Church of England revises attendance figures

LONDON — A recount of parishioners by the Church of England added 90,000 to the church’s original tally of Sunday attendance, moving the average number of worshipers in England’s official church over the 1 million mark.

The new number of 1,058,000, drawn up over several weeks in the autumn of 2000, replaces the earlier estimate of fewer than 970,000 regular worshipers, a source of some embarrassment to church leaders struggling for years in standing among an increasingly secularized  population.

However, even the larger figure indicates that fewer than 10 percent of England’s people attend church on a regular basis. The higher number takes into account not only those attending Sunday masses, but also those attending other functions such as prayer meetings during the week.

London's Daily Telegraph suggested that Church of England vicars have “deliberately” underestimated attendance at services to reduce the amount of apportionment they pay to their dioceses.