Washington, DC -- Weekly Mass attendance among self-identifying Catholics in the United States remained fairly unchanged over the past four years, according to a series of ten national random-sample telephone polls of adult Catholics conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University. The research disputes the perception that Catholics are turning away from the Church in large numbers in recent years, especially given the recent clergy sexual abuse crisis.
The annual CARA Catholic Polls (CCP) and other CARA surveys precede, coincide with, and follow the periods during which the clergy sexual abuse issue was in the forefront of national media attention, and show that Mass attendance did not significantly change.
“Contrary to the notions that the allegations and cases of sex abuse may have led to a noticeable decrease in Mass attendance or that the longer historical trend of declining Mass attendance among Catholics had begun advancing more quickly, these surveys indicate little, if any change, in the percentage of adult Catholics who say they attend Mass every week in the last four years,” said CARA Research Associate Mark M. Gray, Ph.D.
CARA data also mirrors national survey data on the topic, finds generational differences in Mass attendance, and shows an overall decline in attendance of religious services of all faiths.
Similarity to National Survey Data
National survey data collected by the Gallup Organization indicate that Catholic Mass attendance has been in decline from a peak in 1957 and 1958. In 2003, Gallup surveys indicated that, on average, 40 percent of Catholics said they attended Mass within seven days of being surveyed (compared to 74 percent in 1958).
The three polls conducted by CARA in from 2000-2003 indicated, on average, that 33 percent of Catholics said they attend Mass every week. Assuming the less frequent attendees are relatively random in their attendance, researchers estimated that an additional 9 percent of Catholics attend Mass during any given week.
"These data are more alike than they may initially seem,” said Gray. “Basically the data are consistent responses to slightly different questions."
Catholic Generational Differences
The long-term decline in Catholic Mass attendance is noticeable in current surveys of Catholics by looking at generational differences. The trend is best explained in terms of generational change, Gray says, and not any large segment of the Catholic population changing their patterns of Mass attendance. Instead, the aggregated percentage of Catholic Mass attendance reflects the death of older Catholics who attended Mass more often and the coming of age of new adult Catholics who attend Mass much less often.
In its research, CARA uses three generational categories relevant to Catholics. These include the Pre-Vatican II Generation, the Vatican II Generation, and the Post-Vatican II Generation.
- Pre-Vatican II Generation. Those Catholics born before 1943 came of age in a period prior to the changes of the Second Vatican Council and tend to exhibit high levels of institutional loyalty, including loyalty to the Catholic Church.
- Vatican II Generation. Members of this generation were born between 1943 and 1960 and encompass the cohorts that came of age during a time of profound change in the Catholic Church. Overlapping the generation more widely known as the "baby boomers," these Catholics entered adulthood during a time of great questioning of civic and cultural institutions.
- Post-Vatican II Generation. This generation, born after 1960, includes the largest numbers of adult Catholics (about half) who have no lived experience of the Catholic Church prior to the Second Vatican Council. Due to its disproportionate size, CARA divides the Post-Vatican II Generation into two segments, one for those older than 30 and one for those between the ages of 18 and 30.
Slightly more than 20 percent of Post-Vatican II Generation Catholics say they attend Mass at least once a week or more. By comparison, 52 percent of Pre-Vatican II Generation Catholics and 38 percent of Vatican II Generation Catholics report weekly Mass attendance. The levels of attendance by these generations are unchanged from CARA’s September 2000 poll.
“There is not evidence that the Mass attendance of younger or older Catholics changed after allegations of clergy sexual abuse entered the news,” said Dr. Gray. “However, stark generational differences in Mass attendance are evident that may in part reflect changes in the way Catholic teachings were communicated prior to and after the Second Vatican Council.
"Pre-Vatican II Generation Catholics grew up in an era where deliberately failing to attend Sunday Mass or other day of obligation, without good reason, was quite clearly communicated as a mortal sin. For the Vatican II and Post-Vatican II generations this has not been emphasized to the same degree,” he concludes.
Overall Decline in U.S. Religious and Civic Participation
Gray also attributes these changes to a decline in attendance at religious services among people of other faiths in the United States, not just Catholics.
“This experience has not been uniquely Catholic -- or even religious," he says. "There are all sorts of social and civic organizations and activities that show some declining trends in activity during the post-World War II era in the U.S. and in other industrial and post-industrial nations.”
The CARA Catholic Poll (CCP) has been conducted once a year since 2000. Typically conducted in the winter of each year, CCP 2005 is scheduled for February/March 2005.
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The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate
The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) is a non-profit, independent and non-partisan research institution at Georgetown University. CARA researchers conduct applied social scientific research related to the Catholic Church in the United States. CARA was created in 1964 and has been affiliated with Georgetown University since 1989. For more information about CARA, visit cara.georgetown.edu.
About Georgetown University
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