When Episcopalians were as numerous as they were going to get

Just some interesting stats I discovered: Apparently, the high-water mark for Episcopalians — or membership in The Episcopal Church USA — was from 1959 to 1967. See the stats here. What’s strange, however, is the number of Episcopalian clergy continued to grow steadily while membership fell steadily from about 1980 to 1995. The number of clergy and the number of church members wobble between 1968 and 1979, but after that, for years, more and more clergy began to serve fewer and fewer congregants. Between 1999 and 2002, the number of clergy ballooned again, while membership generally continued to decline.