776 



PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. 



of its existence upon which it has now entered. 

 The year 1886 is more than ordinarily inter- 

 esting in the history of the Episcopal Church, 

 because of the meeting of the General Con- 

 vention ; of the earnest efforts put forth to aid 

 in securing, if possible, a reunion of divided 

 Christendom ; and of the completion, in part, 

 of the important work that was entered upon 

 five or six years ago, for the purpose of en- 

 riching the Liturgy, and enlarging and im- 

 proving, for congregational use, the public 

 services of the Church. The sources of infor- 

 mation, in preparing this article, are the Jour- 

 nal of the General Convention of 1886, Pott's 

 "Church Almanac," and Whittaker's "Prot- 

 estant Episcopal Almanac." The following 

 table presents a summary of statistics of 

 Church progress from 1883 to 1886 : 



Number of dioceses 49 



Number of missionary jurisdictions 15 



Bishops ' 71 



Candidates for orders 344 



Deacons ordained 398 



Priests ordained 391 



Whole number of clergy 3,760 



Number of parishes 2.939 



Number of missions 2,072 



Corner-stones laid 177 



Churches consecrated 257 



Number of churches and chapels 4,338 



Free churches and chapels 1.466 



Rectories 1,288 



Families 148,994 



Baptisms, infant 124,970 



Baptisms, adult '26,246 



Confirmed, number of 93,049 



Communicants 424,424 



Marriages 41,580 



Burials 76,406 



Sunday-school teachers 35, 150 



Sunday-school scholars 327,272 



Church hospitals 54 



Church orphan-asylums 52 



Church homes 37 



Academic and collegiate institutions 114 



Theological and other institutions 45 



Communion alms $855,623 40 



Offerings for diocesnn missions $809,213 75 



Offerings for domestic missions $649,291 66 



Offerings for foreign missions $3*23.584 88 



Total of charitable offerings and income $9,872,5l 1 1 



Total offerings for religious purposes $30,783,052 28 



PROGRESS BY DIOCESES. 



GENERAL COMPARISON. 



The General Convention. This body, acting as 

 the supreme legislature in the American Epis- 

 copal Church, meets triennially in the place ap- 

 pointed from time to time. It assembled this 

 year in the city of Chicago. October 6, and 

 continued in session until October 28 inclusive. 

 There were between fifty and sixty of the 

 bishops present, and clerical and lay deputies 

 from all the forty-nine dioceses, and delegates 

 from twelve missionary jurisdictions. The 

 Convention consists of t\vo houses, which hold 

 sessions as distinct bodies, viz., the House of 

 Bishops and the House of Clerical and Lay 

 Deputies; but concurrent action is neces- 

 sary to any valid legislation. In addition to 

 regular business requiring attention, such as 



