US Catholicism: The Pew Big Tent
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BIG
TENT CATHOLICISM – PEW STYLE
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US Adults |
The
Following Are Mutually Exclusive Categories |
Total |
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20% |
Catholic: They say they are Catholic when asked about their present religion. |
20% |
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The following do NOT identify as Catholic when asked about their present religion |
27% |
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9% |
“Cultural Catholics”: They say “yes” if they consider themselves Catholic in any way ( ethnically, culturally, or family ties ) but do not identify as Catholic religiously |
29% |
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9% |
“Connected to Catholics” they say “yes” if they have a Catholic parent, spouse or partner or ever attend Catholic Mass. But do not identify as Catholics religiously or as Cultural Catholics or as Former Catholics |
38% |
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9% |
“Former Catholics” They say they were raised in the Catholic faith but are not now Catholic or Culturally Catholic. |
47% |
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The last three might be considered as concentric circles or Catholicism beginning with Cultural Catholics, followed by Connected to Catholics, and then by Former Catholics who once identified but now affirm they no longer identify |
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Observances of Those Who Say Catholic is Their Present Religion |
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Prayer |
50% pray daily |
22% seldom or never pray |
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Mass attendance |
28% attend at least weekly |
40% seldom or never attend |
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Confession to a priest |
23% at least annually |
47% never |
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Only 13% of American Catholics do all three of the above observances. However at the other end of the spectrum only 13% of American Catholics do NOT do all three observances. The largest share of Catholics (74%) fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum of observance. They may pray. They may attend Mass. They may go to confession. But they don’t regularly do all three (pray daily, attend Mass weekly and go to confession annually). |
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These figures suggest that encouraging Catholics to pray at least fifteen minutes a day, and/or pray the Hours (especially by using virtual resources) are more likely to be successful than encouraging Catholics to attend Mass or go to Confession |
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Among the 20% of U.S. adults who are Catholic, some are deeply observant. For example:
- 50% say they pray daily.
- 28% attend Mass at least weekly.
- 23% go to confession with a Catholic priest at least once a year.
Altogether, 13% of American Catholics say they do all three of these things.
On the other hand, many U.S. Catholics are relatively nonobservant. For instance:
- 22% seldom or never pray.
- 40% seldom or never attend Mass.
- 47% never go to confession with a Catholic priest.
In total, 13% of U.S. Catholics by religion seldom or never pray and seldom or never attend Mass and never go to confession.