Mass Attendance Trends

Do you ever wonder what effect all of those Catholics Come Home commercials that ran a few months ago had in our diocese? If so, read on.

Several years ago, our diocese began doing an annual Mass attendance count during the first couple of weekends in October. The purpose, quite simply, is to track the trends in this regard from year to year.

I regret to inform you that the trend in our diocese has been downward over the past couple of years, much as it has been elsewhere in the country. In other words, fewer of the 95,000 Catholics registered in the 135 parishes of our diocese are attending Mass than were just two short years ago. It is a sad reality that requires a faith-filled response from us all.

Merely a couple of years ago, regular Mass attendance in the Lincoln Diocese impressively was nearly double the national average, which is lamentably only about 35%. Regrettably, our 65% figure dipped below the 60% mark last October, indicating that there were upwards of 5,000 fewer Catholics attending Mass throughout our diocese than there were just a couple of years earlier. We have to ask the tough questions: What is happening here? And what can we do about it?

Unfortunately, there are so many things presently in our culture that compete with our spiritual values that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to establish the primary reason for increasingly casual attitudes toward weekly Mass attendance. Research has indicated that most Catholics have drifted away from the regular practice of their faith for no particular reason. It usually is simply the result of laziness or of a lack of connectedness to one’s parish.

We cannot very easily alter another’s tendencies toward slothfulness, but we can make an effort to help others feel more connected to their parish.

Two simple ways to do that are: 1) Befriend other members of the parish and let them know you enjoy connecting with them each week at Mass; and 2) Invite other members of the parish to get involved either in things that you are involved in or in things that may be of interest to them. Many other techniques can be employed to help others to connect. Generous stewardship of time and talent is a helpful practice, for example.

Now for some good news. The Catholics Come Home campaign seems to have had a positive effect in our diocese. Based upon the “head count” done at Masses last month, our attendance rebounded a little more than 2%, amounting to about 2,000 more Catholics going to church than in October. Considering the impact that similar campaigns have had in other dioceses, it is reasonable to assume that this positive outcome is due, in large part, to the commercials and the local parish efforts that were made in conjunction with the Catholics Come Home media initiative.

It is likely that many of those who have recently returned to the practice of their Catholic Faith will be looking for ways to connect—or re-connect—with their parish.
You may be the very person the Lord wants to use as an instrument to help make this happen, be it with a returnee or a longtime regular attendee. In any event, do you ever wonder what effect you might have on others in your parish community?

Wonder no longer… and wait no longer! Reach out and connect with someone in your parish. True zeal will be required of us all to keep our recent upward trend going.

For more information about the Catholic Faith, visit CatholicsComeHome.org today.

By Fr. Matthew Eickhoff
Director, Office for Evangelization
Chairman, Diocesan Evangelization Committe