It has become commonplace for The Episcopal Church to proclaim itself an international church of sixteen countries. For example, the minutes of the October 2009 Executive Council record that:
The Presiding Bishop gave Opening Remarks. She asked for a moratorium on use of "National Church" and enumerated the countries in which The Episcopal Church [hereafter, TEC] works.
Again, in her recent sermon at Southwark Cathedral, the Presiding Bishop began by giving her standard enumeration of the sixteen countries:
I bring you greetings from The Episcopal Church, from Episcopalians in Taiwan and Micronesia, in Honduras, Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Haiti, our biggest diocese, the Dominican Republic, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and from the Episcopal Churches in Europe, in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Oddly missing from this list is the United States.
It is instructive to review the average Sunday attendance of TEC's churches in these countries using the most recent data (2008) in the order of the Presiding Bishop's standard recitation:
Taiwan - 680
Micronesia - 138
Honduras - 12,340
Ecuador - 2017
Columbia - 1081
Venezuela - 489
Haiti - 16,631
Dominican Republic - 3058
Virgin Islands - 2041
Puerto Rico - 2342
Churches in Europe - 1302 (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland)
In her recent address to the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Presiding Bishop used the same list that she used in Southwark, but began her address to another "Episcopal Church" by defending the use of the name "The" Episcopal Church: "we've struggled with what to call ourselves because ECUSA is not accurate." In fact, the official name of TEC as designated in its constitution is"The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, otherwise known as The Episcopal Church (which name is hereby recognized as also designating the Church)." She also stated that the Churches in Europe were "rapidly becoming indigenized." The data show that they have declined 13% since 2003 from an ASA of 1500 to 1302.
TEC is not, of course, the only "international" church in the Anglican Communion. Others include the West Indies, Central America, Southern Cone, Ireland, West Africa, Central Africa, Southern Africa, Indian Ocean, Jerusalem and the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Melanesia and Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia.
But the most international of all Anglican churches remains the Church of England. In addition to churches extra-provincial to Canterbury in Spain, Portugal, Bermuda, Ceylon and the Falkland Islands, the Church of England's Diocese in Europe includes parishes or missions in forty-three countries with a weekly attendance of 12,600.
Sources:
TEC Statistics 2008
Presiding Bishop:
to Executive Council
at Southwark Cathedral
at SEC General Synod
Church of England Diocese in Europe Church of England statistics Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe
