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Catholic Mass attendance plummets in Poland

PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp 01.07.2014 13:03
According to the latest figures from the Polish Institute of Catholic Church Statistics, only 39 percent of declared Catholics take part in Sunday Mass.
Foto: Wikimedia Commons/CC

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Photo: wikipedia

The figure marks the first time Mass attendance has dropped below 40 percent, head of the Institute, Wojciech Sadlon told Polish Radio.

“People who go to church merely spurred on by tradition do not experience a deep personal commitment, and have started to stop practising the faith,” he said.

“Along with the modernisation of [Poland], including cultural and economic changes, as well as more attractive offers put forward to Poles, religious values and faith simply lose out to spending free time with friends or watching TV,” Sadlon added.

Meanwhile, the new numbers show that 16.3 percent of church goers attend Communion, slightly up on last year’s figures.

The highest number of ‘dominicantes’ – people attending Mass – and ‘communicantes’ – people taking Communion – can be found in the south-east of the country, in the Dioceses of Tarnow and Przemysl, traditionally a more religious part of Poland.

The lowest numbers, on the other hand, are in the north-west of the country, in the Dioceses of Szczecin-Kamien, Koszalin-Kolobrzeg, as well as in the Lodz and Sosnowiec. (jb)

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