A recent study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University offered some modestly encouraging news. The title of its brief release was simply “Mass Attendance Is Up.”
The essence of its conclusion was that their survey showed that the number of people attending Mass, as measured at the year-end of 2024, had returned to the pre-COVID level. Their survey also showed that Mass attendance at Christmas 2024 had returned to that pre-COVID mark. Already in 2023, both Ash Wednesday and Easter had also matched the pre-pandemic level.
According to CARA, from March of 2020 until May of 2023, the average Mass attendance according to their survey averaged 15%. Most recently, that level has reached 24%. While the rise in Mass attendance is good news, it is still sobering that nearly three quarters of Catholics do not attend Mass regularly.
Nevertheless, the rise in Mass attendance is a sign of hope. Undoubtedly God’s grace has been present in moving some to return to this practice that has been recognized and taught as essential for Catholics since the earliest days of the Church. So too, our priests have played a special role in reminding and encouraging the faithful. There has also been, in recent years, an emphasis that encourages Mass-going Catholics to reach out and invite Catholics who have stopped attending Mass to come back.
We have just begun the observance of the Jubilee Year 2025. It is a time that encourages the faithful to seek both spiritual renewal and forgiveness for their sins. It is also a time to deepen faith, which must include coming to Mass regularly.
The Scriptures record that on Holy Thursday night, Jesus gathered for an intimate and solemn dinner with His apostles. During that meal He took bread and gave it to the apostles saying, “This is my body.” He then took the chalice of wine and gave it to them saying, “This is the chalice of my blood.” He then told them to “Do this in memory of me.”
In faith, the Church has understood that sacramentally but truly, the bread becomes the body of Christ and the wine likewise becomes His blood. In this way we are given access to the special presence of Jesus in this world. Because in faith we seek Jesus, to take advantage of the reality of the Mass is indispensable.
At Mass, and especially by worthily receiving the holy Eucharist, we are joined to Him with whom we are called to spend eternal life. We receive His grace and help at Mass to strengthen us along the way. And we are conscious that at Mass, we are present for the sacrifice that is the re-presentation of the one sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins.
To be absent from Sunday Mass has inevitable consequences. The lack of contact with Christ dampens the faith of our hearts. The graces we don’t receive leave us weaker and more vulnerable to sin and temptation. The absence from the community of faith leaves us isolated. And the separation from the reminders of the teaching of our faith allow those truths to seem less and less important when just the opposite is true.
Pope St. John Paul II summarized the reality of Sunday Mass by saying it is a source of faith and
a source of hope. Pope Francis has called for a special emphasis on hope at the heart of the current Jubilee Year.
Attendance at Sunday Mass is not just fulfillment of an obligation. It is the great gift of Himself left to us by Christ. The rising number of attendees at Sunday Mass is encouraging. But we still have a long way to go.
