Falling church attendance (1)

The falling attendance figures for Sunday Mass are being attributed rather hastily to the homily as given in our diocese. This ignores that attendance at the weekday Mass, which does not include a homily, is lower still and also that poor Sunday Mass attendance is not just a Maltese phenomenon.

If anything, Malta is being affected later and less severely than other Christian communities throughout Europe and North America. A widespread diminution in the social importance of the Sunday Mass, together with its "low entertainment value" would be a more logical reason applicable beyond the shores of this tiny enclave of Catholicism.

It is very unfortunate that nowadays many Christians in the West do not feel comfortable in the public manifestation of their Christian belief and heritage. It would be a sad day when Catholics attend Sunday Mass mainly for its social and entertainment value or as an irksome duty imposed by the Church. We should be hearing Mass because of Christ's injunction to "Do this in memory of me".

To promote an increased attendance, the Sunday Mass should be made more attractive to as wide an audience as possible by concentrating on quality rather than on quantity. In the bustle and rush of today's lifestyle the liturgy of the Mass could be trimmed down, profitably, to its fundamental purpose and that is to prepare the congregation for the proper celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The congregation should not be treated as a captive audience on whom to inflict dragging convoluted sermons often based on irrelevant and disturbing excerpts from the Old Testament.

All over Europe and North America traditional Christian churches are becoming half-empty halls in imminent danger of closing down, frequented mostly by diehard very old or very young Catholics. In my travels abroad, both in Europe and North America, I was pleasantly surprised, and aggrieved at the same time, whenever the celebrant thought it fit to draw attention to the obvious swelling of his usually meagre congregation by the sudden influx of a group of Maltese tourists.

The situation in our diocese has not yet fallen to these desperate levels. Let us arrest the downward trend while we are still in time.