CV NEWS FEED // Political and religious statistician Ryan Burge recently examined data about the declining number of Catholics in the United States and whether that change is explained by generational factors.
Burge published “Catholicism by Generation: A rapid collapse or steady as she goes?” on May 13.
The number of Catholics in the United States who attend Mass regularly has significantly dropped since 1972, Burge highlighted. In 1972, approximately 50% of self-identified Catholics attended weekly Mass, but in recent years that percentage has dropped below 25%.
He posited that this decrease is likely either caused by generational differences or in that Catholics simply stopped attending Mass as they grew older.
Burge focused on the generational theory and reviewed data from various studies and surveys about Catholics of various age demographics. Data on Catholics from older generations indicated that they found religion more important than younger generations did, he found.
For example, Catholics from the Greatest Generation actually increased their regular Mass attendance as they grew older, according to Burge.
“The Silent Generation line is also fascinating because of how steady it was for a very long time,” Burge pointed out. “About half of them were at Mass on a regular basis from 1972 through the late 2000s. There was a pretty significant decline from that point forward but I am betting that a big chunk of that is health-related.”
Catholics from the Baby Boomer Generation and below all showed lower levels of religious activity and regular Mass attendance.
“The numbers of Gen Z Catholics were higher when the oldest members of the cohort became adults, but they are also moving downward very quickly. According to this estimate, about 22% of Catholics who are from Gen X, Millennials, or Gen Z are attending Mass every week,” he wrote.
Burge also examined whether Catholics in 2024 are less religious than they were in 2008, and concluded that the level of religiosity is about the same for both years.
“In short, I just don’t see a huge shift in the overall religiosity of the Catholic sample over time,” Burge wrote.
However, since 2008 the number of people who identify as Catholic has shrunk, Burge noted, later writing: “Thus, there is relatively strong evidence that not only is Mass attendance declining, but so is Catholic identity.”
Burge also highlighted the percentage of Catholics who view religion as important has stayed about the same since 2008.
“This may be because a lot of non-religious Catholics left the label behind along the way. That seems like a pretty plausible explanation, but I just can’t test it out with this data,” he wrote. “To return to the two theories at the top of this piece—I’m pretty sure generational replacement played a bigger role in Mass attendance declining than individual changes in religious activity.”
Catholics from the Silent Generation appear to be significantly more religiously active than Millennial Catholics, but Burge argued that this comparison does not necessarily mean that religious observance of Catholicism in the U.S. will inevitably decline.
“It’s a really mixed bag here for the Catholic Church,” he concluded:
Some of the long-term trends are pretty rough, but that last heatmap could provide some hope. The average Catholic today is not much less religious than a Catholic from 2008.
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