Half of Mass-goers would attend older form

The 'Catholic Herald' of 3rd September had a front page article by Anna Arco headed just like that. A survey, using a sample of 800 people, identyfying themselves as 'Catholic', showed that 66% of practising Catholics would be happy to attend the traditional Latin Mass once a month if it were celebrated in their parishes. The survey was commissioned by the French group 'Paix Liturgique' and showed that Britain had a higher percentage of regular Mass attendance than France, Portugal and Germany. Although only 19% of Britain's population identifies itself as Catholic, 32% of Catholics attend Mass at least once a month, if not more often, compared with 19% of French Catholics and 10% of German Catholics. Again according to the survey, 43% of those Catholics who practice regularly would attend Mass in the Extraordinary Form once a week. 50% of the Catholics questioned said that they would find it normal if Mass were celebrated in the Extraordinary Form alongside the Ordinary Form in their parishes. The survey also found that 66% of Catholics were unaware of Pope Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum' which lifted restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass in 2007. John Medlin of the LMS is quoted as saying: "Broadly speaking these results are the same across Europe. They indicate that among Catholics who take interest in their Faith, although there is great ignorance, once people are made aware of the Motu Proprio 'Summorum Pontificum' there is a willingness for people in large numbers to accept the Extraordinary Form." Such news as this should fill us with hope for the future.