Sunday Mass attendance falls below 40% in Poland

July 24, 2014

Sunday Mass attendance has fallen below 40% in Poland, according to statistics published in L’Osservatore Romano.

Nonetheless, some statistics are positive: the nation, for example, has more seminarians than any other in Europe.

According to the report:

• 39.1% of the baptized now attend Mass on Sunday, down from 57% in the 1980s and 50% in the 1990s
• 42% of those who attend Sunday Mass receive Holy Communion, up from 14% in the 1980s.
• Since 2003, the number of Poles who attend Sunday Mass has fallen by two million. However, 2.1 million Poles have emigrated since the nation joined the European Union in 2004, and many of them attend Mass in Western Europe.
• The number of diocesan and religious priests in Poland continues to rise as ordinations outpace deaths. Poland now has the 2nd-highest number of diocesan priests in Europe (after Italy) and the 3rd-highest number of religious priests (after Italy and Spain).
• Vocations to women’s religious communities, however, have lagged, and the number of women religious in Poland fell by 284 in 2012.

 

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Further information:

• Quando la fede viaggia a due velocità (L’Osservatore Romano, p. 6)