Church attendance

[Kanuckistani]

I’ve heard a lot about churches, Catholic and Protestant having a decline in church attendance, which scares me quite a bit. Here in Canada the Catholic church has an attendance of about 30% (it was in the 80 percent range back in the fifties). But, there is some good signs. The Catholic church is growing in Canada! In this article: canadianchristianity.com/nationalupdates/2007/071213state.html the author does give some good signs that the Catholic church is doing OK, but not great. It shows that in 1981, there was 10,320,024 Canadian Catholics, and 12,624,403 in 2001. That’s more then two million new members! Also, it shows that in 1981 that church attendance was at 2,759,910 and jumped to 3,451,874 in 2001. However, it really never changed the percentage of 30 percent, but it’s great that over 3 million people go to church. So what’s you opinion on church attendance? Are we facing a crisis? Do you think it will get better? And what’s the status of your church in your country?

 

[rfournier103]

The real crisis is for the people who don’t go to mass, or lead a Godly life. The Church shall endure… but what about those that turn a blind eye to God? THEY are the ones in crisis.

 

[MidnightSun12]

Unfortunately, I suspect that the only reason why Church attendance is increasing in Canada is because of immigration. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that our country is bringing God-loving people into our country and I think that these immigrants will be absolutely invaluable to the future of the Catholic Church in Canada. That said, I believe if we looked at the absolute numbers of white Catholics attending church in Canada, we would see a continuation of the sharp decline over the last 30 years.

The problem of the Catholic Church losing it’s members hasn’t changed because the Church hasn’t changed the way that it’s sharing the faith with it’s flock. Since the 1960’s, the Church has been gun-shy when it comes to preaching on intrinsic evils such as contraception, abortion, pre-marital sex, and the realities of hell and damnation… How can a Catholic possibly be in a loving relationship with God and the Church when they go home and commit mortal sin with their boyfriend/girlfriend or cast a vote on election day for a politician who supports abortion, gay marriage, etc? Until members of the Church re-gain their confidence to preach on sin, we will continue to see a decline in church-goers.

 

[iamcatholic100]

Unfortunately, I suspect that the only reason why Church attendance is increasing in Canada is because of immigration. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that our country is bringing God-loving people into our country and I think that these immigrants will be absolutely invaluable to the future of the Catholic Church in Canada. That said, I believe if we looked at the absolute numbers of white Catholics attending church in Canada, we would see a continuation of the sharp decline over the last 30 years.

The problem of the Catholic Church losing it’s members hasn’t changed because the Church hasn’t changed the way that it’s sharing the faith with it’s flock. Since the 1960’s, the Church has been gun-shy when it comes to preaching on intrinsic evils such as contraception, abortion, pre-marital sex, and the realities of hell and damnation… How can a Catholic possibly be in a loving relationship with God and the Church when they go home and commit mortal sin with their boyfriend/girlfriend or cast a vote on election day for a politician who supports abortion, gay marriage, etc? Until members of the Church re-gain their confidence to preach on sin, we will continue to see a decline in church-goers.

Right here in the United States, approximately 20% to 25% of catholics go to mass every sunday. Even though we had an increase in catholics because of immigration, church attendance, ironically, decreased over the past ten years.

You know, Michael Voris, founder of churchmilitant tv., once said on a video on youtube, “If you want to look at the health of the church, just look at the culture around it.” That certainly explains alot.

Like MidnightSun12 says, unless more preachers start telling it like it is, things will only get worse.

 

[Don_Jackson]

This shows the importance of the New Evangelization!

 

[Tigg]

When the Son of Man returns, will he find any faith on earth? Lk 18:8

Human secularism is smothering the capacity to believe. In our own minds, we have built our own gods and lifted ourselves up on a pedestal. Who is going to go to church to hear the message when they are already satiated by materialism and are clueless as to how naked they are? The idea of a transcendent God becomes foreign and, sadly, unwanted.

 

[Aboveallbereal]

In Ireland most surveys both by the Church and others show attendance at somewhere like 35% with a preponderance among rural and older people. In Greater Dublin the Archbishop estimates 14% with working class areas effectively unrepresented at less than 2% at times. ( as in the rest of Western Europe the lower classes are now de facto unChurched ) Other non church surveys put Dublin attendance as high as 25%…probably including Christmas and Easter attenders

I suspect the decline will now slow down to natural wastage of the old since those likely to drop off have almost certainly already done so.

Christ Himself predicted tough times. The almost universal acceptance of His message during th era of Christendom ( 4th to 19th centuries ) cannot be seen as “normal”. It was a passing era and there is no crisis as such simply change.

 

[jenwha]

The ushers have started counting us at the weekend Masses. In the bulletin last week they advised that about 100 more people per weekend were coming to Mass than 2 years ago, which I think puts my church at 37% attendance which was mentioned is higher than the national average.

As I have only been Catholic since April 7 of this year that was quite a shock to me. I wouldn’t dream of missing Mass on any week.

I did also notice spring/summer attendance is way way down, something the priest mentioned a lot. Fall weather has really upped the numbers and with Advent approaching I’m sure it will go up as well.

Scares me. I had no idea as I said that only 25-35% of Catholics are attending every week.

 

[Aboveallbereal]

The ushers have started counting us at the weekend Masses. In the bulletin last week they advised that about 100 more people per weekend were coming to Mass than 2 years ago, which I think puts my church at 37% attendance which was mentioned is higher than the national average.

As I have only been Catholic since April 7 of this year that was quite a shock to me. I wouldn’t dream of missing Mass on any week.

I did also notice spring/summer attendance is way way down, something the priest mentioned a lot. Fall weather has really upped the numbers and with Advent approaching I’m sure it will go up as well.

Scares me. I had no idea as I said that only 25-35% of Catholics are attending every week.

I’m actually surprised and gratified to read of figures in the range you suggest. Throughout western Europe such figures are unimaginably high. When meeting or chatting with a colleague or acquaintance who one knows or assumes to be nominally Catholic one simply assumes the person is lapsed and unengaged until or unless one learns otherwise.

You have the blessed zeal of the converted. In truth the numbers you have read of adherence in most countries in Europe are purely notional and nominal. In mainland Western Europe nations like Spain and France see attendance figures which are tiny in comparison to the USA.