Declining Church Attendence in Philadelphia

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Half of Catholics attending Mass 28 years ago no longer do


The above link is to Catholic Philly which is the archdiocese digital equivalent of a paper.  It is not really "new" news but in two very well done graphics it summarizes the statistics collected each October on Mass attendance. Like many other dioceses a count is made on all Sundays of October.

Each graphic links to current events in the diocese. The first gives the total number, the second the percentage change from the previous year.  Of course we must be weary of false correlations. The only uptick occurred in 2002. The diocese noted all the attention given to the previous jubilee year; of course they also acknowledge that 9/11 might have had something to do with it.

Besides the two clear graphics, they summarize the findings well:

“But the data suggest two significant factors: the clergy sexual abuse crisis and the closure of Catholic churches through parish mergers.

Regarding the former, even though the decline in attendance was well underway for years, the largest percentage declines from year to year occurred during significant episodes in the abuse crisis.”

They then describe: the scandal broke nationally in the spring of 2002 in Boston;  September 2005 the first Philadelphia grand jury report; in the winter of 2011 the second Philadelphia grand jury report; a grand jury report on abuse in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese was released in 2016; the Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report and McCarrick in 2018. The first graphic shows the steeper declines after these events.

“The other significant factor in declining Mass attendance suggests a downward spiral in which fewer available Masses lead to fewer people attending Mass regularly, and fewer people in church lead to fewer Masses celebrated. That means more parishes consolidating, resulting in fewer people attending, and so on.”

The declines started before 2002, and are clearly linked in 1993 to the 70 parish closings. One of the reasons for these graphs is that Chaput has to resign in a few months. Rocco who pointed out this article says that Chaput told his priests to expect up to 100 new closings under his successor.

We all see these and similar statistics from time to time piecemeal. We need more brief dramatic presentations like this to focus everyone’s attention on this deep problem and its likely causes.  It is notable that the presentation focuses upon two causes that are clearly the responsibility of the diocese. It does not spend time attributing them to the general culture or to the laxity of the laity.

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