More women than men were ordained to the priesthood in the Church of England for the first time last year.

In addition, 19 dioceses, nearly half the total of 44, experienced an increase in church attendance, according to statistics published yesterday.

The figures run counter to the gospel of a dying religion preached by secularists such as Dr Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. They show instead an established Church that is surprisingly resilient, given the increased ferocity of attacks on all faiths by unbelievers. They also give further credence to the lesson of history that Christianity in particular thrives when persecuted.

According to the Church of England report, 213 women and 210 men were ordained priest last year. Some things have not changed, though, with more men than women going into stipendiary posts and most women continuing to pastor for no pay. And there are still more men than women in the stipendiary Anglican priesthood in England: 7,001 compared with 1,495.

The General Synod voted in 1992 to accept women into the priesthood, and the first were ordained at Easter 1994. The Synod is now locked in contentious debate over whether women should be ordained bishop, an issue that insiders fear could be as divisive as that of homosexual ordination, even though some provinces such as the US and Canada already have women bishops.

Although women increasingly are being elevated to senior ecclesiastical posts, such as cathedral deans, research shows that the stained glass ceiling is still holding in the Church.

Last year University of Manchester researchers said that, despite their increasing numbers, women clergy seemed not to have made an impact on the Church because it was “far from being an equal opportunity employer”. It cited 2005 figures that showed that most men went into stipendiary ministry, whereas most of the women were in voluntary posts.

The figures also showed that average Sunday attendances fell to just under a million for the first time, but average weekly giving increased to £5.08 in 2005. Tax-efficient giving increased to an average of £8.26 per subscriber per week. The number of parishioners subscribing to tax-efficient regular giving through gift aid rose to another record of 523,200.

John Preston, the Church’s national stewardship and resources officer, said: “Achieving £5 a week was quite a milestone and the latest figures show a further increase of 4 per cent in total tax-efficient giving. Church members continue to give generously to charitable causes compared with the population at large.”

Average giving is about 3 per cent of average incomes, but this falls short of the 5 per cent recommended by the General Synod since 1978.

Mr Preston said: “The 5 per cent aim was based on the Christian tradition of tithing or giving away 10 per cent of income and the recommendation was to give half of that to the Church in thanks for God’s gifts and half to other charitable works.”