Episcopal diocese that gave the highest percent of its budget to support the mission to the world of the Episcopal Church Center in last year reported:
The Diocese of Newark (28 percent)

Oldest deputy to U.S. Episcopal Church’s 2003 General Convention:
Charles Crump (West Tennessee, age 88.9 when convention opens)

Youngest deputy to U.S. Episcopal Church’s 2003 General Convention:
Amanda Frank (Alaska, age 16.9)

The senior diocesan bishop in the U.S. Episcopal Church:
William Swing, Bishop of California (consecrated 1/1/80, could serve until he turns 72 on August 26, 2008)

Number of dioceses that guarantee access to the ordination process without regard to sexual orientation:

All (by authority of Title 1.17.5 of Canons of the Episcopal Church)

Year first "out" lesbian or gay person was ordained:

1977 (The Rev. Dr. Ellen Marie Barrett, first co-president of Integrity, by Bishop Paul Moore, Jr., of New York in January 1977, the first month that women could be ordained officially).

Number of Episcopal clergy who hold law degrees:
12 bishops, 274 priests, 40 deacons

Diocesan bishop who never earned a penny as a priest, but only as a lawyer: Francisco Duque. (Duque worked as a lawyer to support his ministry before being elected Bishop of Colombia in 2001.)

Percent of Episcopal Church priests who have earned academic doctorates:
5.7 (Ph.D.), 4.1 (D.Min), 0.7 (Th.D.)

Percent of Episcopal Church bishops who have earned academic doctorates:
2.3 (Ph.D), 7 (D.Min), 1.3 (Th.D.)

Number of Episcopal clergy who are medical doctors: 72 priests, 27 deacons.

Number of Episcopal clergy who have dentistry degrees: 9 priests, 6 deacons

Last month Louie’s Index posed this question:

In what sense does the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church also exercise real authority as the Bishop of Rome?

Here’s the answer:

The Presiding Bishop is the Bishop of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe and as such exercises real authority over the ECUSA parish of St. Paul’s within the Walls, the ECUSA parish in Rome. The Presiding Bishop’s Suffragan for the Convocation is the Bishop-in-Charge locally, and resides in Paris.

• Who are the female diocesan bishops eligible to be nominated for a full term as Presiding Bishop if elected at the 2006 General Convention?

See the December 2002 issue for the answer.

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 is a member of 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; email him at LCREW@newark.rutgers.edu.