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| No shortage of men at Mass during the LMS' walking pilgrimage to Walsingham. This year's pilgrimage starts on August 28th; details here. |
Today I am publishing the 26th in the series of Position Papers prepared by the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce (FIUV), on the subject of the contribution which can be made by the Traditional Mass to the Evangelisation of men.
I've put some additional commentary on my own blog here.
I hope in the course of August to publish the next paper, which is on the concepts of Tradition, Restoration, and Reform.
They attempt to summarise, in 1,600 words, the most important arguments related to the Church's ancient liturgical tradition, each paper addressing a specific issue: Prefaces, the Lectionary, liturgical participation, the use of silence, the Kiss of Peace, and so on. They are where appropriate larded with references to the Magisterium and to scholarly studies. No one interested in the debate about the Catholic liturgy, from any perspective, should fail to read them.
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FIUV Position Paper 26: The Extraordinary Form and the
Evangelisation of Men
Since
the 1970s, in the developed world, the ratio between Catholic men and women
attending Mass, and committed in other ways to the Church, has changed
noticeably. The size and resources of the Church in the United States enable us
to consult carefully researched statistics for this phenomenon, which can be
seen throughout the West. For example, in 1974, 46% of men and 45% of women
surveyed regarded themselves as ‘strong Catholics’; in 2012, 24% of men and 30%
of women did so.[1]
In 2005 a survey reported that only 37% of regular worshippers at Masses in the
United States were men.[2] A study published in 1985
showed that 70-90% of parish activities (catechesis, service, bible studies
groups) were led by women.[3]
