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Sunday Mass attendance at Catholic churches in the United States has returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to recent data. The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University reported on its Nineteen Sixty-four research blog that Sunday Mass attendance in person has reached 24% since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared over in May 2023. This rate has remained steady through early 2025.
During the pandemic lockdowns from March 2020 to May 2023, average attendance was around 15%, compared to a pre-pandemic average of 24.4%. Mark Gray, CARA’s director of polls and editor of the blog, highlighted that figures released by the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, supported this trend.
“It’s something I noticed, and then when the Diocese of Arlington posted their October headcount numbers … I thought, all right, I’ll go ahead and put this (data) out there,” said Gray. He and his colleagues used data from national surveys and Google Trends queries as proxies for measuring Mass attendance.
Gray pointed out that these figures do not account for those who participated via livestreamed or televised liturgies during lockdowns. “We’ve looked at those numbers too,” he said. Including television and internet participation showed similar percentages of Catholics attending Mass during lockdowns.
The pandemic created varying local situations where some areas reopened quickly while others remained closed longer. However, Gray noted that since Christmas 2024, "things are back to normal."
Certain times of the year see spikes in attendance, with Christmas, Easter, and Ash Wednesday being notably well-attended. “We’re always interested in Ash Wednesday,” said Gray. It is historically one of the highest attended days despite not being a holy day of obligation.
Gray emphasized Ash Wednesday's significance as an opportunity for outreach to young adult Catholics: “If there’s any moment that the church has to reach out to young adult Catholics, Lent and specifically Ash Wednesday is the time.”
Gina Christian contributed reporting for OSV News.
