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About 2,000 Canadian members of a breakaway Anglican group and a small group of U.S. Anglican dissidents said in March that they have accepted the offer made by Pope Benedict XVI last October that permits disaffected congregations to defect to Rome while keeping many Anglican traditions, including married priests. The agreement will allow members of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, which claims about 40 churches, to keep its own bishops. A similar move said to affect about 100 U.S. churches was approved in Orlando, Florida, by the Anglican Church in America.

U.S. membership in the United Methodist Church fell to 7.77 million in 2008—its biggest one-year percentage drop (1.01 percent) since 1974.

Giving was down as well in that first year of the recession as the largest mainline denomination received only 89 percent, or $126.3 million, of what was budgeted for domestic and foreign missions. Average worship attendance was down 1.83 percent for that year, officials told the United Methodist News Service.