Sociology 101- Church Attendance
Roman Catholics are the busiest of the faithful. I know that seems a bold observation and a gross generalization, but I know it to be true. How could I know such a thing? I know because I have studied it using the tools I learned in Sociology 101- observation and extrapolation.
I’ve spent many years observing the arrival times of people to Sunday Mass. In the R.C. churches I have attended, the earliest attendee arrives at Mass approximately 30 minutes before the scheduled start time. Because she is so unique, and her arrival time so much earlier than the rest, she (and yes, it’s ALWAYS a ‘she’) is an outlier, a bit of data that falls outside the normal distribution. Most if the rest arrive in a block,so the normal range for arrival begins at 8 minutes prior to scheduled start (T minus 8 minutes, to use a familiar parlance), with an increase in incidents at T minus 90 seconds that continues through T plus 5 minutes. Outliers on the other side of the range continue through the T+15 range.
Departure times are equally revealing. Departures begin immediately following individual procession to receive communion (which researchers have termed “eat and run”) and occurs approximately 8 minutes prior to the end of mass, or D minus 8 minutes. There are a few of these, and they appear to skew towards younger members of the study group. The vast majority of attendees depart, or attempt to depart, at least 1 minute before the ending, or D minus 1. Only a scant few stay for the end of services, which is officially termed at the end of the closing hymn. Coincidentally there is a single outlier for departure as well, but she has already been discounted from the study because she is the same woman who arrived thirty minutes early. We have no statistics on her departure time, as the researchers tired of waiting for her to leave and just went home for lunch.
Researchers have determined the average time of a Sunday Mass to be 48 minutes. Using that as a base, eliminating the outliers, and applying a high level statistical regression analysis, the average R.C. Churchgoer appears to attend only 92% of the actual service. Anecdotally (and to be studied in depth with a future study) time on task during the service appears to be low as well. Adjustments to cell phone ringers, text messaging, writing checks for the collection basket, and whispering to your neighbors about that lady’s hat appear to consume more of the time, leaving less than 90% quality time during the service. Another consideration could be that people are unaware that Mass ends at the end of the closing song, and that it is not ‘exit music’ for the congregation to recess.
All of these statistics lead this researcher to only one conclusion- Roman Catholics may be too busy for Weekly Mass. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish this later. The Homily is ending, and I have to get back to work.
I think part of the problem of people leaving before the end of the closing song is that the priest, altar servers, etc. leave while it is being sung. Of course, that doesn’t account for people who leave before the priest, before the final blessing (that one has always perplexed me) or even after communion in the eat and run maneuver.
I suppose, however, it’s a bit of a miracle that anyone goes to church at all these days. Besides those of us who get paid for it, I mean.
That’s so funny. Sad but true actually.
The first Catholic Church I attended many years ago was classically by the book. Mass started at 5:00pm and it was over at 5:45pm on the dot.
People got fidgety if the mass ran long, usually due to a visiting priest.
I always marveled at the “eat and runners”, scurrying off during communion. I thought it was because the parking lot was congested.
Actually, the Mass ends when the priest says, “The Mass is ended.” The recessional hymn really is the exit music, which is why it’s called a recessional. BTW, I grew up in a parish famous for its 28-minute Saturday evening Mass, and even then, people would come late and duck out early, so I do agree with the overall point.
I understand “The Mass is Ended” but if you up and walk out in the middle of the closing hymn (not called a recessional in my church) then it signals that you are disconnected from the service as a whole. The music is planned as an integral part of the liturgy. The songs are not placeholders- they are prayerful and spring directly from the Word. Treating them as cover music for the escape is not respectful of the Word itself.
I appreciate that you got the gist of the entry. Thanks for reading! Come back for more.