“Change the liberal-progressive political slant to a more conservative, work-ethic atmosphere.” “Return to a more consultative and transparent approach.” “I’m looking for more spiritual guidance and a longer sermon.”
“Be accepting of divorced and remarried congregants.” Here are just a few of the many replies this question drew: We found no easily discernible trend in their replies, but their generally positive tone suggests the wisdom of finding ways for all Catholics to post their views somehow “on the record,” with an assurance that they will be heard. We also asked, “Are there any changes your parish might make that would prompt you to return?” Respondents clearly welcomed the opportunity to express their opinions. One man said that what did it for him was “the bishop’s refusal to list pedophile priests on the diocesan Web site and his non-support of the effort to lift the statute of limitations for bringing sexual abuses cases forward in the courts.” To Prompt a Return The scandal surrounding the sexual abuse of minors by clergy was mentioned often.
And whenever the church wanted to raise money, they dropped the homily and talked money.” There were many complaints about the quality of homilies as well as about poor music at Mass. I just stopped going because my community of friends and family were no longer in the church.” Another woman wrote, “I tried different Catholic churches in the area because I just didn’t seem to be getting anything out of the Mass, especially the homily.” Another person said, “I stopped going regularly because the homilies were so empty. I didn’t understand certain things and found no mentors within the church. One 23-year-old woman said: “I felt deceived and undervalued by the church. Relatively few indicated that they simply “drifted away.” One respondent wrote: “I separated my family from the Catholic Church and turned to an alternate religion for a while and then returned knowing I had the right religion but the wrong people running it.” Several chose to specify that they separated themselves from “the hierarchy.”Ī fair amount of ambivalence was exhibited in response to our question whether separation was a conscious decision or not. About a quarter said they had separated themselves from the parish but still considered themselves to be Catholic. Left BehindĪn overwhelming number of respondents told us they had left both their parish and the church. Through Villanova University’s Center for the Study of Church Management, each participant received by regular mail or e-mail a brief set of questions inviting open-ended responses. Ninety-five percent of the respondents were white/Caucasian 2.1 percent were Hispanic and 63 percent were female. Through these methods, we established confidential contact with Catholics ranging in age from 16 to 90, with a mean and median age of 53. The survey was also offered in Spanish, sent to all the parishes with Spanish-language populations and advertised in a Spanish-language newspaper.
We got in touch with registered parishioners who are no longer showing up by placing articles in the secular and diocesan press, posting notices in parish bulletins and asking pastors for contact information. O’Connell, C.M., of Trenton, N.J., we surveyed nearly 300 non-churchgoing Catholics in his diocese. In the late fall of 2011, we asked some of them a simple question: Why? At the request of Bishop David M. It is no secret that increasing numbers of baptized Catholics in the United States never or rarely attend Sunday Mass.