Will Catholics Ever Return to Mass? by Eric Sammons

By Eric Sammons, Crisis Magazine, Jan. 12, 2021

Eric Sammons is the editor-in-chief of Crisis Magazine. He is the author, most recently, of The Old Evangelization: How to Spread the Faith Like Jesus Did (Catholic Answers, 2017).

Faithful Catholics in America have long lamented the dreadful Mass attendance numbers of the past half century. In 1970, 55% of American Catholics attended Mass; by 2019, that number had dropped to little over 20%. It’s clear that most self-identifying Catholics don’t think it’s obligatory, or even beneficial, to participate in the “source and summit” of the Catholic Faith on a regular basis. Going into 2020, however, who knew that we’d soon be looking at that 20% attendance with nostalgia.

The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate recently released its figures regarding Mass attendance in 2020. It’s as bad as you suspect. Starting in March (ahem), the percentage of Catholics attending Mass plummeted from its already-pathetic 20% to around 5%.