January 2026
The
COURIER
Official Newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Winona-Rochester, MN | dowr.org
Christmas by Candlelight Annual Mass Count
Reflecting on the Results of the
Pacelli Students Perform in Statewide Catholic School Concert
By FR. WILL THOMPSON
�
Submitted by NICHOLAS MCGRATH
�n Thursday, December 4, students in the Junior
High School Choir from Pacelli Catholic Schools in Austin were invited by Catholic Schools Center of Excellence (CSCOE) to partake in the inaugural Christmas by Candlelight event hosted at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. The Christmas by Candlelight event included nine
choirs, all from Catholic Schools in Minnesota that had been selected in advance to participate in the concert. The concert is structured as a “Lessons and Carols” concert, popular in the UK. The Lessons and Carols concert features nine readings from scripture that illustrate God’s love and promise to his chosen people. The carols that follow each of the lessons are meant to prepare our hearts for Jesus’s coming at Christmas.
Concert, cont'd on pg. 12
very October, the Diocese of Winona-Rochester joins with the other dioceses in the United States in one of our primary practices to solicit data: the annual Mass count. About 25 years ago, the bishops on the United States decided that it would be helpful to have a metric that would help gauge the life and health of a diocese from year to year. October was selected as the best month to do this, despite legitimate concerns of the fall harvest. The month of October provides greater stability than nearly any other month: it avoids the impacts of winter weather and summer travel, and it avoids the variability of the date of Easter. Each of these factors could cause the data collected to vary widely from place to place within the diocese, or lead to even lower totals of Mass attendees (as attested by several parishes who count Mass attendees every week). While there are some legitimate concerns that the month of October is selected, using the same month every year provides for a consistent metric year over year regarding the practice of the faith within our diocese. When considering the trends within our diocese, it is worth noting national trends as well. For example, a Gallup Poll was released on November 13, 2025. This Poll showed that only 49% of US adults say religion is essential to their daily life, a decrease from 66% in 2015. A record 29% of Americans now identify as unaffiliated. 62% of Americans identify as Christian (down from 78%
Mass Count, cont'd on pg. 11
INSIDE this issue
The Family That Prays Together...
Post-Synodal Exhortation page 6
Special Insert
Setting Our Focus for the Year Ahead page 14