Father Pisut has recommended this article on Fr. Z's blog "What Does the Prayer Really Say."  Please click on the links for the full explanation of the decline in Mass attendance on Sunday.

Fr. Bill Baer, a priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, former rector of St. John Vianney Minor Seminary (which he turned around in a Herculean labor) and now parish priest of Transfiguration in Oakdale, MN, has intelligent observations about Catholics and Sunday Mass attendance.

Some salient points from Fr. Baer in my arrangement but with links back to his parish blog:

1. A "Good" Parish: A Parish Where the Parishioners Go to Mass

The first of the seven "Precepts of the Church" is this: "To attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and to rest from servile works."

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2. Reason #1: A Distaste for Obligation

"When I was young, I went to Mass because I had to.  Now, I go to Mass because I want to."  

It is rare these days to hear a pastor declare, "You must go to Mass."  Actually, it is rare these days to hear a pastor declare that you must do just about anything.

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3. Reason #2: If We Just Ignore that Nasty Little Statistic, Perhaps It Will Go Away Recent studies have determined that between 25% and 30% of American Catholics are at Mass on any given Sunday.  (Statistics on Sunday Mass attendance vary a great deal by region: Catholics in western Kentucky and the Dakotas, for example, have been clocked at 75% – 80%.  At the other end would be the Archdiocese of Boston, which reports attendance rates of 12% – 15%.)

Imagine truancy rates such as these in our schools.


For the rest of the article click here:  WDTPRS