Sunday, April 15, 2012

Cathedral Attendance Levels: A Question

A continued steady rise in Cathedral attendance was noted a couple of weeks ago on by the CofE, which generated some number crunching of Biblical proportions by Peter Ould.

Just 1 question: I'd like to see a comparison between those cathedrals which didn't charge for entry over the period, compared to those who did. Is there, for example, any connection between rising midweek attendance at services, and the fact that the only way to get into many cathedrals for free midweek is to, you guessed it, attend a service?

More telling would be if there was a significant increase in adult baptisms, confirmations from cathedral congregations, or people entering recognised forms of CofE ministry. On the figures, the number of baptisms of those aged over 12 has risen from 120 to 160 over the last decade, i.e. from roughly 3 per cathedral per year to roughly 4. That's good, and to be celebrated, but is what you'd hope for from a parish church which was doing reasonably well.

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