Catholics Remain Most Active Religious Group in Scotland
There may be a decline in the number of churchgoers in Scotland, but Catholics remain as the most active, according to a recent census.
Results from the 2016 Scottish Church Census by Brierley Consultancy showed that there was a dramatic decrease in the number of churchgoers in the country.
In 2016, only 7.2 percent or 390,000 of the nation's population attend church as opposed to the 17.2 percent recorded in 1984. The numbers continue to decline.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
If the current trend does not stop, by the year 2025, churchgoers would comprise only 5.3 percent of Scotland's population, a mere 290,000 people, said the census.
However, while most of the churches in the country experienced a decline in attendees, the Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland remained dominant, with 35 percent of the church-going population coming from the two groups.
"The Catholic Mass attending population has dropped," said Dr. Peter Brierly, who authored the census. "If you look at Glasgow it was 48,000 in 2002; it's now 38,570 but not as much as the wider Christian population. The numbers have gone down, but not as much as other populations."
But even with the decline in number, Dr. Peter Brierley, who authored the census, said the Catholics will soon be the largest active religious group in Scotland, if things continue to be the way they are.
Brierley attributed the slower decline of the Catholic Church as opposed to other churches to its flexibility.
"A lot of immigrants have come into Scotland in the last 10-15 years and the Catholic Church has reached out to them, putting on Polish Mases and so on," said the census author. "That's especially apparent to Aberdeen, where the Catholic population went up in the last five years – the only place in Scotland that happened, largely because of the incoming Polish population."
Meanwhile, the Scottish Episcopal Church attributed the decline in churchgoers to generational differences.
Most Reverend David Chillingworth, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church said, "Of all the factors which have led to decline, one of the most obvious is a generational failure. The children and grandchildren of today's churchgoers have not followed them into active membership."
