The Growth of the Latin Mass: A Survey

Crisis Magazine ^ | 7/26/21

[marshmallow]

The traditional Latin Mass seems to be on every Catholic’s mind right now, up to and including the pope’s. The recent motu proprio Traditionis Custodes restricting the celebration of the TLM has brought the topic to the forefront. Importantly, the pope’s actions presume the TLM is growing in adherents and influence in the Church. After all, if very few Catholics were going to this Mass, why would Francis take action?

But is this the case? Is TLM attendance growing? Most advocates of the TLM have assumed growth in recent months and years; Crisis Magazine even hosted a podcast in March titled, “Why is Traditional Catholicism Booming?” But the “fact” of traditional Catholicism growth was anecdotal—although many people were noting an increase in attendance at their TLM, there was no data to prove growth was happening.

To remedy this, Crisis Magazine surveyed U.S. parishes that offer at least one regularly scheduled TLM. We sought to determine any changes in their TLM attendance since January 2019. While we could have attempted to ascertain a longer history of TLM attendance, we wanted to focus on recent growth, while also establishing a baseline that predated COVID-19 restrictions. This would give a solid idea of the extent of any growth in recent years.

Method

We first found a list of parishes offering the TLM at the Latin Mass Directory. Arguably the most comprehensive list available, it has been found to accurately reflect TLM parishes. The directory includes parishes that offer the TLM exclusively, as well as any parish that has at least one scheduled TLM—even if only monthly. This came to 658 parishes.

We then collected email addresses for these parishes. Not every parish shares an email address publicly on its website or in its bulletin, but we succeeded in collecting 416 email......

[Dr. Sivana]

Nevertheless, TLM-attending Catholics still make up a very small minority in the Church. As noted, 658 parishes (pre-Traditionis Custodes) offer at least one TLM regularly. However, there are 16,702 total Catholic parishes in the United States, according to the most recent data. Thus, only 4% of parishes offer even one TLM on a regular (although not necessarily weekly) basis. In the ocean of American Catholicism, attendance at the TLM is still a small, albeit growing, bucket.

I find the numbers to be reasonably accurate. What the survey does NOT reflect is he number of seminarians who are interested in or even committed to the traditional Latin Mass. 1960s style humanism does not draw in the devout, and the number of vocations in modernist dioceses are withering. I am not even sure if they all care, as long as they have assets to sell off (or lose in court).

[ebb tide]

It’s ironic that the results of Bergoglio’s world-wide survey of Catholic bishops regarding the TLM has never been published.

So much for transparency in francischurch.

[TTFX]

It’s ironic that the results of Bergoglio’s world-wide survey of Catholic bishops regarding the TLM has never been published.

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The ban was written before the survey.

[ebb tide]

Same with Amoris Laetitia.

Bergoglio’s Sin-Nod had a predetermined conclusion.

[Falconspeed]

The Latin Mass crowd has stronger Catholics, bigger families, bigger donations and more vocations than the Novus Ordo crow. Bergoglio is losing customers, big time.

[Marchmain]

It’s also interesting that many bishops say they never received a survey. It was not sent directly to them by the Vatican thru the normal channels.