While fewer than one in seven Perth Catholics attends church regularly, a recent study shows that the city's outer suburbs have recorded a healthy rise.The parish of Yangebup showed the most impressive growth, The West Australian reports.
Yangebup takes in a swath of fast-growing outer southern suburbs including Cockburn Central, Atwell and Success.
The most recent national census in 2006 revealed there were 377,849 Catholics in Perth, a rise of more than 14,000 since 2001.However, a survey of metropolitan Catholic churches revealed that collectively they attracted an average of 51,740 people each weekend, according to a report in The Record.
Fr Patrick Cunningham, WA co-ordinator of the office's data collection program, believed it was a furphy to talk about "lapsed Catholics" as a big proportion of those who did not attend church.
The busy nature of modern life also meant that some people missed church because of other weekend activities such as sport.
Clashing commitments do not seem a problem for parishioners in Yangebup, though, which swelled from the 22nd largest Perth parish to the second biggest in the decade to 2006, according to a breakdown based on census data and prepared by the pastoral projects office.
A total of 10,171 out of about 34,000 people in Yangebup and surrounding suburbs in the parish catchment identified themselves as Catholic.
Parish priest Fr Bryan Rosling said the big congregation reflected the rapid development of Perth's outer southern corridor. About 1000 people attend Yangebup's Mater Christi Church each weekend.
The biggest Catholic parish in Perth is Ocean Reef, with 10,814 adherents.
Areas with big Italian populations such as Spearwood, Balcatta and Wanneroo are unsurprisingly also Catholic strongholds, along with Girrawheen, Whitfords, Rockingham, Lockridge, North Beach and Morley.
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Source (CTHN)
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