Tuesday, May 12, 2015

A few statistics on gender ratios at Mass

I have had some response to my appeal for statistics about the participation of men and women at Mass in Extraordinary Form and the Ordinary Form. I'd like a lot more, but the few statistics I have allow me to illustrate what this is about in a way which is perhaps easier to understand.


The first line represents the situation from one part of Ireland, 2 and 3 are from two are different parts of England, and 4 is from Wales. The bottom of the line shows the percentage of men at the Ordinary Form, the top the percentage of men at the Extraordinary Form.

The line shows the difference the form of the Mass makes.

The percentage of men shoots up when a church hosts a Traditional Mass.

To make a proper statistical case - even the beginnings of one - I need a lot more figures. For the same or similar church, I need to see the percentage of men at the Traditional Mass and the percentage of men at the Novus Ordo.

It is a bore, yes, and it may have to wait for a week or two as the Sundays pass but it would be worth it to show this is a real effect, wouldn't it?

Please send your statistics to info@lms.org.uk with the subject line 'Statistics'.

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4 comments:

  1. I have posted this request to the Musica Sacra forum, so you should have replies from the U.S. soon.

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  2. Anonymous2:34 am

    At the daily TLM in my parish I would say 50/50 men/women attend. Not an exact count just an observation. The total varies from 40 to 60 although today Ascension maybe 80. I understand many more attend the Sunday TLM but I have not been able to attend.

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  3. I'm not sure what the point of this is. Is it to show that Mass attendance among men is higher as a whole as a result of the EF Mass being available? If so, it may be misleading. I am male and I usually go to the EF on Sundays but I would go to the OF if the EF were not available.

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    Replies
    1. It's to show that, or whether, the EF is attractive to men. Whether, for example, it would make sense to talk about the EF in the context of the evangelisation of men.

      If it attracts a significantly higher proportion of men than the OF it would seem it would make sense. Some, most, or even all of the men at the EF would otherwise go to the OF, but the pattern of who goes to the EF tells us - obviously - about who finds the OF most attractive.

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