So Much in a Few Words

http://www.livingchurch.org/publishertlc/viewarticle.asp?ID=2843

[The Living Church] 3 Jan 2007--Q. How many members of The Episcopal Church are there in this country?

A. About 2.2 million. It used to be larger percentagewise (sic), but Episcopalians tend to be better educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than other denominations.

New York Times Magazine. Sunday Nov. 19, 2006

The New York Times was lobbing soft balls to the new Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, when this exchange took place. The more I have thought about her answer to this simple question, the more I am convinced that in a single sentence the Presiding Bishop illustrates rather dramatically the crisis that faces The Episcopal Church. She does so in three ways.