A recent Catholic Archdiocese of Denver survey showed that 51 percent of Catholics living within its boundaries describe themselves as “fervent” or “faithful,” the church reported this week.
Of those surveyed, 29 percent described themselves as “detached doubters” or as disagreeing with some church teachings. And 20 percent said they are “uncomfortable with their personal spirituality” and “seeking something more.”
The archdiocese’s 2008 directory indicates that 407,500 people were registered Catholic parishioners as of 2006.
About 45 percent of local Catholics said they had attended Mass the prior Sunday, compared with 32 percent nationwide, according to a poll of 834 self-identified Catholics taken last fall by Boulder market research firm Core Insights. The margin of error was 2.8 percentage points.
The most common excuses given for missing Mass, cited by 43 percent of respondents, were “too busy” or “no time.” About 9 percent said they had work commitments on Sundays.
Tommie Candelaria, 38, told The Post she attends Mass on holidays and for funerals, weddings and baptisms, but finds that her busy lifestyle keeps her away most Sundays.
Archbishop Charles Cha put said in the Denver Catholic Register that numbers of registered parishioners, surveyed every fall, generally had been in decline in the past several years.
“I was looking for a factual study that would help us understand the pattern and address it,” Chaput told the Register. “We want to use this information as a platform for evangelization, both in terms of energizing those who are already Catholics but lukewarm in their practice, and reaching out to those who have no religious commitment.”
Omar Ochoa, 33, a Denver Internet specialist, said he was raised Catholic and still believes its doctrines. Yet he attends Mass only occasionally, he said, because the parishes he has visited have lacked a sense of warmth and community, especially toward his non-Catholic wife.
Kimberly Lund, 39, a medical administrator, said she left the church as a teen.
“There are many reasons,” Lund said. “I’d say the subjugation of women is the big one — also the hypocrisy of the church in covering up for priests in the sex-abuse scandal.”
A majority of those local Catholics polled, 57 percent, said they have a high level of trust in priests. But nearly half, 48 percent, expressed a concern that their donations could be used to fight sex-abuse claims.
The Catholic News Service reported that the 20 million lapsed Catholics in the country, a 2004 estimate, are the second-largest religious group in the country after the 69 million active Catholics.
Jeanette Cox, a 54-year-old housewife, said the church has its problems, yet she considers herself devout and finds its history and traditions to be “the richest by far.”
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or edraper@denverpost.com
