{"id":27392,"date":"2014-09-26T06:03:09","date_gmt":"2014-09-26T11:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=27392"},"modified":"2014-09-26T10:19:05","modified_gmt":"2014-09-26T15:19:05","slug":"new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers at Benedictine University of Illinois released a new study this month titled <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ben.edu\/catholicsurvey\/upload\/Joy-and-Grievance-PUBLIC-FINAL-sep-11-2014.pdf\">Joy and Grievance in an American Diocese: Results from Online Surveys of Active and Inactive Catholics in Central Illinois<\/a>. <\/em>The study was developed at the request of Bishop Thomas Paprocki and the Presbyteral Council of the Diocese of Springfield, following concerns of a continued decline in Mass attendance over the past decade.<\/p>\n<p>The online survey of lapsed or inactive Catholics took place between November 2012 and March of 2013, with a separate survey of active Catholics taking place in the winter of 2104.<\/p>\n<p>The survey found that there were four main reasons why Catholics in Central Illinois stopped attending Mass or distanced themselves from the Church:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Issues with Church doctrine, especially among highly educated respondents citing concerns with the Church&#8217;s stance on matters such as birth control, women\u2019s ordination, divorce and homosexuality among others.<\/li>\n<li>An overall lack of connection to the Church, especially in regards to liturgy and spiritual practice. Many respondents noted that they were \u201cdissatisfied\u201d or \u201clost interest in going to the Mass.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Ongoing scandals in the Church.<\/li>\n<li>A \u201cperceived lack of Christian values at the level of Church, parish or priest.\u201d Many surveyed cited unfriendly or unwelcoming experiences personally or among friends.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those active Catholics that participated in the survey offered a different perspective, noting that they did feel a sense of community in their parish, which kept them engaged. They cited the Sacramental life of the Church as being especially important to their spiritual identity, especially the Eucharist. However, these respondents also noted concerns about doctrinal matters such as birth control and the need for a greater welcoming atmosphere, especially fostered by ordained leaders. Some also suggested general changes to the Mass such as the homily or music.<\/p>\n<p>A PDF of the full report can be <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ben.edu\/catholicsurvey\/upload\/Joy-and-Grievance-PUBLIC-FINAL-sep-11-2014.pdf\">downloaded here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The survey found that there were four main reasons why Catholics in Central Illinois stopped attending Mass or distanced themselves from the Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[357,25],"tags":[2828],"class_list":["post-27392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-demographics-and-sociology","category-ordained-ministry","tag-benedictine-university"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The survey found that there were four main reasons why Catholics in Central Illinois stopped attending Mass or distanced themselves from the Church.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-09-26T11:03:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-09-26T15:19:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"411\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"90\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/26\\\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/26\\\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7fbf63ff85d447cf06b0588add3e41d2\"},\"headline\":\"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-26T11:03:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-09-26T15:19:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/26\\\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":311,\"commentCount\":13,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Benedictine University\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Demographics and Sociology\",\"Ordained Ministry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/26\\\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/26\\\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/26\\\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\\\/\",\"name\":\"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay - Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-09-26T11:03:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-09-26T15:19:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/26\\\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/26\\\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/2014\\\/09\\\/26\\\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"description\":\"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg\",\"width\":1340,\"height\":209,\"caption\":\"Home\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7fbf63ff85d447cf06b0588add3e41d2\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"description\":\"Katharine E. Harmon, Ph.D., edits the blog, Pray Tell: Worship, Wit & Wisdom.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/praytellblog.com\\\/index.php\\\/author\\\/editor\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay - Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay - Home","og_description":"The survey found that there were four main reasons why Catholics in Central Illinois stopped attending Mass or distanced themselves from the Church.","og_url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/","og_site_name":"Home","article_published_time":"2014-09-26T11:03:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-09-26T15:19:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":411,"height":90,"url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/pt.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/"},"author":{"name":"Editor","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7fbf63ff85d447cf06b0588add3e41d2"},"headline":"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay","datePublished":"2014-09-26T11:03:09+00:00","dateModified":"2014-09-26T15:19:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/"},"wordCount":311,"commentCount":13,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Benedictine University"],"articleSection":["Demographics and Sociology","Ordained Ministry"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/","name":"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay - Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-09-26T11:03:09+00:00","dateModified":"2014-09-26T15:19:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/26\/new-study-why-catholics-leave-and-stay\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Study: Why Catholics Leave and Stay"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","name":"Home","description":"Worship, Wit &amp; Wisdom","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#organization","name":"Home","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/cropped-BlogHeaderFinal2.jpg","width":1340,"height":209,"caption":"Home"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7fbf63ff85d447cf06b0588add3e41d2","name":"Editor","description":"Katharine E. Harmon, Ph.D., edits the blog, Pray Tell: Worship, Wit & Wisdom.","url":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/author\/editor\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27392"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27404,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27392\/revisions\/27404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}