While average weekend Mass attendance in the Arlington diocese increased last year by 13 percent over the previous year and marked a 20 percent increase compared to 2021, approximately seven out of 10 registered Catholics miss weekly Mass, according to the most recent count conducted last October.
Approximately 27 percent of the estimated 433,100 registered Catholics attended weekly Mass, more than in the prior two years but still below pre-COVID-19 levels. In 2019, approximately 29 percent of registered Catholics attended weekly Mass.
Speaking on his “Walk Humbly Podcast” last month, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge said that while there were “positive signs” in the data and in what he hears from parishes, the fact that so many Catholics do not consistently attend Mass should prompt a healthy re-examination of pastoral and evangelization efforts.
“There are some really good signs, but the bottom line is we still have a lot of work to do” as far as full, active participation in the Mass, he said.
Bishop Burbidge referred to the “Renew” theme of the Diocesan Golden Jubilee this year as an opportunity to invite more Catholics to practice their faith more deeply. He also spoke of the New Evangelization (to bring lapsed Catholics back to the church in the wake of growing secularization, especially in the West) that Pope John Paul II addressed in his 1990 encyclical “Redemptoris Missio” (The Mission of the Redeemer), and continued by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.
Bishop Burbidge suggested that one key is to foster a deeper sense of Eucharistic wonder and awe.
“If we were penetrating the hearts of people with that truth (of the Real Presence), who wouldn’t be at Mass?” he asked.
He said the diocesan Strategic Plan places great emphasis on evangelization as a priority, including the sharing of best practices in the diocese. “I see this as a beautiful opportunity,” Bishop Burbidge said.
At Nativity Catholic Church in Burke, Father Robert C. Cilinski, pastor, noticed a 15 percent increase in weekly Mass attendance during 2023.
“Intentionally we worked at welcoming people back, and letting them know it is now safe to come back and now we need to be together,” he said. “We need to come together to give thanks to the Lord and to be equipped for the next week ahead. God wants to give us those graces.”
One Sunday, he preached about Luke’s Gospel account of Jesus healing 10 lepers, only one of whom returned in gratitude, prompting Our Lord to ask, “Where are the other nine?” At the time, Nativity’s weekly congregation was at approximately 60 percent of its pre-COVID size.
“I said Christ might be asking, ‘Where are the other 40 percent?’ ” Father Cilinski said. “We rejoiced in the increase of 15 percent,” he said.
At St. Bernadette Church in Springfield, Father Don Rooney, pastor, said the parish is undergoing a generational makeover of sorts. Longtime parishioners who remained in their first homes decades after they were purchased have now downsized or moved away with younger families taking their place. The trend helped push weekly Mass attendance past pre-COVID levels.
“We have so many new families here that we never saw before,” he said. “It’s really exciting to have a lot of families with little kids. My impression is that we are well beyond where we were before the pandemic.”
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