Institute for Catholic Church Statistics: More people at Sunday Masses and receiving Holy Communion
In 2017, the rate of Catholics participating in Sunday Eucharist increased by 1.6% in comparison to 2016. The rate of Catholics receiving Holy Communion increased by 1%. This means that approximately half a million more Catholics regularly participated in Holy Masses and around 300,000 more people received Holy Communion - according to the latest research of the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics presented on January 8.
As informed by Wojciech Sadłoń, director of the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics, between 2016 and 2017, the rate of dominicantes increased significantly (by 1.6 %) and communicantes (by 1 %). From the data collected by the Institute for Catholic Church Statistics, during the annual counting of the faithful in the parishes, it results that in 2017 38.3% of Catholics participated in Sunday Eucharist, while 17% received Holy Communion. In 2016, these rates were 36.7% and 16%.
The highest rate of dominicantes and communicantes was recorded in the Diocese of Tarnów (71.7% and 27.6%). As it results from the research, in 2017, 10,392 Catholic parishes conducted pastoral activities in Poland - 53 parishes more than a year earlier. The number of priests incardinated in the dioceses in 2017 was 24,917.
Summing up the statistics for 2017, Fr. Sadłoń noticed that they point to institutional stability of the Catholic Church in Poland.
Research on the religiosity of Poles elaborated in 2018 has been published in the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae in Polonia A.D. 2019.
ISKK/Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
