- OSV News / Gina Christian
The Center of Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University has noted in a February 5 post on his blog Nineteen Sixty-four research study that attendance at the Sunday Mass on a face-to-face basis has increased to 24 percent since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic was declared in May 2023. That rate has been maintained through the first week of 2025.
From the start of the pandemic closures in March 2020 through May 2023, attendance had averaged 15 %. Prior to the pandemic, average attendance was 24.4 %.
Mark Gray, CARA's director of polling and editor of the blog, told OSV News that attendance figures recently released by the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, had underscored a trend he and his colleagues had identified.
Not a direct measurement, but an approximation.
"It's something I became aware of, and when the Diocese of Arlington released its October attendance figures ..., I thought, all right, I'm going to go ahead and put this (data) out there," Gray said, referring to an annual count of Mass attendance conducted by many U.S. dioceses.
Gray, who is also an associate research professor at Georgetown University, and his colleagues have relied on data from their various national surveys, along with Google Trends queries that, he said, "allow us to see variations in how often people search" for certain terms that "would correlate with Mass attendance."
"It's not a direct measurement, but it's an approximation," explained Gray, who also noted that the drop in data does not take into account those who resorted to live-streamed and televised liturgies during pandemic closures.
Analysis of the figures
"We've also analyzed those numbers," he said. "We can alter search terms and Google Trends to different queries. We've done that in the past, and we saw that about the same percentage of Catholics participated in Mass during closings, if you included viewing on TV or online. And then we have surveys about attending Mass in person, and watching it on TV or online."
Gray said the Mass attendance data "almost looks like a more straightforward distribution once you include the TV and Internet figures" during pandemic closures.
He also noted that the pandemic closures were 'a local situation' in which some areas "opened...quickly" and "others remained closed for much longer."
Ash Wednesday, the third day of highest attendance
But since "this last Christmas in 2024, things have gone back to normal," he noted.
Some Masses during the year generally reflect "spikes" in attendance, Gray said. Christmas, Easter and Ash Wednesday are the most attended liturgies.
"We're always interested in Ash Wednesday," since "it's probably one of the most unusual days," Gray said. "It's not a day of precept, but it's the third highest Mass attendance historically, according to the data," he said. "And it also has probably the highest turnout of young adult Catholics."
Gray added that "if there is ever a time when the Church needs to reach out to young adult Catholics, Lent and specifically the Ash Wednesday it's time. So it's always a good barometer to see what the activity is like during that period, because it gives you a little insight into the future of the next generation of Catholics."
