Each year the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne conducts a ‘Mass Count’.  Every woman, man and child attending Church in either a parish church or associated parish chapel is counted for the four weeks of May.  At the end of the month an average figure is calculated and that becomes the ‘Mass Count’ for the year.  Mass attendance is, of course, only one indicator of the vitality and vibrancy of a parish.  However, a parish is a Eucharistic community and a core number of parishioners gathered for Eucharist each Sunday is what breathes life into and shapes the people of God.

Our parish data needs to be read in the context of the overall pattern of Church attendance in Australia.  The National Centre for Pastoral Research produces a report on Mass attendance each five years after the Australian census is taken.  That report tells us that in 2021 the average number of people at Mass in Australia on a typical weekend was about 417,300.  That number was a decline of around 206,000 (33%) from the 2016 figure.  (Remember that the 2021 count was conducted amidst various Covid-19 restrictions around the country).  The National data shows that just over a quarter of attenders were aged 70 and over and another quarter aged between 50 -69.  Our congregations are ageing.  Perhaps, not surprising is the fact that in 2021 over 30,100 households watched the televised Mass for you at Home program across Australia.

So, let’s get back to our own figures at Camberwell, Balwyn Deepdene and Surrey Hills Wattle Park.  During May 2020, our Mass count was zero because our five Churches were closed to Covid-19 lockdowns.  Since that year, our congregations have slowly been returning to pre-Covid numbers.  Deepdene and Balwyn Parish, for example, went from zero in 2020 to 495 in 2021, 486 in 2023 and 572 in 2024.  The final 2024 figure is one more than the 2019 Mass Count of 571!  Surrey Hills Wattle Park Parish had a pre-Covid attendance of 348 in 2019 compared to 514 in 2024.  A large proportion of that number comes from the Catholic Chinese Community who record an attendance of over 200 people each week at Our Lady’s, Wattle Park (275 in 2024).  Camberwell Parish has also slowly returned from 235 in 2021 to 294 in 2024.  The 10.00 am Mass at Camberwell consistently polls the highest number of attendees across our parishes.

So, while many communities have struggled to rebuild after the Covid-19 pandemic, I think it is fair to say that our Mass attendance has bounced back.  At the same time, we need to be realistic.  These figures show a serious decline in Mass attendance when compared to the 1970s and 1980s when our parish Churches were often full.  How should we respond then?  Our lead should be taken from the early church.  Christian communities should show warmth, welcome, hospitality and be shaped by the Gospel and the celebration of the Eucharist.  Christians today are made not born.  And the making of a Christian begins when they find a warm, welcoming and happy Christian community to which they can belong.  A new parishioner recently recounted to me why they had settled on our parish.  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘when I come here, I see a group of people who look happy to be here.  They do not have long faces or drag their feet.  They smile and greet one another; they sing and pray with fervour, and they seem genuinely concerned to ensure that everyone is looked after’.  Numbers (quantity) matter but the quality of the Christian community speaks even more.

By Fr Brendan Reed

Published: 26 July 2024