Bumper crowds are expected to attend church services this Christmas - swelled by migrant workers.Both Rev Jan MacFarlane, press officer for the Norwich Diocesan, and Father Mark Hackeson, secretary to the Roman Catholic Bishop of East Anglia, said they expected pews to be more full than in recent years.
Father Mark said: “Sunday mass attendance has been going up, and we are looking at a few more people than last year attending services over Christmas.
“Some of it can be put down to there being more Catholics in the area, but the overall trend has been upwards over the last four to five years.
“Some of it has been to do with more migrants moving into the area, but it's also families returning to the church after a period when they've not been attending.”
As reported, church congregations have been boosted by the influx of people to Norfolk from overseas.
Some catholic clergy have been learning Polish and Portuguese so they can speak to their new flock.
Twice monthly services in Polish are also conducted at the city's Roman Catholic Cathedral.
Rev MacFarlane said: “There was a cathedral carol service on Thursday and another one tomorrow, which shows the demand.
“Anecdotally, it seems more people will be attending church services at Christmas time than in recent years.
“I think people are looking to be more reflective at Christmas and to bring their children along to services.
“They are fed up that Christmas has become more about dashing about and keeping busy. People want their children to know the real meaning of Christmas, and schools are very much teaching that.”
John Pountain, reader at St Peter Mancroft Church in the city centre, is also fairly upbeat about numbers.
He said: “I think that people are increasingly aware of the spiritual dimension in their lives, and want to think about Christmas over and above the normal giving of presents.
“Our lessons and carol service on Sunday, December 15 was very well attended with 600 people there, which is about 50 to 100 up on last year.”
A national study this week said only one in seven people in the UK go to church every month, sparking calls for churches to do more to reach out to their congregations.
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