Mass attendance under the spotlight

The Mass attendance census last month was, for the first time, held in conjunction with other studies, because the Church wanted to have “a more holistic view” of the situation, a spokesman said. Questionnaires were distributed to churchgoers at 987 Masses in 329 places of worship, mainly churches or chapels, on December 2 and 3. This represents a slight drop compared to the last census, held in 2005, when 1,080 Masses were celebrated in 335 places of worship. The last census found that Sunday Mass attendance in Malta stood at 51 per cent of the total population (see http://knisja.org/ Censiment2005 ). The Church spokesman said it was still too early to compare the number of questionnaires returned last December to 2005 because they were still being processed. Some clerics have, however, openly declared they expect another drop in Church attendance. “It is not whether there has been a decrease since 2005. What we really want to find out is by how much,” one priest said just before questionnaires were distributed at the Mass he was saying. The Church spokesman pointed out that one of the reasons Archbishop Charles Scicluna decided to carry out a census was precisely to have a...