A new set of pastoral statistics regarding the Catholic Church in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland has been released by the Catholic Record Society (CRS).
They are freely available from the CRS website under a new project titled “Catholicism in Numbers”.
The project begins with data collated by myself, and which draws information from the Catholic Directory and other sources. The CRS are encouraging those with their own historical datasets to get in touch and contribute to this growing resource.
The data shed light on broad changes over time, as well as similarities and differences between England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. So far, the data include information on the number of ordained ministers, members of religious communities, churches and parishes, Mass attendance, marriages, baptisms and more.
The project casts a bird’s eye view on how the church developed across the decades of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Many figures are broken down to diocesan level, so readers interested in particular geographical regions may find much to benefit their research.
When perceiving change in their local communities, Catholics might ask, “is it just us, or does it seem that…?” These datasets of pastoral statistics place Catholics’ experiences of their local church into the context of national changes as participation in Church life and ministry have ebbed and flowed.
Although some figures indicate degrees of decline over time, they also reflect the historical and ongoing witness and piety in many Catholics’ lives. We see, for example, remarkable numbers of men ordained at Irish seminaries around the middle of the twentieth century. They ministered across many countries and continents from the Americas to Oceania.
The statistics are illuminating when considered together. Ordinations have declined substantially (approximately 139 secular ordinations in England and Wales in 1960 and 32 in 2019) and there are fewer sisters in religious orders (around 11,428 in Ireland in 1991 and 4,887 in 2020).
That said, the ministry of the permanent diaconate has grown with about 752 Permanent Deacons in England and Wales by 2010, up from 475 in 2000. Although fewer than the decline in Priests, the Permanent Deacons reflect a distinctive calling that will shape many Catholics’ experiences of ministry in their parish.
With more Permanent Deacons and fewer parish sisters, this impacts the gender make-up of local ministry teams. And to whom do they minister? Statistics indicate more stability in the size of the Catholic population while Mass attendance has declined.
So practice, if not identity, has changed, affecting the visibility and accessibility of Catholics to their local ministers. Meanwhile, the figures affirm the ongoing and distinctive contribution of Catholic schools as numerically very large sites of public witness (2,090 in England and 85 in Wales in 2022). Schools may connect those with no Catholic background to elements of the faith and social teaching, and form a substantial and visible role in the life of our nations.
Does the Church’s public witness lead to baptism and reception into the faith? Well, see the figures. We have trends and countertrends, but we must avoid assuming the future, for changes may result in congregations who are different from those that came before.
While many are numerically depleted, they may experience a higher concentration of commitment and outreach as seen in, for example, Catholic Students Unions. Wider societal forces such as immigration also impact congregations, with flourishing newer communities enacting diverse expressions of Catholic faith.
Whilst the current sets of pastoral statistics indicate contours of change over time, some changes are beyond their purview. They do not detail the increased cultural diversity of Church congregations and spirituality. This diversity reflects how communities are at times less rooted in local geographic areas these days and more in cultural or theological affinity.
Migrant congregations are exemplary here. Furthermore, while much of Catholic life is practised in person in the parish, online fellowship and engagement with faith is less visible to us. People may connect online with other Catholics, enjoy liturgy and song, and evangelise and witness.
Change may bring smaller churches and fewer labourers for the harvest. However, if Christian religion meets a perennial need to connect with the transcendent, then counter-trends will occur. People may engage with the Church tentatively, sensing the need to have a child baptised, watching online, or joining a group that starts them on their spiritual journey.
Such engagement may result in small, effervescent communities, perhaps focused on ministering to particular demographics of people or with certain liturgical styles.
But will church life resonate enough, and will there be sufficient human connection, to kindle this desire and bring people into the fold?
As 2024 unfolds, and as more people contribute their own data to this project, we should start to find out more.