But one thing is missing -- the 2021 Episcopal Church Parochial Report. The facts and figures that show TEC's statistical health which, through the years, has also revealed its growing spiritual weaknesses. Usually, those figures are released in September. Last year they were released in early October. Here it is November and no figures from The Episcopal Church as the calendar quickly inches toward Thanksgiving.

However, on November 1 the 2022 Parochial Report form popped up while the 2022 calendar year is still two months away from ending. The 8-page form, which comes with a 29-page Workbook of Instructions, is to be filed only online starting on Wednesday, January 4, 2023, through May 1, 2023.

MISSING IN ACTION

Yet, in November 2022, the 2021 Episcopal Church's full Annual Table of Statistics detailing the important facts and figures revealing the numeric health of the church is still missing in action.

When VirtueOnline emailed The Episcopal Church to inquire when the 2021 Parochial Report would be released, VOL received an automatic reply: "Thank you. Your message has been received. We will respond as soon as we are able. In the meantime, please feel free to review the answers below to some of our most frequently asked questions."

The email from 815 Second Avenue included links to previous Parochial Reports. But Episcopal Church headquarters has not responded any further.

It is interesting to note how complicated the Parochial Report form has become due to the reporting of the impact of COVID. There is not only a local parish version of the form, but also a separate diocesan version of the paperwork.

The eight-page congregational form is broken into various sections. Two pages are dedicated to basic parish information -- church name, location, diocese, contact information, the form's preparation certifications and clergy information -- names, positions, titles, ordination dates, and employment status.

There are more than 6,500 Episcopal congregations flung across the American landscape with another 300 or so spread across the world -- two in Micronesia ... 13 in the Virgin Islands ...15 in Taiwan ... 20 in Europe ... 25 in Venezuela ... 35 in Colombia ... 37 in Ecuador ... 44 in Cuba ... 51 in Puerto Rico ... 65 in the Dominican Republic ... 110 and Honduras ... 120 in Haiti.

Two pages from the 2021 Parochial Report form cover membership, worship attendance, the type of sacramental & nonsacramental services held, and the number of days services were offered.

One page is taken up with basic stewardship and financial information reflecting income and expenses, with a second page dedicated to Paycheck Protection Program and the federal CARES Act usage by the church used during the height of the COVID shutdown to help keep the congregation financially viable.

Another page is seeking clergy, vestry and staff input into their hopes, dreams and plans about their faith community's future. It asks what changes are needed and how to facilitate those changes.

The final page addresses how the congregation fulfills its social gospel outreach. Do they operate a food bank or have soup kitchen activity, daycare and literacy programs, financial help with rent and employment counseling, social issue advocacy and 12-step programs, as well as participation in overseas relief organizations along with ecumenical and interfaith partnerships?

The diocesan version of the parochial report is shorter. It is only five pages long. Obviously it calls for the basic information: the name of the diocese, location, and the name of the bishop ordinary.

The report then delves into detailed parish and mission churches information. It identifies new churches, closed churches, merged churches, and churches which have undergone name changes.

There is, of course, the requisite economic and cash flow report, with approved budget and audited financial statement attached.

Finally, there is the COVID-19 kicker: how did the Paycheck Protection Program play out on the diocesan level, along with how the pandemic impacted diocesan income and what other challenges the diocese faced because of the interruption in the flow of normal parish-generated income.

CHANGES IN THE 2022 FORM

A new wrinkle in the just released 2022 Parochial Report form is the tracking of age groups, race and language. This is in keeping with The Episcopal Church's desire to redesign the parochial report and include new narrative questions to help track 'opportunities, innovations and challenges.'

Historically, the Parochial Report statistics tracked the number of congregations ... baptized members .... communicants ... other nonmembers active in the congregation ... ASA ... Sunday school students ... child and adult baptisms ... child and adult confirmations ... converts ... weddings ... funerals.

The new form asked for the breakdown of the age of "active participants" -- children (Birth to 12); youth (13-17); young adults (18-34), middle aged adults (35-64) and senior adults (65+).

The form also asks for how parishioners self-identify racially: American Indian/Alaska Native; Asian; Black or African American; Hispanic or Latino(a); Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; white or multiracial.

Language is also tackled in the 2022 Parochial Report form. The form seeks to know in which language worship services are conducted. The suggestions are English, Spanish, French, Haitian Creole French, Mandarin Chinese, Filipino Tagalog, and American Sign Language.

"You might be surprised to know that in The Episcopal Church worship is conducted in 36 different languages," the General Convention website explains in its A Toolbox for Understanding Data Trends in The Episcopal Church.

"As the COVID-19 pandemic forced churches to close their physical doors in the spring of 2020, Episcopal congregations across the United States and around the world began to re-imagine what it means to be the church," wrote Elena G. van Stee in the named document Observations and Insights from Narrative Responses to the 2020 Parochial Report. "Almost overnight, congregations implemented innovative new strategies for conducting worship services, connecting with parishioners, and meeting community needs. These innovations were refined and expanded over the course of the pandemic as congregations learned how to adjust to a new, physically-distanced reality."

In many ways, COVID changed the way parishioners connected with their church. Due to strict COVID restrictions, many congregations went online or even moved outdoors for open air religious services.

But the definition of "online" is hard to define. One definition suggests: "Online means the service was available online only. For example, worship leader(s) are gathered in person and the whole congregation is online."

The Parochial Report workbook continues to explain that "In-person indicates the service was not available online and was only conducted in-person," and "Hybrid designates that the service was both in-person and online."

The 2022 form seeks to know what ways that the faith community worshipped during the year. Were there in-person services held indoors? Were there in-person held outdoors? Were there virtual services or even hybrid services combining both in-person and online elements? And how did the congregation track online attendance or virtual participation?

Weddings and funerals are broken down into in-person participation and online involvement. Parish gatherings were cancelled, and meetings were held through Zoom.

The question is also asked if religious education and spiritual formation was held in person or online or through hybrid methods.

AWA MAKES AN APPEARANCE

Also, the tracking of attendance numbers is broken down into the familiar Average Sunday Attendance (ASA), which now includes Saturday evening services, and the new Average Weekly Attendance (AWA) figures which incorporate not only the scheduled Sunday service, but also the midweek service, Holy Day services and special liturgical celebrations observed annually.

The Parochial Report workbook cautions that the Average Weekly Attendance (AWA) is not to be confused with Average Sunday Attendance (ASA). The 2019 Parochial Report was the final year that the stand-alone ASA metric was used.

But it gets confusing to what is considered a weekday service to be incorporated in the AWA figures.

Are Morning Prayer and Evensong considered as countable worship services? Or do only Services of Holy Communion, baptisms, weddings, funerals and quinceañeras make the cut? Obviously, christenings, marriages, burials and Latina birthday celebrations are not regularly scheduled events. Those services are held as the need arises.

The new AWA figure is taken from regularly scheduled services like the Sunday Service of Holy Communion, the Midweek Eucharist, Lenten services, Holy Week events, weekly school year student services and the praying of the Daily Office.

It stands to reason that the regular praying of the weekday Daily Office would be folded into the AWA figures. Some churches habitually pray Daily Office, beit Morning Prayer or Evensong and even perhaps Midday Prayer.

The Episcopal Diocese of Texas was able to shed light on the subject with its online tutorial on how to track and report the metrics of a congregation. The diocese explains that the AWA includes all the attendance at all services listed in the Service Register held on the church campus. And that the Service Register counts the number of services which are A) led by clergy, with or without the Eucharist, and B) led by laypersons such as Morning Prayer with the altar guild or Compline with the youth group.

Tucked on Page 11, Line 25 of The Parochial Report Workbook, put out by the Episcopal Church, is another clue to how to count Daily Office.

The workbook advises to "count all weekday services of Morning and Evening Prayer, and other daily services (Compline, Noonday Office ...) even when followed by or used with the Eucharist."

IDENTIFYING VISITORS

The Diocese of Texas also explained that the 2022 Parochial Report form was also attempting to track Sunday visitors.

Who is a visitor? That is not an easy question to answer.

The suggestion is to count the number of visitors of all ages at all scheduled Sunday worship services not including weddings and funerals.

Easter Sunday could also be excluded if a first-time Easter visitor is too difficult to identify.

Both Christmas and Easter services draw huge -- folding-chairs-in-the-aisle -- congregations. This is when the "Christmas poinsettia and Easter lily members" show up.

The Christmas and Easter counts, including Christmas Eve and the Easter vigil services, are recorded separately.

However, long-time Sunday visitors, who are not parish members, should not be considered visitors if they have been regularly coming to church for six months or more.

"We suggest counting people as visitors until they have been attending for approximately six months the metric to be reported is total visitors, so some visitors will be reported multiple times," note the Diocese of Texas Parochial Report instructions.

Identifying visitors could come through the input of ushers and greeters, vestibule Visitor's Book signatures, or the filling out of visitor cards.

However, 2020 was when the full force of COVID was first felt and many church services went online where it is difficult to identify viewers.

Episcopal churches were asked to count their People-in-the-Pews for the first nine Sundays of 2020. Then COVID hit and churches were shut down, cancelling both Easter and Christmas in person services and the Episcopal Church's Parochial Reports have been skewered ever since.

The bottom line is the results of the 2021 Parochial Report have yet to see the light of day, even as the 2022 Parochial Report form is rolled out.

Commenting on the addition of the new detailed demographic information on the 2022 Parochial Report one priest quipped: "The Episcopal Church is carefully analyzing its' death."

Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline