The three Anglican dioceses whose request to join the U.S. Episcopal Church will be considered at the U.S. church’s 2003 General Convention: Cuba and Puerto Rico to return, and Venezuela to join for the first time.

Diocese in the Province of the Anglican Church of the Central American Region which has never been part of the U.S. Episcopal Church: Costa Rica (El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama left the Episcopal Church in 1997 to join with Costa Rica in creating the new province, which has 13,409 members.)

Supreme interpreter of the resolutions of General Convention of the Episcopal Church: The General Convention (The U.S. Episcopal Church has no supreme court. The two courts for the trial of a bishop have authority to interpret only those canons related to the trial. Executive Council is empowered to act on behalf of General Convention between conventions.)

Number of black priests in the 2.4 million-member U.S. Episcopal Church: c.600

Number of black priests in the 60 million-member U.S. Roman Catholic Church: c.350

Percent of black priests born outside the U.S.: 36.6

Percent of black priests born outside the U.S. who were born in the Caribbean: 54.5

Percent of black priests born outside the U.S. who were born in Africa: 22.3

Number of black bishops in the U.S. Episcopal Church: 24

Number of black bishops in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church: 13

Last month Louie’s Index posed this question:

Witness contributing editor Louie Crew, founder of Integrity and a longtime Episcopal Church leader (he currently sits on the Episcopal Church’s Executive Council and the Diocese of Newark’s deputation to General Convention 2003) is a well-known collector and disseminator of statistics and little-known facts about the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. His website is www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew.