of ordination as priests, and, eventually, bishops. Social and cultural change led to the church's decision to marry divorced couples, to endorse certain forms of contraception, and to move towards greater inclusion of homosexual people in the life of the church. These changes have been accompanied by a massive decline in numbers, with a majority (53%) leaving the denomination in the period from 1961 to 2001, according to an independent survey. In the 21st century, numerical decline has continued. From 2001 to 2017, parish membership declined from 641,845 to 359,030, a decline of 44.1%. From 2001 to 2011, according to the Canadian census, self-identified Anglicans declined from 2,035,500 to 1,631,845, a decline of 19.8% in absolute terms and a drop in the proportion of the Canadian population from 6.9% to 5%. The number of self-identified Anglicans furtherly declined to little more than 1 million in 2021, amounting to 3,1% of Canadians. Twenty-first century In the twenty-first century a division in the Anglican Communion developed when more conservative churches opposed liberal positions on issues such as same-sex marriage and acceptance of homosexuality. The Anglican realignment was reflected in Canada with the development of the Anglican Essentials Canada, the Anglican Network in Canada (aligned with the Anglican Church in North America) and Anglican Coalition in Canada (aligned with the Anglican Mission in the Americas) made up of conservative churches and their congregants and which have either separated from or dissent within the Anglican Church of Canada.Anglican Journal: Essentials forms new groups, Sep 1, 2005 Structure Anglican Christians around the world are held together by common forms of worship, such as the Book of Common Prayer and its modern alternatives, which embody its doctrine. Other formularies, such as the Ordinal, the Thirty-Nine Articles and the First and Second Book of Homilies provide a shared theological tradition. Other instruments of unity in the Anglican Communion are, locally, its bishops and, internationally, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and, in more recent times, the Lambeth Conferences, the Anglican Communion Primates' Meeting, and the biennial Anglican Consultative Council. These last four instruments of unity have moral but not legislative authority over individual provinces. In Canada, Anglican bishops have divested some of their authority to three bodies – the General Synod, the Provincial Synod (there are four in Canada) and the diocesan synods (there are 29). The national church in Canada is structured on the typical Anglican model of