Trends, statistics and observations. Maybe things aren't headed the way claimed

[Yeoman]

I just posted this item below in another thread:

Just as a casual observation, I wonder how many people have experienced the observation that “people just don’t go to confession anymore” to be false.

Often claims of that type are behind the times, but I’ve noted that in the 80s and 90s, outside of Lent, I used to go into a Church during the scheduled time for Confession and there were often just a few people in line, and frequently nobody at all.

Not anymore.

And that’s a good thing.

In all three of our Parishes there’s a line every time. Last Saturday I went to Confession at our smallest parish and the line stretched all the way down the side of the church. It was literally just like Lent used to be. And just a regular hot July. Quite a few of those in line were teenagers at that.

The reason that I’m reposting this here, is I really wonder to what extent the “crisis” we keep seeing claimed in the American church is, in part, based on incorrect observations.

Indeed, I frankly wonder to what extent the supposed crisis is in the now passing on “boomer” generation or caused by it. In observation inside the churches itself, I’m seeing a lot less of what’s being claimed and the younger the generation, the more this is the case.

For example, I’m seeing really long lines at Confession. And where I live, Catholics are a minority.

I’m seeing the Masses feature less innovation and start to reflect more of the long tradition of the Church.

Priests that weren’t completely orthodox seem to be gone now, and even the few who were sort of unconventional now are pretty darned orthodox.

The other day, I heard a Catholic high school student, who has always attended public school, quote and reference Leviticus in depth. I don’t know many adults who can do that.

 

[InNomineDomini]

I actually was thinking about responding to this in your other thread.

My own observations:

In one parish I sometimes go to, there might be, oh, 6 people in line for Confession on Saturdays, and maybe one or two on Sundays. (The parish itself might slightly lean progressive, I’m not sure, but the priest is a Benedictine who is absolutely outstanding.)

In our own parish, which has approximately 2,600 registered families, the lines are certainly longer. On Thursdays and Saturdays, there might be between 20 and 30 people waiting for Confession between 2 and 3 lines.

I would say that those numbers are not particularly earth shattering. If 240 people out some 5,200 go to Confession in a given a month, we’re looking at something like a 22 to 1 ratio. Let’s say that another 240 people have made private appointments for Confession. This would still imply that, in my parish, for every one person that goes to Confession at least monthly, there are 11 who do not. I wouldn’t conclude that those 11 don’t need to be going to Confession monthly, but obviously, I have no clue how much can be said about their orthodoxy from these facts.

I’m not sure if that’s a good ratio or a bad one, but those are just my own, anecdotal observations.

 

[GLam8833]

I know, for one, that the Spirit is alive
and well in the Catholic Church, from
a personal point of view, God’s hand is
in EVERY mass I attend. He had led me
“home” to the Catholic Church.