Mass Exodus - 

March 2024

Church attendance among Americans has declined in most religious groups, according to a new Gallup Poll. This continues a decades-long slide begun at the turn of the 21st century.

Church Attendance

According to the poll, Mormons have held mostly steady, declining only 1%, while Catholics had one of the steepest drops of weekly or nearly weekly Mass attendance, down nearly 12% over the past 20 years to about 33%. Put another way, 77% of Catholics don’t attend weekly Mass.

On the Patrick Madrid Show, Patrick remarked that COVID-19 restrictions were a contributing factor. “It left an indelible dent in the Catholic identity of more than a few Catholics.” Many grew accustomed to watching Mass on TV and then wondered why they had to return when the Churches reopened.

This reality wasn’t surprising to one of Patrick’s callers, Ann, who comes from a military background. She frequently encountered Protestant surprise that she an active Catholic. “Quite often, people were shocked that I was Catholic because I was the first Catholic they ever met who actually goes to church every Sunday,” Ann said. Many of the Catholics military members who she met were culturally Catholic.

Membership Has Declined, Too

Gallup traces the decline of formal church affiliation with the decline of religious preference, a trend that has “nearly perfect alignment.” Part of the drop in church membership is generational—the younger generations, Gen X and Millennials, are less religious than Baby Boomers.

Solutions

Patrick proposes that these polls underscore the need for the Eucharistic Revival and upcoming Congress. When Catholics learn what’s really happening at Mass—that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, “that's the catalyst that gets them off the couch…or out of bed on Sunday morning and going to Mass.”  

Patrick told Ann that better catechesis helps people grow in the faith. “We need more Relevant Radio and other good Catholic outlets so that we can raise people's consciousnesses and help them see what you saw that made you start getting back to Mass.”