For weeks now I’ve been puzzling out the reasons why some Catholics stop attending Mass and don’t want to come back.
Our Catholics in Australia 2022 survey already shows that they don’t think it’s a sin to miss Sunday Mass (spoiler alert: it’s a sin, unless you have a serious reason for not being there).
Let’s take another look at the survey results to see what’s happening with the 500 or so Catholics we called “irregulars” and “nevers” in terms of their Mass attendance.
Most of them believe in heaven, but not so much in other core Catholic doctrines. Most of them think the church should change its teachings on ordination, human sexuality, and reception of holy communion.
Most of them say that the church is not important in their lives, and they’re not interested in their children marrying other Catholics.
But most of them are also happy to describe themselves as “quite religious,” and around two-thirds of them said they felt affiliated with the church and didn’t want to leave it.
Irregulars and nevers don’t seem to have a problem with their Catholic “identity,” probably because it makes no demands on them. It’s their faith and practice that’s missing.
We also had an open text box in the survey, and it was great to hear from 128 irregulars and nevers who shared their current feelings towards the church.
We put their comments through an analysis program and found that 19 people told us specifically why they stopped going to Mass.
There were 11 broad reasons why, and top of the list was the clergy abuse crisis (six comments).
The rest were: physical health problems, issues with church leadership, becoming disillusioned, and family conflicts (three comments each).
Issues with specific priests (two comments).
And perceived conflict between Jesus and the church, travel distance, the liturgy, the status of women, and COVID-19 (one comment each).
Here’s some samples of the 19 responses. I’ll identify people by their sex, their age group, how often they go to Mass, and the diocese they live in.
“I no longer attend Mass because my daughter was abused by a priest I trusted.” (Female, 70-79, never, Brisbane).
“I was employed by the church for 25 years and was involved heavily at parish level too. I am retired and believe the church is too institutional in its governance and behaviour. Hence I have been scarcely involved in the last three years.” (Male, 70-79, never, Sandhurst)
“Having become Catholic at age 10 and loving the church to then drifting away, then after having a family coming back and being involved in a community in the church, for 14 years, which caused a lot of damage to us as a family, I would say I miss my church greatly but my husband refuses to acknowledge his faith and our daughters have nothing to do with the church.” (Female, 50-59, never, Perth)
“On returning to the church after many years I was disgusted that the priest used the homily to talk about fundraising rather than anything spiritual. I walked out and have never returned.” (Female, 50-59, never, Brisbane)
“[T]he quality of the liturgy (not just sermons) as well as how priests and bishops live the Catholic beliefs and teach others in community and society more broadly. Those are the main reasons I don’t attend church. Modern church has become so lukewarm and watered down.” (Female, 40-49, irregular, Wollongong)
“Until the Church gives women equal roles in the church and allows all clergy to marry, I will never return to the church.” (Male, 40-49, never, Adelaide)
“Up until Covid I was a regular Mass attendee. The response of many conservative Catholics to the government’s handling of the pandemic was very disturbing to me. I have become very opposed to right wing conservatism and if at all now consider myself a very progressive Catholic or someone who is no longer a Catholic believes in Jesus and social justice.” (Female, 40-49, irregular, Melbourne)
As you can see, there’s a range of reasons. Many describe a key event which ended their parish involvement or Mass attendance.
This has given me a real insight into the pain in some people’s lives. The action of some people in the church has made that pain worse, rather than better.
I don’t think any Catholic in Australia has had it easy in the last 50 years. But it’s amazing to see how something that will sink one person’s faith will float another’s.
This might be nature or nurture, or it might just be the work of grace. Next week I’d like to unpack this further.