choosing Ann Coulter for the USSC, deliberate provokation. Talking about Jesus' uterus was just her way of making sure the flock would quit grazing on her pastures.