There are fewer and fewer faithful at masses. The number of sacraments administered and students attending religion classes is also decreasing – according to the latest data for 2023. Experts believe that the report should be more than just another alarm bell for the Church and indicate the main causes of the problem.
This is the most religious region in Poland. In the Tarnów diocese, 60 percent of Catholics and Catholic women go to church, but on a national scale the situation is not so good. The latest Church data show that practicing Catholics in Poland are already a minority. Only every third of them attends Sunday mass.
Participation of Polish Catholics in Sunday massAnnuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae in Polonia
– Poland is one of the fastest secularizing areas in Europe – notes prof. Arkadiusz Stempin from Korczak University.
They do not participate in religion classes or sacraments
Fewer and fewer Poles want to be priests, and lay people have less and less connections with the Church. – The number of sacraments administered in Poland has decreased in virtually all categories – indicates prof. Marcin Jewdokimow from Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University.
The parents of 10 percent of children born last year decided not to baptize them. More than 88 percent of primary school students and only 58 percent of high school students are interested in religion.
Children and the Polish Catholic ChurchAnnuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae in Polonia
– On the one hand, Poland is still the most religious country in Europe, but on the other hand we have the first place not only in Europe, but also in the whole world when it comes to the galloping secularization of children and youth – notes Fr. prof. Andrzej Kobyliński, philosopher and ethicist from the University Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.
“The Church was supposed to be a moral guide, instead it shows the face of a self-serving corporation”Renata Kijowska/Fakty TVN
“What matters is that these people are committed.”
The Church eagerly looks outside for reasons. Although demography and social changes are indeed taking their toll, there are also many causes within the Church. – Endless moral scandals – says Fr. prof. Andrzej Kobyliński.
This means that the worldview offered by the Catholic Church is no longer necessarily the worldview of the majority of Poles. – Politicians should show courage. They cannot make a real separation of church and state – says prof. Arkadiusz Stempin from Korczak University.
Mass religiosity is inevitably coming to an end in Poland. Catholics themselves feel it. – I feel like I'm in the minority, and I actually feel that way in various places I travel to on a daily basis. Of course, it is better to have many people than fewer, but what matters is that these people are involved – says Filip Flisowski from the Catholic Congress.
In the Tarnów diocese, they see this as a chance for the future. – Nothing will make them go to church other than the fact that the Church is open and there is a place for them here – says Fr. Zbigniew Szostak, parish priest of the Holy Trinity Parish in Zabawa.
Main photo source: Facts