Core beliefs of practising Catholics, revealed in the sometimes surprising, sometimes touching results of a major survey conducted for The Tablet by Cambridge University's Von Hügel Institute, are highlighted this week in the first of two special reports. Next week part two uncovers individual attitudes of Catholics to sex and contraception 40 years after Humanae Vitae
Goodbye to the confessional. The average Catholic in Britain today has had a Catholic education, staunchly supports Catholic schools, prays daily and attends Mass on Sunday although feels little obligation to do so. But, although the average Catholic receives Communion at nearly every Mass attended, he or she hardly ever goes to confession.
These are just a few of the facts to emerge from The Tablet's survey of 1,500 Catholics at parishes across England and Wales. The study paints a portrait of the typical practising Catholic as committed to his or her faith and to marriage, family life and Catholic education.
Some claim the Catholic Church in England and Wales is a fading Church, whose members abandon their religion as soon as they leave school and the family home. Others would suggest that it is a Church that is being renewed, thanks to the numbers of migrants from Catholic countries such as Poland and Brazil who have moved to Britain in recent years.
Our study concentrates on Catholics in the pews and reveals details of their beliefs, priorities and concerns, particularly about faith and the family.
Traditionally the Church has seen families as the first educators of children and the primary place for the development of Christian values. Today, though, British Catholic families face new challenges. In most families, both parents work and family life is often affected by long commutes, lengthy working days and even parents working away from home. In instilling values in their children, parents have to counter society's emphasis on consumerism and materialism. Taken together, these factors have a profound impact on the quality of people's lives, and on their faith.
The results of the survey highlight specific, clear trends in Catholic life in England and Wales. Those who do attend Mass often perceive themselves as highly committed Catholics, yet they clearly have a lower sense of the obligation their parents and grandparents felt about attending Mass on Sundays. The majority of Catholics today like to receive Communion frequently, while confession, now often called the Sacrament of Reconciliation, has little place in many people's lives. Yet one highly significant factor that emerges is that younger Catholics seem to attach a greater significance to it.
Catholics attach huge importance to marriage and family life with a considerable amount of time spent with children. While marriage is on the slide in Britain with half the children of British-born mothers born outside wedlock, marriage is still strongly supported by Catholics. Only 13 per cent of our 18- to 35-year-olds were living with a partner, while 49 per cent were married. Just 5 per cent of our 36- to 45-year-olds were cohabiting while 72 per cent were married. In terms of family life, the differences between people of different cultures is evident, with far more people from abroad praying at home with the family.
While the stigma once attached to mixed marriages is long gone, Catholics still tend to be married to Catholics. Seventy per cent of Catholics had a spouse or partner who was Catholic, while another 21 per cent were married to a fellow Christian. Marrying another Catholic was strongest among ethnic minorities: of those responding to the survey 85 per cent of South-East Asians had a Catholic spouse, as did 77 per cent of the Irish and 77 per cent of Africans, compared with 64 per cent of British-born Catholics.
Catholics have huge respect for their schools, believing it vital that their children attend church-run schools. Their support for schools perhaps explains why two years ago the Government had to row back on its proposals to make faith schools offer a quarter of their places to non-denominational pupils. Catholic parents strongly supported their bishops' opposition to the proposal from the then education secretary, Alan Johnson, forcing the Government to a rethink.
But for all their parents' commitment to education, and the support for Catholic schools, Catholics have a woeful knowledge of the Church. A surprisingly high number of them have never heard of the Second Vatican Council, seemingly unaware of the profound impact in terms of ecclesiology and liturgy that the Council has had on the Church in which they have been raised. And the majority have not heard of Humanae Vitae, the encyclical published 40 years ago this summer that, with its teaching on birth control, caused such a seismic shift in the attitude of many Catholics at the time to the Church and to its authority. That church teaching still stands, of course, and in next week's issue we shall have a full report on current Catholic attitudes to sex and contraception. But for the moment, here are the findings of part one of our survey.
GOING TO MASS
Of those who had at least one child under 18, 55 per cent indicated that their children attended Mass once a week, another 23 per cent attended almost every week, 7 per cent once a month, and another 7 per cent on major feast days and/or several times a year.
The respondents themselves attended Mass more often. Sixty-four per cent of all respondents attended Mass once a week, 14 per cent almost every week, while 16 per cent attended it several times a week.
Attendance at Mass at least once a week by age:
18-35 36-45 46-65 over 65
62% 67% 84% 92%
WHERE AND WHY WE WORSHIP
People still prefer to attend their local church. Eighty-two per cent travelled up to between four and 10 miles.
Almost a third attended other Catholic churches or parishes as well.
In the case of South-East Asian respondents this proportion is as high as 50 per cent, compared with 26 per cent of the British, 36 per cent of the Irish and 29 per cent of the African respondents.
There were a great variety of reasons why people go to Mass. The most important were:
Reason Per cent
To express my commitment to God 64
It gives me strength to carry on in everyday life 55
I was brought up this way 52
To receive the Holy Sacrament as "food for the journey" 48
To pray for loved ones who are deceased 44
To repent of my sins 37
To ask for various things in prayer 36
To feel a part of the community 36
ROADS TO FAITH
The role of family and education in the development of faith was clear, with parents and school cited as the great influence on people's beliefs.
When asked who had affected their beliefs the most, respondents replied:
Who Per cent
Parents 81
School 50
The Church 49
A priest 31
Grandparents 22
Friends 17
A teacher 13
A religious movement 10
A spiritual writer 8
COMMUNION AND CONFESSION
It is clear that Holy Communion remains at the heart of Catholics' spiritual life. But the link between confession and Communion appears to have been severed. When asked how often they received Communion, 89 per cent of respondents said at every Mass they went to; just 3 per cent said only after confession; while a further 3 per cent replied never. When asked to rate the most important aspects of Mass, respondents replied thus:
Aspect Per cent
Receiving Holy Communion 75
Feeling the presence of God 68
Prayer and reflection 61
Sign of peace 46
Sermon 42
Readings 43
Music 29
BEING A GOOD CATHOLIC
Respondents were shown several statements and asked to agree or disagree.
To the statement "I can be a good Catholic without the Sacrament of Confession", 47 per cent strongly agreed or just agreed and 34 per cent strongly disagreed or just agreed, while the rest did not venture an opinion.
Strongly agree or agree, by age
18-35 36-45 46-65 over 65
43% 52% 49% 43%
To the statement "I can be a good Catholic without going to weekly Mass", 35 per cent strongly agreed or just agreed while 49 per cent strongly disagreed or just agreed.
Strongly agree or agree, by age
18-33 36-45 46-65 over 65
39% 45% 34% 27%
To the statement "I can be a good Catholic without marrying in the Church", 35 per cent strongly agreed or just agreed, while 43 per cent strongly disagreed or just agreed.
Strongly agree or agree, by age
18-35 36-45 46-65 over 65
34% 45% 38% 25%
ON PRAYER
When asked how often they prayed 66 per cent of respondents said every day; 22 per cent said several times a week; while just 6 per cent said hardly ever or only in times of crisis.
Daily prayer by age:
18-35 36-45 46-6 over 65
54% 60% 62% 80%
Daily prayer by ethnic origin:
South-East Asians 85%
Africans 79%
Irish 78%
British-born 59%
FAITH AND BELIEF
The answers to questions about aspects of faith and belief indicated that just as Catholics focus far more today on the Eucharist and the love of God rather than on sin and repentance, they also believe far more in heaven than in hell. But a surprisingly large number also believe in reincarnation, which has never been part of Catholic teaching.
(Percentages) Believe Not sure Do not believe
Life after death 87 12 1
The Devil 63 27 10
Hell 60 31 9
Heaven 91 8 1
Mortal sin 70 26 4
Resurrection of the dead 80 17 3
Reincarnation 38 31 31
The Virgin Birth 81 6 3
Last Judgement 76 22 2
Salvation as release from sin 79 19 2
ON THE MAGISTERIUM
The ignorance of crucial church documents suggested that, however positive the response to Catholic education, it had not informed pupils, or indeed many of their parents, of church teaching and church history. Respondents were asked if they were aware of key events and documents.
Of the Second Vatican Council, 26 per cent said they were fully aware of its place and role in the development of Church teaching, 53 per cent were somewhat aware, but 22 per cent had never heard of it.
Fully aware of Vatican II, by age
18-35 36-45 46-65 over 65
10% 18% 26% 38%
Of Humanae Vitae, 16 per cent were fully aware of the Church's teaching on sexual matters, 37 per cent were somewhat aware, but 47 per cent had never heard of it.
Fully aware of Humanae Vitae, by age
18-35 36-45 46-65 over 65
7% 7% 18% 24%
Of Populorum Progressio, just 6 per cent were fully aware of the Church's social teaching, 25 per cent were somewhat aware but a startling 69 per cent had never heard of it.
Of the document produced in 1996 by the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, "The Common Good and the Catholic Church's Social Teachings", 13 per cent were fully aware, 37 per cent somewhat aware, but 51 per cent had never heard of it.
FAMILY MATTERS
The affiliation to Catholic schools among Mass-goers is so strong that 81 per cent of those surveyed had children who either attended Catholic schools or had done so in the past, while 79 per cent of those surveyed had been educated in a Catholic school themselves.
Stresses and strains were apparent in family life. Thirty eight per cent of parents said that they spend too much time working and not enough with the family, while nearly 20 per cent said travelling to work interfered with family life. Even though almost half those questioned with children turned to the extended family for help with childcare, it was reported that school had a profound influence on children's lives, according to the parents.
As many as 86 per cent said that school was as important as home for providing moral guidance to children, while 69 per cent said that it was important that their children attended a Catholic school. Just a third said that they were struggling to pass on their Catholic faith to their children.
Respondents were asked about the way in which they brought up their children. Thirty-five per cent of those with children under 18 reported praying with them daily or almost daily, while 25 per cent said that they did so at least once a week; 24 per cent talked daily with them about faith and God; and a further 30 per cent did so weekly.
Moral issues were discussed with children daily or almost daily by 37 per cent and weekly by 33 per cent.
Poverty and social justice were addressed by 15 per cent daily and 34 per cent weekly, environmental issues were aired in the family daily by 15 per cent and weekly by 33 per cent. Politics and current affairs were considered daily by 12 per cent and by 30 per cent weekly.
At the same time, 14 per cent never prayed as a family, 13 per cent never discussed politics and current affairs, 6 per cent never talked about God, social justice or environment, and 4 per cent never discussed moral issues.
Respondents were also asked about the importance of developing certain qualities in children. They were asked to rate developing certain qualities on a scale from one to seven.
Top of the list with the proportion rating the quality at seven on the scale were:
Quality Per cent
Honesty 86
Tolerance 83
Good manners 82
Unselfishness 68
Feeling of responsibility 67
Faith 67
Hard work 60
The least popular were:
Quality Per cent
Obedience 56
Determination 55
Independence 54
Imagination 48
Volunteering 36
Thrift, saving money 35