Malta, GC, has a special place in the history of the Second World War. On
15th April 1942 King George VI awarded the inhabitants a collective George
Cross for being “bombed but not broken” (as their underground posters
proclaimed) to encourage them in their strategic resistance.
Centuries earlier St Paul was shipwrecked on the island, the Lord giving to
him the lives of all with whom he travelled. Catacombs today show where Paul
might have lived during the 3 months he was there, and on the outside wall
of the church in St Paul’s Bay the inscription “I believe God that it will
be just as it was told me” from Acts 27 verse 25 is clearly written.
Malta is a small island of 246 sq km (95 square miles), twice the size of
Jersey, or marginally bigger than the city of Peterborough. In 2000, 380,000
people lived there, 98% Maltese, growing at 1% per year (an average
population of 4,300 per church, 4 times as many in the UK!) Gozo and Comino
are smaller associated islands to the west, with a population of 30,000.
450,000 British tourists, half the total, go each year for an average stay
of 12 days.
Church attendance
Discern, the Institute for Research on the Signs of the Times in Malta has
undertaken 3 church censuses of Catholic Mass attenders – in 1967, 1982 and
1995. The percentage has dropped as in the rest of Europe, from 82% to 73%
to 62%, but even so is far higher than in other Catholic countries. The
figures exclude “twicers” (4% in 1995), and are therefore of attenders.
Malta is 93% Catholic with 772 priests and 335 Catholic churches in 65
parishes. Attendance at these churches averages 175 for each of 3 Masses per
Sunday.
There are also 23 other churches: 2 Anglican, 2 Baptist (the Bible Baptist
and the Evangelical Baptist), 8 Pentecostal (including two Full Gospel
Praise Centres in Bugibba and Mosta), 3 Salvation Army, 1 Church of
Scotland, 1 Greek Orthodox, 1 Methodist and 5 others. In 1995 there was a
collective membership of these churches of 1,870, of which the Anglicans
were half. If attendance is two-thirds of membership, this gives an average
Sunday congregation of 30 for the non-Anglican churches. There are also 5
Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls and small Jewish, Bahá’i, Buddhist and
Muslim communities.
Streets are crowded in Malta, but that doesn’t stop people going to the
church they like, rather than the one in whose parish they are situated. 27%
of the Catholics went to Mass in another parish in 1995, twice the
percentage in 1967. Such a high mobility points to people searching for ...
what? Relevance?
Women go to Mass more than men, 56% to 44%, about the same as English
Catholics. Rather more singles (+9%) and rather fewer married (-10%) are
represented in church compared to the general population.
Percentage of each age-group which attended Mass in 1995
What percentage go to Mass in each age-group? The chart indicates. The
smallest percentage is amongst those aged 25 to 39, similar to churches in
the UK (although with a far lower percentage!). Maltese churches still
retain a high number of children, although many of these drop out as they
reach their later teens or early 20s. Older people are still the most
faithful in attendance, only stopping when old age prevents them going so
often.
Future trends
What of the future? What the trends suggest is reflected in the second
diagram.
The future of Maltese Catholic Sunday Mass attendance,
and the non-attending population in Malta, 1967-2010
This diagram shows that the overall population of Malta is steadily
increasing, while the proportion attending Mass on a Sunday will be down to
44% on current trends by 2010, almost half the percentage of 1967. The
diagram also shows the age composition of those who are attending Mass. The
numbers of children (aged 7 to 14) and young people aged 15 to 24 declines
markedly. Mass attenders aged 25 to 49 decline slightly, basically people
whose parents were not regular Mass attenders, and who, when they became
parents, would be unlikely to send their children regularly to Mass. The
numbers in their 50s and 60s increase slightly, as do those who are older
still.
There are clear challenges ahead for the leaders of the Catholic church in
Malta. Does the decline in Mass attendance mean a more open door for the
Protestant churches, or are those not attending becoming in effect
de-churched Catholics who are unlikely to try other churches? Will the
increasing numbers of visitors and non-Maltese residents provide
opportunities for the churches?
Relevance
Focus Groups in 1995 found four things which Sunday Mass meant to those who
went:
• A habit which “pulled people to church by some kind of cultural inertia”
• “A social norm and tradition” (people would feel less acceptable to their
families if they missed it)
• “A social experience of belonging to the church community”
• “A personal experience of contact ... with God and His Christ.”
These were not mutually exclusive, but the majority probably fell into the
first two reasons - habit and norm. Those who went to Mass “were seeking
quality” even if unconsciously (something reflected in research in UK
churches). “The level of belonging ... has been falling.”
“Sunday Mass had to become more meaningful, in terms of education ... homes
and their jobs”, concludes the Maltese report. The issue of relevance is
central to UK church life also.
The Focus Groups concluded that the quality of Sunday Mass had to change for
the priests as well as the laity, and that the laity were looking primarily
for relevant teaching, and a transcendent reality. They suggested that the
test of a successful radical shift was when attenders enjoyed the Mass,
because they celebrated it “in remembrance of Me.”
Sources: Attendance at Sunday Mass, Report on the Third Census, Discern,
Institute for Research on the Signs of the Times, Floriana, Malta, 1998;
Demographic Review 2000, Official Statistics of Malta (OSM), National
Statistics Office, Malta, 2001; personal observation; talk with OSM
Librarian, June 2002; Malta 2001/2 Highlights, Thomson; World Christian
Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, Dr David Barrett (editor), Oxford University
Press, 2001; The Malta Year Book, 2001, Page 148; Malta Trends, 1993,
Benjamin Tonna, Discern.
HIGHLIGHTS (2):
Laity wanted relevant teaching ...
... and transcendant reality |
