The number of American Catholics attending weekly services has dropped significantly in the past decade, a recent poll has found.
A report released by Gallup on Monday revealed that between 2014 and 2017, an average of 39 percent of Catholics attended services in the past seven days. In contrast, 45 percent went to church on a weekly basis in 2005 to 2008. The latest figure showed a sharp decline from 1955, when the average weekly attendance was 75 percent.
Gallup indicated in a 2009 report that the sharpest decline in church attendance among American Catholics occurred between the 1950s and 1970s. During that period, those who say they attend weekly services have decreased by 20 percent.
The decline continued through the mid-1990s, with the rate falling by four percent each decade. Church attendance became more stable in the mid-2000s, but Gallup noted that a decline has been taking place again, with the attendance shrinking by six percent in the past decade.
Among American Protestants, church attendance has been steady, although there has been a sharp decline in the number of people identifying as Protestants.
According to Gallup, the number of Americans identifying as Protestants has dropped from 71 percent in 1955 to 47 percent in the mid-2010s.
Church attendance slightly decreased during the 1960s and 1970s among Protestants aged 21 to 29, but it has since bounced back. The average attendance rate for U.S. Protestants between 2014 and 2017 was 45 percent, down by only one percent from the recorded rates in the past several decades.
Despite the decline in attendance in the Catholic Church, the number of people identifying as Catholics has remained stable. Gallup reported that the number of Americans identifying as Catholics today is 22 percent, compared to 1955 with 24 percent.
The polling firm further noted that there are a large number of young people who neither identify as Catholic or Protestant. Some identify as "other" or with non-Christian religions, but most describe themselves as nones.
The report indicated that there were 33 percent of those aged 21 to 29 who identify with no religion. A study conducted by the organization in 2016 revealed that there were one in five Americans who identify with no religion, up from two percent about six decades ago.
Other surveys have found that Catholics are still likely to attend mass during religious holidays like Easter.
In a study conducted by the Marist Institute for Pubic Opinion during Holy Week, as many as 73 percent of Catholics said that they were planning to attend services on Easter Sunday. Fifty-percent said that they were planning to attend Good Friday services.
The figures were higher among practicing Catholics, with 95 percent saying they were planning to attend Easter Sunday services, and 78 percent planning to attend mass on Good Friday.
