The story was not new. A head count done at weekend Masses and services on the Second Sunday of Lent last year had shown that attendance that day was 17 per cent of the 290,000 persons officially recorded as Roman Catholics. The Catholic News had published this information in July. 

The objective of the head count was not simply to gather figures to make a comparison between then and now. In the first instance the Church was concerned with making the best use of its resources – both human and material – to see how it could improve its ministry to its members. Much has happened before and after that head count that the Guardian’s Easter Sunday story ignored.

Has the Church been concerned with what these figures reveal about Church attendance? Most certainly, it has. It has not attempted to deny the implications of the data, but over the past months it has, in various ways, attempted to respond to the challenges and the needs that the figures bring to the fore.

The figures were examined together with the results of a GIS (geographic information system) display, which takes various data relating to population and geography and reassembles that information on a map so it can be more easily viewed and analysed.

The discoveries prompted three levels of consultation, with Archbishop Edward Gilbert determined “to tell everyone the truth”. After meeting with the vicars of the five vicariates or regions of the Archdiocese, the Archbishop convened a consultation with priests that have continued at regular intervals.

A second consultation followed with religious, leaders of ecclesial communities and members of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council and then a third with parish leaders.

With the background of all these experiences, the Archbishop wrote the Pastoral Letter, Deepening the Spirit of Solidarity in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain. The theme of solidarity was seen as “an indispensable key” to the mission of the local Church and vital for addressing the social ills of the nation.

The state of affairs raised several questions for those in Church leadership in particular, but important really for the entire body: How can the local Church reach the 83% of Catholics who no longer attend Mass on the weekend? Given the shortage of priests, how will the Church handle the long distances priests will be asked to cover?

How do we ensure that the Eucharist is celebrated in each community at least twice a month? How do we communicate to the people that they are cared for and loved? The Church is alive in the tensions and the responses that these questions provoke.

Much has happened since Synod 2003 when the Archbishop called the Church together to take a closer look at how it operates. A total restructuring of the Archdiocese and its ministries has begun to enable the Church to respond to the present needs.

A wake up call

While it should be no comfort to us, it is worth noting that the large disparity between attendance at weekend Mass and services and the official numbers is not peculiar to our Archdiocese.

As we noted in the Editorial of July 8, last year, findings in Latin America, Europe and the United States show that attendance in these places were also in decline. It was difficult to properly compare these data with the local situation since they were arrived at through responses to questionnaires rather than a head count.

We have said repeatedly through our Editorials that more study needs to be done to accurately analyse the state of the local Church, but certainly definite steps have already been taken to address our situation.

Undoubtedly, the present difficulties are a wake-up call for the Church and an invitation to act as the Church it is called to be; to accomplish the mission it has been sent to fulfil.

The task of the Church in the present media environment is enormous. The Archdiocese is acutely aware of the importance of the component of communication for the present and future life of the Church. It is for that reason that steps have been taken to restructure its communication departments.

But clearly, much has to take place among all its members. The reading of the Acts of the Apostles this Sunday reminds us all of the Church we are called to become, one that ministers to the needs of all its people. “

All lived together, and owned everything in common … they went as a body to the Temple …they shared their food gladly and generously; they praised God and were looked up to by everyone. Day by day the Lord added to their community those destined to be saved” (2:44-47).

The Church remains vital for its membership as for the rest of the society.