By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
It’s October. Time to be counted.
October is the month the diocese tries to get a fix on how many people in Hawaii go to church each week.
Each parish is asked to count heads at each Saturday vigil and Sunday Mass for the entire month of October. This year the month has five weekends to count. The numbers are then written on a form which is sent to the diocesan chancellor’s office by Nov. 19 where the average weekend tally is calculated.
If there is a trend, this year will have fewer Mass-goers than last year.
Last year, 2015, according to the chancellor’s office, the total number of Mass-goers in Hawaii was 49,550, down about 6,000 from the 2012 count of 55,517, the last most reliable figure. The counts for 2013 and 2014 were incomplete.
The 2015 number appears to be the lowest October count in at least the past three decades.
From 2003 to 2011, the numbers have hovered around 56,500.
Each year’s total cannot be considered an exact figure. The counts are done manually and tabulation errors happen. Some parishes fail to report their count and, for most years, the overall total has to be adjusted to make up for the missing figures.
But the general trend is a downward one. In the 1990s, the October count averaged around 60,000.
According to the 2015 October count, the largest weekend congregation in Hawaii is by far St. Joseph in Waipahu at 3,876, although it is down from the 2012 figure of 4,798. The second largest group of worshippers, 2,351, go to the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in downtown Honolulu. Most Hawaii parishes don’t come close to these numbers.
To obtain the October count, ushers or other volunteers count the number of people attending the Saturday vigil Mass and Sunday Masses on each weekend in October. Adults and children 12 and under are counted separately and then added together for a total.
The final count is the average of all the weekends. The weekend totals are added together and then divided by the number of weekends. The resulting average is the “October count” submitted to the diocese for its records.
October is chosen because it is considered a neutral month, least affected by vacations and high-attendance feasts like Christmas and Easter. However, October has its own variables, like football season. It is also a slower month for tourist-oriented parishes.
The October count is the only systematic diocese-wide computation of regular active Catholic participation.
