Clergy in Parish Ministry

About one-third of the persons ordained to the priesthood do not go into parish ministry.

The pattern of the past 10 years shows that only 68 percent of those ordained to the priesthood serve in parishes. This fact needs to be considered when looking at the number of ordinations as compared to the expected number of retirements of clergy serving parishes. 

Since clergy nearing retirement age are concentrated in smaller parishes, clergy supply is an especially critical issue. Nearly 60 percent of the clergy who are over the age of 60 serve churches with 140 members or fewer.

Some leave parish ministry for another form of ministry, thus diminishing the clergy supply to churches.

A decrease in clergy supply would clearly have an impact on all Episcopal parishes. Churches seeking clergy will have fewer choices; fewer churches will have the option of full-time ordained leadership; and some churches will have no access to ordained leadership at all.