Some light shed on the perennial question: why do the pews seem emptier, or fuller, than usual today?
This came out of a Worship Commission meeting from a couple of weekends ago, and then this past weekend provided further confirmation.
Traditionally, our archdiocese (and perhaps other dioceses) do an "October count": at each weekend mass during the moth of October, the ushers at parishes all over the archdiocese count the number of attendees in the pews. These counts are recorded and then shared with the diocesan officials. The diocese uses these October counts as the basis for their "tax assessment": the amount each parish is expected to contribute to the archdiocese.
Ever since our parish reopened during COVID, our parish has done a count, not only during October, but every weekend. I don't know whether the archdiocese mandated this, but it's good for our parish leadership to have some metrics to track of the all-important question: are people returning to the pews? In our case, the answer is: we're getting there. We usually are at about 70% of our pre-COVID mass attendance. For further perspective, our mass attendance immediately pre-COVID is about 60% of what it was in the early 1990s, when Therese and I joined the parish. In those days, we had more priests and more weekend masses than we do now, and at the most well-attended masses, it wasn't unusual to see people standing in the back and even up the side aisles.
The 70% number is an average. Our mass attendance varies, sometimes significantly, from week to week. Why people come to mass one week, and then don't come the following week, has been a puzzle we've been trying to work out for many years now. One common thought is: it's the weather. If it's raining or snowing, people won't come to church. If it's nice out, they may come to church. At least, that's the hypothesis.
As we've been doing a mass count every weekend, the staff person charged with recording these statistics has prepared a table which includes three sets of observations:
- The mass counts for each weekend's masses
- The weather conditions that weekend
- Whether there was anything else being celebrated that weekend. "Anything else" covers a wide range of possibilities, from Mother's Day to Palm Sunday to First Communions by the 2nd graders.
Not to keep everyone in suspense: the table shows, pretty decisively, that there is no correlation between attendance and weather (unless there is extreme weather, like -25 degree wind chill, or 10 inches of snow, or icy roads). As a rule, people come, or don't come, regardless of the weather.
However, there is a strong correlation between attendance and events. Certain events, like the three I mentioned above, bring people to church.
Now we just need to figure out how to convince them that keeping the Lord's Day holy is a good event and a good reason to come to mass!
There is more than one way to keep holy the Sabbath.
ReplyDeleteOur archdiocese mandates that October count, too. Another factor that might play into the counts is the "family of parishes" thing they're doing to try and compensate for the priest shortage. Our "" family" is five parishes, two of which are in smaller towns nearby. The Mass schedules of each location are shared in the bulletins. For instance, our parish lost their 9:00 am Mass on Sunday. There is a 9:00 am at St. Stanislaus ten miles down the road. Some people are opting to go there because they like that time, also because.it has no stairs and is easier for people with physical challenges. Parish lines have become a lot more fluid than they used to be.
ReplyDeleteThe "family of parishes" is more challenging for the priests and deacons. This was the deacons' weekend to preach. My husband preached for three Masses, at three different parishes.
DeleteI thought I should clarify, he didn't preach nine times, it was just three, albeit in three parishes.
DeleteKatherine - that does sound hard on your husband. Of course, that is the weekly/daily routine for priests these days.
DeleteI haven't been to Mass at St. Stanislaus, but I might have to try it sometime. It is an old church in a very small town. But K says there are a surprising number of younger families who attend there. I think because housing is more affordable there than in our town, but it's still close enough to commute for work. I know the archdiocese has had to close some small parishes. But I hope the PTB pay attention to which ones are actually dying on the vine, and which ones might be experiencing a sort of renewed growth.
DeleteAt mass yesterday, I found it was very pleasing to worship with a relatively diverse crowd. Filipinos to the left of me, hispanics to the right. Young black usher, plus some real africans. Definitely enhances the experience. Where else would I rather be on a Sunday morning? Nowhere.
ReplyDeleteStanley, me too. I watched Mass on my tablet for several weeks while I couldn't be there in person. But now I am back, and back in choir. It feels really good. I'm glad they do the livestreamed Masses. Because sometimes that is one's only option. But it's not the same, at least for me.
DeleteForget about the parish counts, and puzzling about attendance. I gave the basic answers in a post to the PrayTellBlog on July 19, 2010, more than a decade ago!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.praytellblog.com/index.php/2010/07/19/the-liturgical-year-and-average-church-attendance/
In a scholarly study published in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, an excellent journal but behind a paywall, sociologist Paul Olson, in a study of 71 Protestant churches in a Midwestern city found LOWER average church attendance among those who emphasized the liturgical year in comparison to those who emphasized the importance of the Lord’s Day instead.
He found that attendance was not higher in churches that were conservative as opposed to those who were liberal, the dominate hypothesis among sociologists whose theory said that requiring higher standards made religion more appealing.
Protestant churches who emphasize the Lord’s Day rather than the liturgical year expect people to go to church every Sunday and provide homilies and music of a very high quality. We only attempt to do that in the later part of the Advent Christmas and Lent, Holy Week and Easter seasons.
Our average church is attendance occurs during October which is why that is has been chosen for parish counts. It continues to rise through November and December, takes a sharp dive in January and February then climbs through Lent to peak again at Easter than a decline through paschal time to its nadir in mid- Summer.
The empirical answer is to simply try to have high quality liturgies throughout the year not only at Christmas and Easter.
The theology answer is provided by an encyclical of JP2
Dies Domini (May 31, 1998) | John Paul II (vatican.va)
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1998/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_05071998_dies-domini.html
which was likely ghost written by my liturgy professor, Robert Taft, because it follows his teaching which emphasized that the Lord’s Day is the primordial feast day. Easter is a bigger than normal Lord’s Day rather than Sunday being a little Easter.
It’s a great encyclical that should be taught in all our parishes, the subject of our Ordinary Time homilies especially during the summer.
It should be discussed by every pastoral staff, and every diocesan staff. The bishops should spend time studying this issue rather than promoting the real presence and Eucharistic adoration instead of listing to what they people are telling us with their feet year after year.
This is a good example of why I am so down about the clergy and pastoral staff. They not only do such a mediocre job they ignore my solid sociological advice.
Why should I contribute to their support when if they consistently implemented this one idea, they would likely achieve not only greater attendance year around by also generate more money than I could possibly give them.
I once spent four years on pastoral staff giving ideas like this. The people in the mental health system who appreciated my many ideas which often were worth six figures, would not have been able to understand how a parish could ignore me.
How burdened we are with the clericalism that not only ignores most women but even higher talented and credentialed professional men like myself.
"They not only do such a mediocre job they ignore my solid sociological advice."
DeleteYou are channeling Andrew Greeley from fifty years ago! Or, in case that is a direct quote from your Pray Tell Blog post from 2010 (I haven't had a chance to track it down yet), 10 or so years ago, you were channeling him from 40 years earlier!
"The empirical answer is to simply try to have high quality liturgies throughout the year not only at Christmas and Easter."
DeleteThis is more or less the same advice given by the authors of the Rebuilt series of books. The authors are a pastor (clerical) and parish staff member (lay) from a parish in Maryland which was nearly moribund but which, after much thought, prayer, trial and error, revivified their faith community, so much so that it is (or was at least, at the time the first book was written) bursting at the seams every Sunday.
One of their foundational principles is: Sunday is the linchpin of the week for the parish. All other activities revolve around, and must defer to, what happens on Sundays.
They talk about the practical effects of this, and some of its implications. They require all parish staff to work a full day on Sunday, and to be present at all the liturgies. As might be expected, much/all of the parish staff was resistant to this idea - and so they let them go, and replaced them with new lay ministers who were on board with working on Sundays. The lay staff, like parish priests, are entitled to their weekly days off - but it must not be a Sunday.
Another foundational principle for them: attract the dads. What they say they have found is: if they can get the dads to want to come to church, the rest of the family will come to church. If they focus on trying to attract the moms or the kids, then the dads tend not to come, and when the dads don't come, sooner or later the whole family stops coming. (There may be a Father's Day homily in that phenomenon.) I have to admit that's not intuitive to me, but I don't say they're wrong, and admittedly we've never tried it. In part, "attract the dads" means giving homilies and having music that will appeal to dads. Their area is suburban, if I am not mistaken, so for them "dads" probably means people somewhat like me (although perhaps younger than I am now).
They also spend a bit of time on music. It seems this is an area where they engaged in a lot of trial-and-error experimentation. What they found is: music in a soft rock style works best. They tried more traditional approaches, with a highly qualified organist, classical hymns, a robed choir, and so on, and it didn't really get them the results they were looking for.
As for preaching: they have a single theme each weekend, determined by the pastor (and, IIRC, preached at all masses by the pastor). They call it "the Message". The same theme found in the weekly Message also is taught each week in all the Sunday School classes (they are very big on Sunday School, rather than requiring kids of all ages to mope and squirm through mass).
They also "lean into" preaching about money and the importance of supporting the parish. They point out that Jesus actually talked about money quite a bit, so they're not really straying from good Catholic homiletic practice. They report that, for them, it works: people support the parish generously.
Yes I am channeling Andrew Greeley who was very disappointed that the bishops and clergy did not accept his well-founded analysis and advice, and who basically thought the clergy were a bunch of spoiled brats who did not deserve the respect of the people because they did such a poor job at being priests.
DeleteI am not surprised that rebuild achieved positive results by following the Evangelical model.
As for men, I think that Cursillo or some similar Catholic movement, has the principle that women cannot join until the husband first joins and is converted.
One the priests whom I knew who did a best good job of liturgy (integrated homily and music all) talked about the problem of males in the church. By and large all they hear at Mass on Sunday is “become more like women.”
Jim Bacik, now a retired scholar , once pastor of the U.Toledo New Man center came to the same conclusion.
Two problems: first, the historical abuse of women by patriarchy. How do you affirm men while liberating them from that. The Evangelical tend to reinforce that.
Second, young women are now alienated and leaving the church in higher numbers than young men. Again, the cultural norm of putting men in a place above women will not work.
My tactics are rather practical than to get into cultural wars. I think that we can get better music for everyone not just men by listening to them. You find out what they like of the existing songs that are sung and keep that. You slowly try other things and keep what works. Not everyone has to like everything all the time. My parish in Toledo had some elderly Polish who were delighted to hear their Polish carols at Christmas and some Marian feasts. The parish became theirs once again on those occasions. I think we can do that for all groups. I am an eclectic music lover. I think a lot of people like a lot of different things and are willing to put up with some music in order to hear and sing other music.
You are right that the Rebuilt series borrowed some ideas from Evangelicals, in particular Rick Warren of Saddleback Church (recently bounced from the Southern Baptist Convention for allowing women to minister). But, to the extent I understand what the Rebuilt approach is about, I don't think they're about promoting the husband as the head of the family, the wife as subordinate to the husband, and so on - things which some Evangelicals do emphasize, as I understand it. Rather, the Rebuilt approach is to *target* the dads and *attract* the dads: figure out what the dads in the area like (music, preaching, parish programs and activities, and so on) and build those elements into the parish. The idea is: once the dads are hooked, the family is hooked. Whether or not that is how things *should* work (and personally, I don't see anything objectionable about it), it is how things *do* work, at least where that parish is located. Basically, they're working with what they've been given.
DeleteApple and Coca Cola market Apple Watches and soft drinks the same way: Segment / Target / Promote.
"One the priests whom I knew who did a best good job of liturgy (integrated homily and music all) talked about the problem of males in the church. By and large all they hear at Mass on Sunday is “become more like women.”
Delete"Jim Bacik, now a retired scholar , once pastor of the U.Toledo New Man center came to the same conclusion."
I've heard this notion before. Frankly, I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean. In my own preaching, I don't exhort men to be more like women. I don't think any other preachers at our parish do that, either. We don't really talk about the roles of the sexes (or genders, if you will) from the pulpit. From what I'm able to discern, there is little or no confusion or contention on that point among our people.
Usually, my theme on Father's Day is something along the lines of, Isn't it wonderful how much dads love their kids? Or something similar. Anne is right that not all dads do such a good job of loving their children. One can hope that, if any of those dads happen to be in the assembly, it may give them a bit of food for thought.
"first, the historical abuse of women by patriarchy. How do you affirm men while liberating them from that. "
DeleteComplex topic. Personally, I think this varies by generation: couples of my parents' generation strike me as somewhat more likely to live according to the husband-as-head-of-the-household paradigm, whereas couples of my generation and younger generations are more likely to live according to the we're-partners-in-the-marriage paradigm. But of course it's difficult to generalize; all couples have to work this out, hopefully in a healthy way. And perhaps we're skewed somewhat according to whatever cultural and class identities follow along with college education: many of the younger adults in our parish have at least an undergraduate degree (this is my understanding from having done baptism prep for many years).
We also have quite a few immigrants, from the Americas and Asia/Pacific cultures, in our parish. I don't claim to be able to speak to their various cultural notions of marriage and spousal "power" within the marriage, but realize it may differ from the traditional American set of expectations. But at least among the Asians, most of those couples appear to be marriages between college-educated professionals. It's possible that at least some of them chose to come to the US because the US is relatively accepting of educated, professional women.
Regarding the husband-as-head-of-the-household paradigm: we knew a couple who, a decade or so ago, retired. She retired at the same time he retired, because he retired. She was extremely happy in this area: had a lot of friends and activities, and the children and grandchildren lived in this area. But: his best friend from childhood had bought a retirement home in the Ozarks area of Arkansas, because the boating, fishing and hunting was great there, and that is what he enjoyed doing. So he decided they were going to uproot themselves, and move down there, so he could be close to his friend and do what he enjoyed. She was obviously miserable about it.
DeleteMy wife and I were appalled about their situation. I don't doubt that this sort of thing is common. But I think it is more likely to happen among couples in my parents' generation than in my generation. I would never try to impose my will on my wife like that. If our family is going to move, that's a decision we would reach jointly.
Jack - I just read your 2010 post on Pray Tell. Excellent post! And it does cover some of the same ground as what I've posted here.
DeleteThe comments were pretty good, too. There is little or no good discussion anymore at Pray Tell. That is one of the reasons I seldom visit there anymore.
"...the Rebuilt series borrowed some ideas from Evangelicals, in particular Rick Warren of Saddleback Church..." I wasn't familiar with the Rebuilt series, but have read some things by Rick Warren. Kind of "meh" about his stuff, but didn't find anything really offensive about it. I definitely think the Southern Baptists are headed in the wrong direction. But they have a very long history of heading in the wrong direction. I read something a couple of days ago that said, "You know, Southern Baptists aren't the only kind of Baptists." And that is correct, there are all kinds of indy Baptists, and there are the Northern Baptists, now called the American Baptists. They split with the SB's over slavery. My maternal grandparents were American Baptists, very different denomination than the SB's.
DeleteAbout this bit, "...the priests whom I knew who did a best good job of liturgy (integrated homily and music all) talked about the problem of males in the church. By and large all they hear at Mass on Sunday is “become more like women.” I have read that complaint before, and I am puzzled about where that comes from. Last time I checked the church was pretty much run by males. Where I think it comes from is a very gendered reading of what virtues are masculine and feminine. And do we really want to reinforce those gendered ideas, that somehow things like knowledge and fortitude are male, while peace, patience, and benignity are female.
"And do we really want to reinforce those gendered ideas, that somehow things like knowledge and fortitude are male, while peace, patience, and benignity are female."
DeleteI think there can be admirable and holy aspects to traditionally male virtues, like hard work, taking responsibility, courage and staunchness in a righteous cause. We have to take great care to separate these things from some traditional male vices which the culture tends to glorify, like organizing one's life around the accumulation of riches, solving problems through violence, and treating women as sexual objects. Essentially, we need to hold up James Bond as the opposite of a role model. Or Donald Trump.
"I think there can be admirable and holy aspects to traditionally male virtues, like hard work, taking responsibility, courage and staunchness in a righteous cause." Well, yes. But women have those things in common as well. I see them as just doing one's duty.
Delete" Well, yes. But women have those things in common as well. "
DeleteSure. No reason to exclude women from that list. But how often are those virtues preached (whether to males, females or both)? How many liturgical songs extol them? To what extent does the church raise them up as standards of a virtuous life?
I've probably lost the thread, but I think this sub-topic originated in a discussion about the Rebuilt series. One of its claims is that churches will have better luck attracting and retaining participants if they appeal to men - specifically fathers.
If we buy the claim that men are in the midst of some sort of identity crisis in our culture (this is one of the explanations on offer for the rise of Trumpist nationalism - he appeals to alienated men, especially those who didn't go to college and aren't upwardly mobile), then it seems logical that this group needs some pastoral care.
FWIW - I don't know to what extent I buy the claim. The men I tend to associate with don't seem to be in the throes of an identity crisis. But most of us live in pretty narrow bubbles. I'm probably no different.
Jim, the men I know don't seem to be in the throes of an identity crisis, either. There are plenty of Trumpers among them, but I don't think alienation has a lot to do with it. But tribalism does.
DeleteThe ones who do seem to have an identity crisis are the ones who didn't even finish high school, maybe they had learning problems of some kind. It's really hard to see a way upward under those circumstances.
traditionally male virtues, like hard work, taking responsibility, courage and staunchness in a righteous causes
DeleteThose are male virtues? I thought they are virtues that can be seen in both men and women. And not seen in both.
By and large all they hear at Mass on Sunday is “become more like women.”
I have no idea what this means. Become more like women …how?
"By and large all they hear at Mass on Sunday is “become more like women.”
DeleteWell, I've never heard that in a homily. But I've run across that thinking on some conservative sites. I think it's code for the male headship thing. We need to give that back to the Evangelicals where it came from.
Unrelated, I've been keeping up with news reports about the lost sub which went down to view the Titanic. It does not look promising, it's 12,500 feet deep there, and they'll be running out of oxygen soon. I'm not sure why anyone thought that going down there was a good idea. Nevertheless I am praying that they can be saved. That would be an awful place to die.
ReplyDeleteKatherine, I have also been praying for the people on that sub. What a terrifying experience. I hope they are found but it must be a true nightmare for them right now.
DeleteThey say banging every thirty minutes was detected. Even if they find them, how do they raise them from those depths? Robot drones could do it but I don't know what actually exists. This submersible was never fully vetted. The owner said that following procedure stifles innovation. It's amazing how one can easily walk two miles across the earth's surface. But travel that same distance downward into the ocean and its another hostile world. We live and thrive in a thin planetary membrane.
DeleteIt is a little reminiscent of that incident in 2018 where seventeen kids and their scout leader were trapped in that cave in Thailand, or the time in 2010 when Chilean miners were trapped by a cave in. I'm not very adventurous, I like to stay in that thin planetary comfort zone.
DeleteWe did take a ride in one of the Atlantis tourist submarines when we were in Hawaii. It went down about a hundred feet. It was way different than the Discover channel videos where everything is in bright color. Even only that far down everything was a dark shadowy blue. It was eerie.
Even then, Katherine, you were in the reach of man and his contrivances if something went wrong. I'm with you on not going too far away from the realm of man. My camping/canoeing trips were as far as I went. There was some risk but we still could be bailed out if in trouble. Nowadays, for a few hundred dollars, you can purchase a device that will send a distress signal with text and location to a satellite and help is on the way.
DeleteI'm not sure if it is even possible for any radio or sonar communication when you are three miles plus under water. I'm kind of doubting it, otherwise they could have sent a "mayday" from the sub. It is also possible that whatever mishap caused them to lose power and navigation ability may have breached the sub and flooded it.
DeleteSound can transmit. I think blue-green lasers have the best light penetration. I guess they didn't have a tether which could have used a fiber optic cable. This is a profit making operation, so safety is impacted.
DeleteThis reminds me of the purity of fiber optic glass. If this glass replaced the water in the ocean, you could see all the way to the bottom. This glass is designed to carry light for miles. It's made directly from pure basic ingredients by chemical vapor deposition.
There has now been a statement from Ocean Gate saying that they believe all five people aboard the Titan were lost. Pieces of the sub have apparently been located. That is sad, may they rest in peace. The only saving grace is that it probably would have happened very quickly, hopefully they didn't suffer too much.
DeleteAn implosion is as instantaneous as an explosion. They may have had a little warning as it started to fail but physical suffering probably didn't happen at all.
DeleteSo tragic. I didn't have a good feeling about their fate the last few days.
DeleteThe event was picked up by US Navy listening devices when it occurred. They knew all along. Filmmaker/explorer John Cameron blamed the 5 inch thick carbon fiber composite hull which is great for containing internal pressure (under tension) but not external pressure (under compression). He had thought maybe their company knew something he didn't. Apparently not. A fundamental design flaw. They had been using the submersible again and again until some cumulative fatigue weakened the hull. Tragic but not unforeseeable. This was inevitable. If they retrieve the pieces with robots, they may be able to determine exactly what happened.
DeleteI guess I lack the exploratory spirit, but they could have carried out their mission completely with robots and not endangered anyone's life.
Delete