With the results of the “head count” now in, the Archdiocese has some indication of how those who see themselves as Catholics approach their faith. It supports the popular perception that a large percentage of the flock does not view attending Mass every weekend as a priority – far less as an obligation.

The statistics published in the Catholic News at the end of last month presented a far from rosy picture of Mass attendance, vicariate by vicariate, on the second weekend of Lent this year.

It revealed that 17% of the Catholic population attended Mass on that weekend, or 48,834 persons out of a total of 289,711. Church teaching does state that “on Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to attend Mass”.

The figures suggest negligence and a certain half-heartedness among the flock, but it will be wrong to assume that those missing on that particular weekend – or a significant number of them – have stopped counting themselves as Catholic.

What it does say though is that a considerable number of Catholics may be Catholics on their own terms. It indicates a changed perspective on authority, caused by secularisation and other sociological pressures which have affected all of society’s institutions.

Still, if one takes infrequent church attendance as the first sign of lapsing from the faith, then the figures are worrying. Of particular concern is that while church attendance is declining in other parts of the world, the local figures suggest that church attendance in our archdiocese is dipping even below the world average.

According to statistics published at the end of 2005 by the Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a Church research organisation based at the United States Georgetown University, less than 50% of Catholics in Latin America (with the exception of Mexico and El Salvador) attended Mass once a week.

In much of Europe where Mass attendance has long been in decline, 30% were attending weekly in Spain and 12% in France in 2004. In the same period, 32% of Catholics in the US were said to be regularly attending Mass.

 It should be noted that these international findings were based on responses to a questionnaire rather than on a “head count” – a difference in method that must be taken into consideration when comparing them with the local situation.
 
October head count

The archdiocesan statistics require further study to determine why attendance at weekend Mass is so low and why Catholics approach their faith with such apparent apathy.

Using these findings and other information, which the Church will garner through the work it is engaged in at present, it will be in a better position to plan for the short and long term.

Another “head count” is planned for October, which it is thought will give some balance to the data collected in Lent, since Lent is considered a peak period for Mass attendance.

But, if the sociological pressures already alluded to are as dominant as they appear to be, then the statistics may not show any significant change. The people who attend Mass in Lent are the same who are likely to be there in October. In today’s climate, Lent may not be as powerful a draw as it was in the past.

Whatever the future findings, it is clear that the local Church cannot proceed the way it has in the past. It has not been sufficiently attuned to the quickly changing circumstances in which it finds itself. The survey is a start in the direction that the Church must take.

In response to a pressing need, today’s Gospel tells us that Jesus sends out 72 of his disciples to minister in his name. They return at the end of their mission – rejoicing, having demonstrated his lordship.

Without doubt, the Lord has given his Church the means to be an effective instrument in his name. She needs to assume that role wholeheartedly, not simply for her own sake but because she is Mother and each of her children belongs to God.