According to various parish profiles reported to the Synod of 1995 (the latest figures available in the 'Profile'), Niagara parishes claimed to have 38,000 total members but average Sunday attendance is less than a third of that figure - a mere 12,124. Factoring in further steady decline over the last seven years and the number of church closures, that figure is undoubtedly lower. The diocese claims that 98 churches have organized into 85 parishes.

We are fast approaching the point in the Anglican Communion where a crisis can no longer be averted by acceptance of covenants, reports (Windsor), communiques and high flying talk of diversity, inclusivity, reconciliation and healing. It has become apparent that a parting of the ways is inevitable. The test will be how Archbishop Rowan Williams proposes to handle it. Truthfully he is in a no win situation.

In an article titled "The Limits of Tolerance", Mr. Hamilton accuses remnant orthodox Episcopalians, such as the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Communion Network, Forward in Faith North America, and, most recently, the "Convocation of Anglicans in North America" (Archbishop of Nigeria Peter Akinola's extra-territorial "Nigerian" mission to the U.S.A.), of well-planned and organized attempts to bring about the replacement demise of the Episcopal Church as the U.S.

He told the Episcopal News Service that "the focus here is on transformation, the building of communion and the engagement with each other, the goal of which is to equip the bishops to be more effective and faithful servants to the 'Missio Dei' [God's mission]."

"[But] coming together [is] to encounter one another and God's word, engage the hard issues at a deep level of conversation, and then be equipped to serve God's mission in the world."