The number of women entering the ministry is also expected to fall, though not as significantly, to 124. This puts them ahead of male entrants for the first time since the Church admitted female priests 12 years ago.

The figures were welcomed by campaigners for women's ordination who said the shift in the balance between the sexes would have a profound effect on the public face of the Church.

But the sudden drop in male candidates will concern Church leaders because the numbers have been buoyant for some time.

It will also alarm traditionalists, who fear that the Church is in danger of becoming over feminised. For most of the past 10 years, the number of men being ordained has remained reasonably stable, averaging around 250 a year.

The high point came in 2000 when the figure topped 300, but it returned to about 250 in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

Between 2003 and next year, however, the number of ordinations will fall by nearly 130, if the projections based on the number of candidates now in training prove to be accurate.

For women, the figure has risen from 107 in 1995, just after the first female ordinations, to a high point of 216 in 2002. But they declined to 211 in 2003 and 198 in 2004 and are projected to be 124 next year.

Church spokesmen were unable to provide projections for future years, and no one was prepared to comment on whether the figures represented a worrying trend or merely a statistical blip.

But the Roman Catholic Church is also suffering a sharp fall-off in vocations, with only 18 priests due to be ordained this year across England and Wales.

Christina Rees, a member of the Church of England's General Synod and a prominent campaigner for women's rights, nevertheless said that the figures were evidence that the Church was moving in the right direction.

"It is progress, but because only one in every five priests is female, the Church is still highly patriarchal and there won't be parity for decades," she said.

The Rev Ann Philps, the director of ordinands in the diocese of Salisbury, said not only were there more women priests but the average age of new clergy was rising.

"We are going to have a more feminised and a more mature Church," she said. "This will lead to a gradual change because women bring their own perspectives. It will be, perhaps, a softer, kinder Church, and less like a men's club."

Vicky Thurtell, a 44-year-old mother of two who is to be ordained as a deacon in the Salisbury diocese next summer, said many women of her generation had wanted to become priests when they were young but were not allowed to.

By the time the Church dropped its bar on female ordination, they had families and other commitments. A number of them were now coming through because their children had grown up.

"I think many women have been waiting in the wings until their situation changed," she said. "I just want as many people as possible, men and women, to come into the Church so that it can continue its work."

But Fr Geoffrey Kirk, the general secretary of the traditionalist umbrella group Forward in Faith, said fewer men were now likely to join the Church.

"Once a profession becomes predominantly female, men will stop applying. We have been predicting it for years. The average age is going up hugely, especially among women, and the priesthood will eventually become a hobby for grannies."

He predicted that the bitter debate over whether women should become bishops, which will be refuelled next month with the publication of an official report on the issue, would only accelerate the trend.

END