2025 Survey Report: Trust, Practice, and Renewal in the Catholic Church After Two Decades
Decades
Dear Friends,
As Leadership Roundtable marks its 20th year, we pause to reflect on both how far we’ve come and the work still ahead. Understanding who U.S. Catholics are and what they believe is vital as we work to chart an effective course towards the Church’s renewal. It was with that aim that, this summer, we surveyed more than 3,000 Catholics with a goal to collect vital information on Catholics that could help leaders address existing problems and build upon the strengths that have emerged in recent years. In this report, titled “Trust, Practice, and Renewal in the Catholic Church After Two Decades,” we present the findings of this national survey of U.S. Catholics and offer a sober yet hopeful portrait of a Church in transition— one that has made great strides toward transparency and accountability, yet still bears the wounds of a generation-defining abuse crisis.
Founded in the wake of that crisis, Leadership Roundtable has remained committed to a single vision: building a leadership culture of transparency, accountability, and co-responsibility. For 20 years, this conviction has guided our work—equipping leaders with the tools, formation, and trusted counsel needed to restore confidence and strengthen the institutions that sustain communities throughout the nation.
This 2025 national survey, conducted in partnership with Zogby Strategies, reveals a resilient U.S. Catholic Church, a community that continues to trust its local parishes and pastors, even as many remain cautious toward the institutional Church. It highlights a generation of young adults whose engagement is strong, but fragile. At the same time, Catholics across generations and ideological perspectives are united in their desire for Church leadership they can trust. It confirms what we have long believed— that transparency, accountability, and inclusion of lay expertise are not nominal ideals, but essential for enduring renewal.
May these insights inspire both hope and zeal for the work ahead. With your partnership, we are confident the Church in the United States can not only continue to recover, but renew and strengthen its witness in the lives of the faithful and the communities they serve.
In gratitude,
Kathleen Porter-Magee
Elizabeth McCaul Joseph Regan MANAGING PARTNER BOARD CO - CHAIR BOARD CO - CHAIR
Leadership Roundtable 2025 SURVEY REPORT: Trust, Practice, and Renewal in the Catholic Church After Two Decades
Understanding who U.S. Catholics are and what they believe is vital as we chart an effective course towards the Church’s renewal. It is in that frame, that we present this new report and its findings. In the pages that follow, we will share key facts, new insights, and thought-provoking patterns gathered from a comprehensive survey of Catholics from all walks of life and geographic regions in the United States.
The significance of this survey at this moment emerges when we consider it in the context of the last 20 years and the history of the Catholic Church. The U.S. Catholic Church has long distinguished itself by a faith lived not only through the sacraments and prayer, but through institutions that build, support, and strengthen communities.
The level of trust the U.S. Catholic Church enjoyed before the Boston Globe’s 2002 “Spotlight” project first brought the crisis of sexual abuse to national attention, was generally built on a foundation of ministry, community support, and faith. However, the revelations of abuse and of the cover-up by Church leadership shattered that trust. The effects of the unprecedented crisis reached into every diocese in the U.S. and to the highest levels of leadership. The abuse and its cover-up gravely wounded the Church’s witness, leading to a deep loss of trust and participation over the past two decades. In 2002, Gallup reported that trust in the Church fell 45% in the immediate aftermath of the revelation. The reckoning that followed has bankrupted over 40 dioceses, and to date, the U.S. Church has paid more than $5.1 billion to victims. Furthermore, millions of Americans have abandoned the faith. In 2001, 65 million Americans identified as Catholic. Today, only about 50 million remain affiliated.
For countless Catholics, the crisis was a moment of profound grief, betrayal, and disillusionment. For others, including our founders at Leadership Roundtable, it was a catalyst to act.
The abuse crisis elucidated a clerical culture where Church decision-making largely happened behind closed doors, with stakeholders afforded little, if any, input or notice. It was this very culture that allowed abusers to operate unchecked, and leadership to prioritize protecting the institution through cover-up over the vulnerable persons in its care. At the same time, the Church remained a vital institution in the fabric of America, serving millions each
year with access to food, shelter, clothing, education, disaster relief, and other essential services. Yet the crisis revealed that this vitality could not be sustained without systemic change. If the Church was to regain credibility, restore trust, and live out its mission with integrity, it needed to change how it operated. Specifically, it would need to trade clericalism for co-responsibility—the inclusion of lay expertise in leadership alongside religious and clergy—and cover-up for transparency and accountability.
Leadership Roundtable was founded with a bold vision to unite lay, religious, and ordained leaders around the belief that recovery and healing from these crises required not only pastoral and spiritual responses, but also strong, transparent, and accountable governance that was welcoming and inclusive of lay expertise. Our founders recognized the value of applying best practices from secular institutions to Church operations. They understood two things: first, that the institutional Church is vital to the life of millions of Americans. Second, that running Church institutions effectively, efficiently, and with transparency was key to restoring trust and advancing the Church’s mission with greater impact. To that end, we have championed co-responsibility in leadership and supported leaders to implement proven practices in management, finance, human resources, and communications across all sectors of the Church.
Leadership Roundtable was founded with a bold vision to unite lay, religious, and ordained leaders
healing
around the belief that recovery and
from these
crises required not only pastoral and spiritual responses, but also strong, transparent, and accountable governance.
The Dallas Charter as Reform in Action
The most consequential response to the abuse crisis by the U.S. bishops was the creation of the “Dallas Charter” for the Protection of Children and Young People, first adopted in 2002 and subsequently updated in 2005, 2011, and 2018. The new policies outlined by the Charter required dioceses to report all abuse allegations to civil authorities, instituted a policy of zero tolerance for priests and deacons with credible allegations, and mandated safe-environment training for clergy, employees, and volunteers. It also required the establishment of lay-majority
review boards in every diocese to advise bishops on handling allegations. It created an Office of Child and Youth Protection at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, setting in motion a system of annual audits and public reporting.
In many ways, the Charter embodied the very values that Leadership Roundtable advanced. In the years that followed, the adoption of the Charter and subsequent directives from Pope Francis in his motu proprio Vos Estis Lux Mundi (“You are the Light of the World”), helped institute new worldwide procedures for holding bishops and religious superiors accountable for both abuse and negligence in handling abuse reports. Collectively, these actions have helped to demonstrate that accountability could be institutionalized, that clericalism—a culture of insularity and self-protection that enshrines operations and decision-making solely in the hands of clerics—could be checked by involving the laity in leadership and decision-making, and that transparency was not only possible but necessary. The Charter became a concrete example that the Church, when pressed by crisis, could adapt its structures.1
In the years following 2002, the Charter began to catalyze a necessary shift from secrecy to accountability. Safe environment training and background checks became standard. Lay-majority review boards brought new perspectives and broke barriers of secrecy. Voluntary annual audits institutionalized outside verification and sent a message that credibility depended on openness. These steps not only reduced new cases of abuse, they began to model a broader truth that co-responsibility, rather than clericalism, is the pathway to integrity.
Over the past two decades, a culture of co-responsibility has begun to take root in many parts of the Church. Lay leaders now increasingly serve in senior roles in dioceses and parishes across the U.S. The language of accountability and transparency, once resisted in ecclesial circles, is now part of
the conversation.
1 Without minimizing the critical need for accountability and transparency, it’s important to note that the fear of being falsely accused has been detrimental to priests’ relationship with their bishops. For a further understanding, see “Well-being, Trust, and Policy in a Time of Crisis: Highlights from the National Study of Catholic Priests,” The Catholic University of America, October 2022.
A Culture of Co-Responsibility
Over the past two decades, a culture of co-responsibility has begun to take root in many parts of the Church. Lay leaders increasingly serve in senior roles in dioceses across the U.S. Thanks to the work of the Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference (DFMC), the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and other organizations, financial transparency is increasingly expected. Strategic planning and leadership development are more common. The language of accountability and transparency, once resisted in ecclesial circles, is now part of the conversation.
Yet, there is more work to be done, both to ensure we don’t lose the progress that has been made to date and to ensure we work continually towards improvement. This is particularly important given that, in the last 20 years, overall participation in parish life in the United States has continued to decline. Financial pressures continue or have increased, particularly as dioceses address legal settlements from abuse cases.2 Further, leadership transitions are accelerating. At the start of this year, about 52 dioceses faced the prospect of new bishops in the coming years, as 60 bishops were at or near the age of retirement.
In this context, the work of Leadership Roundtable remains urgent. The progress of the past 20 years shows that reform, while at times painful, is possible when transparency and accountability are embraced. The task now is to deepen and extend that culture of co-responsibility across the institution to bring about a renewal of the Church.
Introducing the 2025 National Survey of U.S. Catholics
In 2025, Leadership Roundtable partnered with John Zogby Strategies to conduct a new national survey of U.S. Catholics, with a goal to collect vital information on Catholics that could help leaders address remaining problems and build upon the new strengths that have emerged. Building on earlier surveys conducted in the aftermath of the 2002 crisis, this study provides an updated, representative picture of how Catholics today engage with the Church, the degree of trust Catholics have in the institutional Church and its leadership, and the critical points where Catholics unite and diverge from one another.
The following report reveals several important findings. First, that engagement among self-identified Catholics is strong, particularly among young adults. Second, that the work the Church has done to restore trust has begun to take root. Next, that even in the midst of widespread polarization, when it comes to core priorities, we are more united than divided. Finally, that opportunities exist for leaders to continue forming a strong, engaged, and faithful Church in the U.S.
2 For a comprehensive overview of diocesan bankruptcy cases related to clergy sexual abuse, see Catholic Dioceses in Bankruptcy, Penn State Dickinson Law, Access to Justice Project, available at https://insight.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/bankruptcy/. The source documents the more than forty dioceses and religious orders that have filed for Chapter 11 protection in response to clergy abuse settlements since the early 2000s.
From 2003 to 2025: Two Decades of Transformation
In 2003, before Leadership Roundtable incorporated as a nonprofit organization, our founder, Geoffrey T. Boisi, partnered with the Zogby polling company to survey U.S. Catholics in an effort to understand the immediate impacts of the still unfolding sexual abuse scandal within the U.S. Catholic Church. The 2003 survey revealed early signs of the eroding trust that would ultimately contribute to a crisis of disengagement and helped inform the need for, and the work of, Leadership Roundtable, which incorporated just two years later.
In particular, respondents in the 2003 survey indicated that while they maintained high confidence in bishops as doctrinal authorities (70% positive), they expressed low confidence in them as when it came to listening to American Catholics or parish priests (44% positive).
This distinction between upholding doctrine and listening was also evident in the call to action coming from the faithful for more accountability in the face of abuse and cover-up. A total of 82% of respondents felt in 2003 that bishops should resign if they had been found to cover up abuse, and 92% felt that priests who had been convicted of abuse should spend time in jail.
Despite strong convictions around individual accountability for Church leaders implicated in the crisis, respondents were mixed on the need for institutionalized change to drive recovery and renewal. In 2003, respondents had just begun to connect the effects of clericalism on operational practices that allowed abuse to flourish. At the time, 69% said that clergy-only decision-making was a major concern. Since 2003, as Catholics learned the extent of both the abuse and its cover-up, the push for greater co-responsibility has only grown.
At the time of the 2003 survey, the fallout of the sexual abuse scandal hadn’t been fully realized, and nearly two-thirds of respondents (63%) reported attending Mass weekly or more. Today, driven by a host of factors including the loss in trust, the number of Catholics in the United States has dropped by more than 15 million, and engagement among those that remain is at an all-time low. Our 2025 survey indicates that just 38% of U.S. Catholics attend Mass at least weekly—a significant decline in just two decades.
Our 2025 survey indicates that just 38% of U.S. Catholics attend Mass at least weekly—a significant decline in just two decades.
The 2025 National Survey of U.S. Catholics
As Leadership Roundtable marks our 20th Anniversary, we decided the time was ripe to conduct a survey and gain an updated, representative picture of how Catholics today engage with the Church, what level of trust they hold in the institutional Church and its leadership, and where they unite and diverge from one another.
The new survey captures the voices of Catholics across generations, geographies, and diverse backgrounds. It sheds light on where trust has been rebuilt, where wounds remain, and where Catholics see hope for the future.
Because the 2003 survey was conducted at a particular point in time—just after the Boston scandal was first revealed and the adoption of the Dallas Charter—we made substantial updates to the 2025 survey. Rather than focusing on questions about policies that might benefit the Church, we aimed to assess progress over the last 20 years in terms of overall engagement and trust, as well as to understand where Catholics align and diverge ideologically, and how regional factors play a part.
To that end, the 2025 survey included 72 questions that focus on understanding U.S. Catholic engagement in their parish life—investigating how deeply they trust their parishes, their pastors, and the Church as an institution when it comes to protecting the vulnerable, assessing whether they trust their parishes to be good stewards of financial resources, whether they feel lay voices are present in decision-making, and how effectively the Church is engaging the youth. Because we were able to more than double the sample size, the data can be disaggregated not only by race and socioeconomic status, but also by the 14 geographic regions defined by the USCCB. That means, for the first time, we will be able to see how regionality impacts efforts for restoring trust and rebuilding strong, engaged, and faithful Catholic communities. A full report with regional analysis will be released next year.
For our analysis, we divided respondents into three categories based on responses: the Faithful, the Occasional, and the Disengaged. The Faithful include 51% (1,541) of respondents who self-report attending Mass daily, weekly, or monthly. The Occasional represent the 16% (472) who attend Mass at least a few times per year. The disengaged include the 33% (1,020) who attend Mass “seldom” or “never.” The full suite of 72 questions was asked of both The Faithful and The Occasional, but The Disengaged received a shorter survey that included questions aimed at understanding why they have disengaged and what the Church can do to bring them back.
A survey of this size can sometimes provide more data points than can be easily understood or acted upon. To that end, we have elevated the most interesting insights in this Executive Summary, to make sure they didn’t get lost, while also providing the full results for those who want to dig deeper.
Methodology
Leadership Roundtable commissioned leading polling firm John Zogby Strategies to conduct a comprehensive nationwide poll of Roman Catholics. The survey was designed to ensure proper representation across the 14 geographical regions identified by the USCCB, as well as to capture Catholics with various levels of participation in Church and liturgical matters, and diverse demographic backgrounds. The poll surveyed 3,033 Roman Catholics in the continental U.S. It did not include individuals who are part of the various Eastern Catholic Churches and eparchies. The survey was conducted online between July 10-12, 2025 and has an overall sampling margin of error of ±1.8 percentage points. Participants were drawn from a national panel totaling approximately 15 million U.S. adults. Secure invitations were sent to random batches of the general population through a combination of APIs, emails, and text-to-web methods. All participants were screened to confirm their identification as Roman Catholic.
To ensure the sample accurately reflected the broader Catholic population, weights were applied to the data based on education and race. The survey responses regarding Mass attendance identified three major subsets of respondents: The Faithful (1,541 respondents who attend Mass at least monthly), The Occasional (472 respondents who attend Mass a few times a year), and The Disengaged (1,021 respondents who seldom or never attend Mass), which were used to analyze the data in the report. All participants identified as Roman Catholic regardless of their attendance patterns.
Where relevant, the current findings are compared with results from a previous poll of 1,004 Roman Catholics commissioned by the founder of Leadership Roundtable in July 2003. Due to rounding, percentages reported throughout this analysis may not sum to exactly 100%.
Top-Line Findings and Key Takeaways
Results from this survey reveal an institution at a critical juncture. While the U.S. Catholic Church has experienced dramatic overall decline since 2003, an unexpected resurgence of young adult engagement offers hope. The data suggest that transparency, accountability, and co-responsibility are not peripheral concerns but central prerequisites for institutional vitality, with direct consequences for financial support, long-term retention, and the Church’s ability to form the next generation of believers.
THE TRUST GAP: LOCAL CONFIDENCE, INSTITUTIONAL DOUBT
Data from this survey consistently reveal that Catholics trust their local parishes—including the pastor, clergy, staff, and volunteers—more than they trust the institutional Church.
FIGURE 1
Trust in Local Parish Leaders
Trust pastor/clergy to protect children
(percent agree/strongly agree)
Trust parish staff/volunteers to protect children
Pastor is open to feedback
Pastor actively seeks new volunteers for our parish and finance councils
More than three-quarters of Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times per year (77%) trust their pastor and clergy to protect children and vulnerable populations, and a similar proportion (79%) trust parish staff and volunteers. Eighty-two percent describe their pastor as open to feedback. Seventy-three percent believe their pastor actively seeks volunteers for parish and finance councils, and similar majorities believe their pastor values lay expertise and works to increase lay involvement.
This confidence wanes as the lens widens. Only 60% believe their diocese communicates with transparency about abuse allegations—meaning four-in-ten respondents are either unsure or actively disagree that the diocese communicates with transparency about allegations of abuse. Fewer than half (47%) agree that U.S. Bishops “lead with financial transparency” and 45% worry that, when they give to the Church, donations will be used to pay legal fees and/or abuse settlements. Similarly, just 49% rate the U.S. Bishops highly when it comes to “involving the laity in solving pressing issues facing the Church.”
These findings reveal a consistent pattern where the institutional Church scores lower than local parishes across virtually every trust measure, creating a troubling bifurcation in Catholic experience: one view of the Church at home, another at the diocesan and national level.
FIGURE 2
Trust
in
Bishops
and Diocesan Leaders (percent agree/strongly agree)
When I give to the Church, I worry it will be used to pay legal fees/settlements
Diocese communicates transparently on abuse
U.S. Bishops lead with financial transparency (rated 4-5)
U.S. Bishops involving the laity in solving pressing issues facing the Church
Even more worrisome, this trust deficit persists when it comes to whether the Church can be trusted to protect the most vulnerable. A majority of Catholics (53%) believe abusers remain active and protected within the clergy, and nearly one-in-four (24%) do not believe that abuse allegations have declined since 2002. This level of suspicion and worry persists in spite of the fact that credible allegations of abuse have dropped to zero in 77% of U.S. dioceses and eparchies and despite two decades of reform aimed at addressing the systemic institutional failures that contributed to the abuse crisis.3 1
This local-institutional divide is not unique. We see this pattern in other areas like public schools, where people have historically rated the overall quality of public education much lower than they rate their own community public schools. However, it does suggest that trust requires relationship, visibility, and accountability at a human scale. In this survey, Catholics demonstrated stronger levels of trust in their pastor, whom they see and interact with more regularly, than with Church hierarchy—their bishop and dioceses—where interactions are likely less frequent, more distant, and more formal.
FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY AND INSTITUTIONAL TRUST
Among Catholics who attend Mass at least occasionally, 58% give to their parish at least annually, which means that 42% of Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times a year rarely or never contribute to their parish. Among those who don’t give, 39% cite lack of financial transparency as the reason. This suggests not a shortage of resources or generosity, but a crisis of confidence.
3 According to the 2024 Annual Report on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), credible allegations of abuse were reported as
in 77% of dioceses and eparchies in the United States. See USCCB, 2024 Annual Report on the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (Washington, D.C.: USCCB Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, 2024), available at https://www.usccb.org/resources/2024%20CYP%20Annual%20Report%20 (Digital).pdf
Among those who do give regularly, 61% report they would give more if the Church demonstrated greater financial transparency. This figure rises to 75% among young adults 18-29 and 30-44, which suggests that a commitment to financial transparency could help boost financial support now and in the future.
The fragility of current support is equally clear, as nearly three-in-four (72%) regular givers said they would reduce their contributions if they learned of scandal at their parish or diocese. This suggests that trust, once broken, carries immediate financial consequences.
When it comes to the importance of transparency, accountability, and co-responsibility, Catholics across age groups and ideologies are united.
When asked whether they worry donations will be used for legal fees and settlements related to abuse cases, Catholics divide almost exactly in half: 45% worry, 44% do not, which suggests deep ambivalence about whether the Church prioritizes ministry or liability management.
These patterns vary meaningfully by ideology, with 60% of self-identified “very conservative” Catholics reporting confidence that donations are used wisely compared to just 46% of “progressive” Catholics—a 14-percentagepoint gap that may reflect broader questions about institutional priorities and alignment. Yet across all ideological positions, majorities support greater transparency, suggesting how the Church uses the gifts it receives isn’t a partisan issue but a universal prerequisite for sustained support.
THE CO - RESPONSIBILITY MANDATE
When it comes to the importance of transparency, accountability, and co-responsibility, Catholics across age groups and ideology are united: “Building a transparent and accountable leadership culture” ranked high across all age groups as a top priority for the future of the Church. Forty-five percent rated it as extremely important— the highest possible rating—and 77% placed it among their top two priorities. No other issue commanded such consensus across all questions.
This priority surpassed even “raising younger generations in the faith” (44% rating it extremely important), “investing in serving the poor” (41%), or “adherence to Church doctrine and tradition” (34%).
Priorities for the Future of the Catholic Church
PRIORITY RANKED
Serving the poor
Raising younger generations Parish engagement
Leadership diversity
Similarly, 78% agree that elevating lay leaders through parish and finance councils is essential to restoring trust and rebuilding thriving communities—support that spans all ages and ideological positions, from 76% of young adults (ages 18-29) to 82% of those over 65. The mandate for co-responsibility doesn’t represent a factional demand, but suggests a broadly shared conviction that the Church needs collaboration between laity, clergy, and religious for healing and renewal.
THE YOUNG ADULT PARADOX: MAXIMUM ENGAGEMENT, MINIMUM TRUST
Our survey results point to an interesting—and perhaps counterintuitive—finding. While 18-29 year-olds are the smallest cohort in our sample, they are by far the most engaged in the Church. They are more likely than any other age group to attend Mass daily, weekly, or monthly, are far more likely to engage in parish activities beyond Mass, and are more likely to go to Confession, to engage in Eucharistic Adoration, to attend social events, and more.
2025 Mass Attendance: Total
FIGURE 6
2025 Mass Attendance: (by age)
These findings are particularly interesting, because they reveal an engagement reversal between 2003 and 2025. Specifically, in 2003, weekly Mass attendance increased with age, with far fewer 18-29 year-olds attending daily or weekly Mass and slightly fewer attending Mass at least monthly or a few times per year when compared with other age groups.
In contrast, our 2025 survey reveals that Mass attendance decreases with age, with 45% of respondents aged 65+ attending Mass “seldom” or “never” and just 16% of respondents ages 18-29. On the flip side, nearly two-thirds (65%) of young adults attend Mass at least monthly, compared with a majority (60%) of 30-44 year-olds, 43% of 45-64 year-olds, and 42% of adults 65 and older.
FIGURE 7
2003 Mass Attendance: (by age)
2003
vs 2025 Mass Attendance (by age)
Of course, survey results do not allow us to draw causal arrows, so we do not know whether this flip is due to the fact that yesterday’s disengaged youth have become today’s disengaged older adults, or whether, among young adults who do identify with the Church, there is a resurgence of engagement. But one fact is clear: Church leaders should be taking time to consider how best to cultivate engagement where and how it is present so that they can maintain it in the short-term, and build on it over time.
Either way, this pattern of young adult engagement aligns with other recent research including from the Barna Group,2 which showed “younger adults—Gen Z and Millennials—are now the most regular churchgoers, outpacing older generations, who once formed the backbone of church attendance.”
Of the self-identified, highly-engaged young adults, 33% said that they “often think about leaving the Church”— nearly five times the rate of Catholics older than age 65. Among 30-44 year-olds, the figure climbs to 37%. The generations participating most actively are simultaneously those most likely to think about leaving the Church.
I often think about leaving the Catholic Church. (by age)
4 4 2
Further, when asked why they consider leaving, the most common response from young adults (36%) was that “the Church’s position on certain issues does not align with my values.” This was followed by 17% who indicated “I don’t feel like I have a place in the Church or my local parish” and 15% who indicated “the Church is in too much crisis or scandal.”
These findings suggest that, while young adults are drawn to, and engaged in, parish life, the support among these highly-engaged young Catholics is fragile.
THE DISENGAGED AND WHAT THEY REVEAL
Like other surveys conducted in the past several years, our survey reveals that the core of highly-engaged Catholics in the U.S. has declined dramatically. Of the 3,033 respondents to this survey, one-third (33%, 1,020 respondents) attend Mass “seldom” or “never.” In contrast, our 2003 survey showed that just 13% of respondents attended Mass “seldom” or “never,” a more than three-fold increase in disengagement among self-identified Catholics in the span of 22 years.
To better understand the implications of those who do not attend Mass, our survey specifically posed a question to the subset of disengaged Catholics as to what can be done to bring them back. Notably, a plurality (43%) said they were “not sure” what it would take. Among the other responses, 20% said "nothing can be done" to bring them back.
However, when the results are disaggregated by age, a very different story is revealed. Specifically, among young
FIGURE 10
would make you return to the Church? (by age)
Feeling I was welcomed
Ministries that connect to me and/ or my family
More openness and transparency from the Church leadership
adults who do not attend Mass, 21% said “feeling I was welcomed” and 22% said “ministries that connect to me and/or my family” could bring them back. Together, nearly half (43%) of young adults in this subset were willing to consider avenues to greater engagement. What’s more, while 20% of the total subset said “nothing can be done," only 6% of young adults said the same.
In contrast, across all other age groups, between 19% and 24% said “nothing can be done.”
In addition to asking what might draw someone back to the Church, this survey asked respondents how often they think about leaving the Church. Among the two-thirds of respondents who attend Mass at least a few times a year, one-quarter are at risk of disengagement, indicating that they “often think about leaving the Church.” Even more worrisome, the proportion of adults ages 18-29 (33%) and those 30-44 (37%) who “often think about leaving the Church” is significantly higher than adults ages 45-64 (19%) and 65+ (7%). As noted previously, these findings suggest that current engagement may be tenuous, among all generations, and that Church leaders should not take any participation in the Church for granted.
OPPORTUNITIES IN YOUTH FORMATION & ENGAGEMENT IN SACRAMENTAL AND PARISH LIFE
Among parents who attend Mass at least occasionally, two-thirds (66%) report their children are baptized and fully engaged in age-appropriate sacramental preparation. That leaves one-third whose children are either unbaptized (6%) or baptized but not progressing through the sacraments (28%).
Yet, 76% of Catholic families who attend Mass at least a few times per year have their children engaged in some parish activity, be it Catholic schools, youth sports, religious education, or youth groups. This reveals a tenpercentage-point gap between the number of Catholic families whose children are baptized and fully engaged in the sacraments and those who engage in activities without fully embracing sacramental life.
The interaction between trust and youth formation becomes particularly visible among the 22% of Catholic families who send their children to Catholic schools yet haven’t fully engaged them in sacramental preparation. This represents substantial unrealized potential: families already present, already invested, already building relationships, who may be poised to engage more deeply in parish and sacramental life.
Perceptions of Catholic school quality add another dimension to trust concerns. Only 53% of Catholics whose parish has a school view their parish school as thriving academically and spiritually—the lowest rating among all youth formation activities. Given the substantial investment Catholic school requires, this tepid assessment suggests quality concerns or questions about whether schools deliver on their promise.
Conclusion: The Church at a Crossroads
Twenty-two years after the Boston Globe’s “Spotlight” investigation exposed the depths of the abuse crisis, the U.S. Catholic Church stands at a pivotal moment. The data from this survey reveal an institution that has made meaningful progress in some areas while facing persistent challenges in others. Most significantly, they reveal a Church the future of which depends not on incremental adjustments, but on accelerating the cultural transformation toward transparency, accountability, and co-responsibility that began with the Dallas Charter and that our most engaged parishioners demand.
Introduction
This report is organized into six thematic sections, each exploring a different dimension of Catholic life in America today:
1. Accountability and Co-Responsibility
2. Trust in Church Institutions and Leaders
3. Lay Leadership and Parish Governance
4. Mass Attendance and Community Engagement
5. Insights from Disengaged Catholics
6. Youth Formation and Ministry
Together, these sections paint a detailed picture of both the opportunities and challenges facing Church leaders working to build a thriving, engaged Catholic community for the future.
This analysis begins by examining U.S. Catholics’ continued desire for greater accountability, transparency, and co-responsibility in Church leadership, revealing that building a transparent and accountable leadership culture remains the top priority across all age groups. From there, the report explores the current state of trust in the institutional Church, assessing whether Catholics trust Church leaders to protect the vulnerable, serve as good financial stewards, and lead effectively compared with other American institutions.
The report then turns to questions of co-responsibility and lay leadership, investigating Catholics’ perceptions of how effectively the Church involves laypeople in decision-making and parish governance. This is followed by an analysis of patterns in Mass attendance and community engagement, which reveals a dramatic generational shift: younger Catholics are now the most engaged in parish life—a complete reversal from patterns observed in 2003.
The fifth section focuses on learning from disengaged Catholics, exploring what might bring them back to the Church and understanding the motivations of those who have drifted away. Finally, the report examines youth formation and engagement, assessing participation in Catholic education, religious education, and youth ministry programs, and evaluating perceptions of the quality of these offerings.
THEMATIC DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS
SECTION 1:
Accountability and Co-Responsibility
This survey asked a number of questions that focused on trust and two questions that assessed the importance of strengthening the leadership culture of the Church.
First, the survey asked respondents to rate on a scale of 1 to 5—with 5 being the most important—how important they felt the following issues are to the future of the Church:
• Raising younger generations in the faith, i.e., through faith formation in religious education, Catholic schools
• Investing financially in serving the poor and those in need in the community
• Adherence to Church doctrine and tradition
• Engaging more individuals and families in parish life
• Ensuring Church leaders including lay, religious, and ordained represent the ethnic and cultural diversity of the faithful in America
• Building a transparent and accountable leadership culture in the Church
• Addressing rates of non-engagement in the Church among young people
Importantly, across all age groups, “building a transparent and accountable leadership culture in the Church” was the top priority, with more than three-fourths (77%) of respondents in each age group rating this as a 4-5 out of 5 in terms of importance and nearly half (45%) rating it a 5 out of 5.
Interestingly, however, there was significant variation within this question in terms of just how important transparency and accountability are to the future of the Church, with 55% of respondents ages 65 and older rating this as extremely important compared with just 40% of respondents ages 18-29. This suggests that younger Catholics—most of whom came of age after 2002, during the time when the Church was actively working to address the sexual abuse crisis—do not value transparency and accountability as much as older Catholics.
11
Priorities for the Future of the Catholic Church
How important is each of the following to you when thinking about the future of the Catholic Church?
Building a transparent and accountable leadership culture in the Church
Raising younger generations in the faith, i.e., through faith formation in religious education, Catholic schools, and parish life
Investing financially in serving the poor and those in need in the community
Engaging more individuals and families in parish life
Ensuring Church leaders including lay, religious, and ordained represent the ethnic and cultural diversity of the faithful in America
A close second and third priority among Catholics across all ages is “raising younger generations in the faith” and “investing in serving the poor and those in need,” respectively.
CATHOLICS VALUE GREATER LAY LEADERSHIP IN THEIR PARISHES
We asked respondents whether elevating “lay leaders in parishes and dioceses through parish pastoral councils, finance councils, etc., is essential to restoring trust and rebuilding parish communities.” Here again, there was strong and broad agreement, with 78% of respondents agreeing that this is critically important to the future of the Church. This finding was equally strong across all age groups, ranging from 76% of 18-29 year-olds who agreed, to 82% of respondents ages 65 and older.
FIGURE 13
I believe that elevating lay leaders in parishes and dioceses through parish pastoral councils, finance councils, etc., is essential to restoring trust and rebuilding thriving parish communities.
Yet structural gaps exist between stated support for lay involvement and operational reality. While 73% say their pastor actively seeks council volunteers, one-in-four (25%) are unaware of the process by which council members are selected and volunteers are solicited. This suggests that there is more work to do to raise awareness and actively solicit broad and new lay leadership and volunteers for parish ministries.
SECTION 2:
Trust in Church Institutions and Leaders
The widespread abuse within the Catholic Church and institutional cover-up shattered the trust U.S. Catholics had in the Church and clergy. This survey sought to understand how much, if any, of the trust that was lost has been rebuilt in the 23 years since news of the crisis first emerged.
To that end, this survey examined, in depth, whether and to what degree U.S. Catholics today trust their pastor, parish, and diocese.
We asked questions across three categories:
1. The extent to which U.S. Catholics trust the Church to protect the youth and vulnerable communities from abuse, including whether they believe that abuse and cover-up are still a problem
2. Whether U.S. Catholics trust the Church to be a good steward of financial resources
3. How trustworthy they felt the Church is when compared with other U.S. institutions
The results reveal a solid foundation of trust, but with strong indicators that suggest the Church has not fully recovered the trust lost from the sexual abuse crisis.
TRUSTING THE CHURCH TO PROTECT THE VULNERABLE
In order to assess how much, if any, progress the Church has made in restoring trust when it comes to protecting the youth and the most vulnerable, we asked the engaged respondents (those who attend Mass at least a few times per year) the following questions (level of agreement):
• I believe my diocese communicates with transparency on abuse allegations.
• I am aware of the steps my diocese and parish have taken to protect youth and address misconduct.
• I believe that allegations of abuse have been decreasing since 2002.
• I trust my pastor and other clergy at my parish to protect children and vulnerable populations.
• I trust the staff and volunteers at my parish to protect children and vulnerable populations.
• I believe abusers are still active and protected within the clergy.
Overall, responses showed strong levels of trust, but with some important caveats.
For starters, more than three-quarters of engaged Catholics trust their pastor and clergy (77%) and parish staff and volunteers (79%)to protect children and vulnerable populations, showing strong trust in local leaders.
FIGURE 14
Trust in parish leaders to protect children and vulnerable populations
Unfortunately, there is evidence that the strong local trust among engaged Catholics does not hold for leaders at the diocesan level, indicating that the institutional Church has not fully recovered trust lost since 2002.
15
First, just 60% of Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times a year agreed that “my diocese communicates with transparency on abuse allegations,” which means that 40% of Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times a year are either unsure (14%) if the diocese communicates transparency or simply do not believe (26%) that the diocese communicates transparently about abuse allegations.
I am aware of the steps my diocese and parish have taken to protect youth and address misconduct.
In spite of a divergence of trust between local and diocesan leaders, respondents do believe that progress has been made in curtailing abuse in the Church. Nearly two-thirds (63%) indicate that they are aware of the steps the diocese and parish have taken to protect the youth and address misconduct.
While 64% of Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times a year indicate that they are “aware of the steps [their] diocese and parish have taken to protect the youth and address misconduct,” 14% aren’t sure, and 23% indicate that they are not aware.
Given the extent to which the Church has worked to ensure that parishes and dioceses have adopted policies that protect the vulnerable since the Dallas Charter was adopted in 2002, the fact that more than one-third of all engaged Catholics remain unsure of these changes suggest there is more Church leaders need to do to communicate with the faithful the ways the Church is working to protect young people and vulnerable communities to regain trust.
Still, given that credible allegations of abuse have been reduced to zero in 77% of U.S. dioceses and eparchies in 2024 according to a report from the USCCB, the fact that only 60% of respondents agree that allegations of abuse are on the decline indicates that the wounds and distrust of the crisis continue to linger.
Yet, perhaps most worrisome of all, more than half (53%) of all respondents believe that abusers are still active and protected within the clergy.
FIGURE 18
I believe abusers are still active and protected within the clergy.
Agree
Disagree
Taken together, these findings indicate that stopping new cases of abuse alone is insufficient to restore trust in the Church. While 63% of parishioners report awareness of procedures for addressing misconduct, over half (53%) still believe that abusers remain active and protected within the clergy. Further, these data together point to a lack of trust in the efforts taken these past 20 years. However, the data also reveals the opportunity to continue to rebuild this trust. Building a culture of accountability, transparency, and co-responsibility is a top priority for 77% of U.S. Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times per year. Thus, leaders must not only communicate the steps taken to safeguard against abuse, but also demonstrate that transforming Church culture remains central to healing and renewal.
TRUST IN THE CHURCH TO BE A GOOD FINANCIAL STEWARD
Since news of the abuse crisis and leadership cover-up emerged in 2002, the U.S. Catholic Church has rightly faced a financial reckoning. To date, dioceses have paid out more than $5.1 billion in settlements to victims, which has contributed to the bankruptcy filings of more than 40 dioceses. Overall giving to parishes and dioceses has decreased substantially, in some estimates outpacing the billions paid out in abuse settlements.1
In order to assess how much work remains in rebuilding trust in the Church as a good steward of financial resources, we first asked engaged respondents (those who attend Mass at least a few times a year) to describe
1 See Nicolás Bottan & Ricardo Perez-Truglia, “Losing My Religion: The Effects of Religious Scandals on Religious Participation and Charitable Giving,” Cornell University Dept. of Policy Analysis and Management and UCLA/NBER, July 2015. Available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=1922950
their level of financial support of their parish. Then we asked their level of agreement with the following statements:
• When I give to the Church, I feel I can trust that my donation will be used wisely.
• I would give more if the Church was more financially transparent.
• I would give less if I learned of a scandal in my local parish or diocese.
• I don’t give to my local parish because there is very little financial transparency.
• When I give to the Church, I worry it will be used to pay legal fees/settlements.
Finally, we asked them to rate the effectiveness of the U.S. Bishops as a whole and the USCCB in general when it comes to leading with financial transparency.
Across this wide range of questions, results indicate strong levels of trust, tempered by continued worry and suspicion.
For starters, 58% of Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times a year give to their parish weekly, monthly, or annually. That means that 42% of Occasional Catholics rarely or never give to their parish.
FIGURE 19
Describe your financial support of your parish.
Of those who indicated that they give to their parish “rarely” or “never,” we followed up to understand why. Among that subgroup, nearly 40% indicated that they don’t give because they feel there is very little financial transparency—a result that was generally consistent across age groups.
These findings are consistent with results from those who give to their parishes at least once a year, 61% of whom indicated that they would give more if the Church was more financially transparent.
8 6 14 18
At the same time, respondents were nearly equally divided over whether they worried that their donations would be used to settle abuse cases—45% worry that donations will be used to pay legal fees and settlements, and 44% do not.
This divide is notable because it’s the only area where there is such a sharp division between those who agree and disagree—on every other question related to trust, a clear majority demonstrated strong trust in the Church.
FIGURE 22
When I give to the Church, I worry it will be used to pay legal fees/settlements.
14 13
Either way, nearly three-quarters (72%) of respondents who give at least annually agreed that they would give less if they learned of a scandal—a strong indication that the trust that exists in the Church’s financial stewardship is predicated on the assumption that the worst of the crisis is behind us.
FIGURE 23
I would give less if I learned of a scandal in my local parish or diocese.
17 16 22 21 80 79 67 62 4 5 11 18
One final point of difference is the way respondents answered questions asked about their parish or pastor—where overall trust is relatively high—versus questions about how the institutional Church, as measured by trust in the U.S. Bishops as a whole. When asked about the latter, fewer than 50% rated the U.S. Bishops highly in terms of leading with financial transparency.
FIGURE 24
Rate the effectiveness of the U.S. Bishops as a whole and the USCCB in general in leading with financial transparency.
These patterns track when disaggregated by age group, but, perhaps predictably, there are divisions in trust when some trust questions are disaggregated by ideology. For instance, there is a 16 percentage-point gap between selfidentified “very conservative” Catholics and self-identified “very progressive” Catholics in terms of whether they trust donations will be used wisely, with 46% of Catholics that self-identifying as very progressive and 62% of very conservative Catholics indicating that they trust donations are used wisely.
Trust in Use of Donations by Catholic Ideology (% Strongly Agree/Agree)
TRUSTING THE CHURCH COMPARED WITH OTHER U.S. INSTITUTIONS
In the past two decades, institutional trust has declined widely across American society, extending far beyond the Catholic Church. Trust in government institutions, the media, and political parties and systems has all diminished.2 Understanding how much trust U.S. Catholics place in the Church compared with other institutions therefore provides a relative measure of whether the Church has made progress in restoring trust.
To that end, this survey asked respondents “How trustworthy is the U.S. Catholic Church compared with the following major institutions,” including the national government, public and charter schools, hospitals or healthcare, local nonprofit institutions, the Boy and Girl Scouts—institutions which faced similar crises of abuse and similar public reckoning—police, and the military.
Interestingly, in every case, a majority of respondents trusted the Church more than each of these other institutions.
Specifically, three-quarters (nearly 76%) of respondents trust the Church more than the National Government, 71% trust the Church more than local public and charter schools, and roughly two-thirds trust the Church more than hospitals (68%), local nonprofits (66%), the Boy/Girl Scouts (65%), and the police (65%).
2 According to Gallup’s ongoing Confidence in Institutions survey (2002–2025), Americans’ confidence in major institutions—including government, the media, and political parties—has fallen sharply over the past two decades. See Gallup, Confidence in Institutions Poll, https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx
% reporting the Church is more trustworthy
SECTION 3:
Lay Leadership and Parish Governance
In order to gauge how important co-responsibility is to U.S. Catholics, and to assess the Church’s progress in building an accountable, transparent, co-responsible culture, we asked questions across four categories, including:
• Overall assessment of the importance of building a co-responsible Church
• Pastor/Clergy openness to lay leadership
• Overall engagement of the laity in Church leadership
• Overall assessments of how effectively lay leaders are used
OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPORTANCE OF CO - RESPONSIBILITY
Over the past two decades, several changes have been made—some of which have been explicitly codified in canon law—to require lay oversight and leadership as part of an effort to build transparency, accountability, and co-responsibility. In particular, canon law requires finance councils at the parochial level and diocesan levels to assist the pastor or bishop in the administration of goods. At the same time, the 2024 Final Document of the Synod on Synodality included a practical recommendation to make pastoral councils mandatory for every parish and to ensure these bodies are truly representative of parish members. The document also suggests revising canonical language that describes councils as merely “consultative,” calling for reforms that clarify decision-making responsibilities and strengthen accountability.
Results from this survey indicate that U.S. Catholics support these changes—and they suggest that opportunities still exist to do more to build a truly co-responsible culture. In a section above, we mention the fact that, across all age groups, respondents indicate that “building a transparent and accountable leadership culture” is a top priority. In addition, we asked respondents to indicate how strongly they believe that “elevating lay leaders in parishes and dioceses through parish councils, finance councils, etc., is essential to restoring trust and rebuilding thriving parish communities.” Nearly 8-in-10 respondents (78%) agreed that this is essential.
FIGURE 27
I believe that elevating lay leaders in parishes and dioceses through parish pastoral councils, finance councils, etc., is essential to restoring trust and rebuilding thriving parish communities.
In addition, nearly three-quarters (73%) of respondents believe that their pastor “actively seeks new volunteers for the parish and finance council” and 63 percent are “aware of the process by which new parish/finance council members are selected and how volunteers are solicited.”
FIGURE 28
My pastor actively seeks new volunteers for our parish and finance councils.
21 18 15 11 71 75 72 72 9 7 14 17
FIGURE 29
I am aware of the process by which new parish/finance council members are selected and how volunteers are solicited.
25 24 25 24 68 67 58 57 7 9 17 18
Only about 5% of parishioners participate in their parish council, and nearly one-fourth of Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times a year are not aware of leadership opportunities at their parish (22%) or their diocese (26%).
Interestingly, though, and in keeping with other findings in this survey, young adults are more likely to serve in these positions than older generations.
I am aware of
While local pastors and parishes are highly rated in their involvement of the laity, the institutional Church fares less well. Specifically, when asked to rate the effectiveness of the U.S. Bishops as a whole and the USCCB in general at “involving the laity in solving the most pressing issues facing the U.S. Catholic Church,” less than half (49%) gave the bishops a 4-5 out of 5.
Rate the effectiveness of the U.S. Bishops as a whole and the USCCB in general in involving the laity in solving the most pressing issues facing the U.S. Catholic Church.
This reflects a pattern we see throughout the survey, which is that respondents are more likely to trust or rate highly their own pastor and parish, but are more critical of the U.S. Church broadly.
OPENNESS TO LAY LEADERSHIP
In order to build a truly accountable and transparent Church, it’s essential for Church leaders to welcome diverse voices and build co-responsible decision-making structures—not just to tap the same trusted few who are the most highly engaged.
Fifty-nine percent of respondents disagreed with the idea that, in their parish, “the existing leadership is not welcoming to new voices.” That means that a clear majority sees their parish leadership as open and welcoming to new voices.
FIGURE 34
In my parish, the existing leadership is not welcoming to new voices.
55 51 61 73 38 43 29 16 8 6 10 11
Similarly, 82% of respondents agreed that their pastor and parish were open to feedback. Interestingly, however, respondents were split fairly evenly between “strongly” and “somewhat agree.” This pattern is unusual—more typically, there is a far greater percentage of respondents who “somewhat” than “strongly” agree, which may indicate that a greater number of respondents have strong positive feelings about their pastor and parish being open to feedback than other indicators.
FIGURE 35
My pastor and parish are open to feedback.
Similarly, nearly three-fourths (73%) of respondents agree that their “pastor is actively working to increase the involvement of the laity in church leadership and management, particularly as it relates to finance, operations, facilities,” and 76% agree that their pastor “sees the value and benefit of elevating lay leadership and leveraging lay expertise to help oversee critical financial, operational, and managerial aspects” of the parish.
FIGURE 36 11+ 1574 G
I believe that my pastor is actively working to increase the involvement of the laity in church leadership and management, particularly as it relates to finance, operations, facilities.
19 16 16 10 73 77 69 76 8 8 15 14
OVERALL ENGAGEMENT OF THE LAITY
Sixty-one percent of Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times a year feel they “have a voice in parish decisions that affect me and my family,” and 68% are aware of lay leadership positions and opportunities at the parish level and 62% at the diocesan level. When considering that more than 78% of engaged respondents felt lay involvement in Church leadership was important, this gap presents a significant and immediate opportunity for the Church to take actions to involve more lay Catholics in both parish and diocesan leadership.
FIGURE 37
I feel I have a voice in parish decisions that affect me and my family.
IMPRESSIONS OF CHURCH LEADERS’ INVOLVEMENT OF THE LAITY
When building a co-responsible culture, it’s essential to consider not only how to elevate lay leaders, but also how effectively leaders communicate with the entire community and their openness to diverse voices and viewpoints.
To assess whether U.S. Catholics feel their parishes, pastors, and dioceses communicate transparently, welcome feedback, and foster genuine participation, we asked them to rate their level of agreement on the following statements:
• My pastor uses parish communications to ensure parishioners are well-informed about important issues that affect our community and our faith.
• I feel well-informed by my pastor about key decisions that need to be made before they are made.
• I believe my parish finance council plays an active role in providing oversight and accountability for parish financial decisions.
• I am aware of the process by which new parish/finance council members are selected and how volunteers are solicited. 24 26 34 33 68 67 54 52 8 7 12 15
The findings suggest that engaged Catholics feel well-informed. Specifically, 83% agree that “My pastor uses parish communications (i.e., weekly bulletins, newsletters, social media, Mass announcements, etc.) to ensure parishioners are well-informed about important issues that affect our community and our faith” and 73% “feel well-informed by my pastor about key decisions that need to be made before they are made.” Similarly, three out of four respondents feel their parish pastoral council and parish finance council play an active role in decision-making.
The one relative low point is that less than 40 percent (38%) of Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times a year are “aware of the process by which new parish/finance council members are selected and how volunteers are solicited.” If our goal is to increase lay participation in Church oversight and governance and to elevate diverse lay leadership, more can be done to expand outreach for these key positions.
My pastor uses parish communications to ensure parishioners are well-informed about important issues that affect our community and our faith.
Agree
18 16 9 4 76 82 85 91 6 3 6 5
I feel well-informed by my pastor about key decisions that need to be made before they are made.
21 21 18 17 73 74 72 73 6 5 9 11
FIGURE 38
FIGURE 40
I believe my parish finance council plays an active role in providing oversight and accountability for parish financial decisions.
18 19 12 8 72 73 75 78 10 7 13 14
FIGURE 41
I am aware of the process by which new parish/finance council members are selected and how volunteers are solicited.
25 24 25 24 68 67 58 57 7 9 17 18
SECTION 4:
Mass Attendance and Community Engagement
Our findings related to Mass attendance and community engagement point to an interesting—and perhaps counterintuitive—finding. That is, while 18-29 year olds are the smallest cohort in our sample, they are by far the most engaged in the Church. They are more likely than any other age group to: attend Mass daily, weekly, and monthly, engage in parish activities beyond Mass, including going to Confession, engaging in Eucharistic Adoration, attending social events, and more.
FIGURE 42
2025 Mass Attendance: (by age)
50 44 30 34 65 60 43 42 Daily or weekly At least monthly
76 59 55
84
16 25 42 45 Seldom/Never At least few/year
These findings reveal an engagement reversal since 2003 when weekly Mass attendance increased with age.
FIGURE 43
2003 vs 2025 Mass Attendance (by age)
FIGURE 44
2003 Mass Attendance: (by age)
55 70 75 81 81 83 83 85
Daily or weekly At least monthly 13 10 12 11 Seldom/Never At least few/year
87 90 89 89
In contrast, our 2025 survey reveals that, today, Mass attendance decreases with age, with 39% of respondents aged 65 and older attending Mass “seldom” or “never” compared to 16% of respondents aged 18-29. Nearly twothirds of young adults attend Mass at least monthly, compared with a majority (56%) of 35-49 year olds, 41% of 50-64 year olds, and 42% of adults 65 and older.
NEARLY HALF OF ENGAGED CATHOLICS ARE “MASS - ONLY” CATHOLICS
In addition to Mass attendance, we asked respondents to share what other activities, if any, they participate in at their parish. On average, a little more than half (51%) engage beyond Mass. Of those who do, 26% “attend social activities” and 24% go to Confession. Other activities—including Eucharistic Adoration, Bible study, and children’s activities—attract between 9% and 16% of Mass-goers.
While getting Catholics to more frequently attend Mass has rightly been the focus of much of the Church’s engagement efforts, it’s worth considering whether investing in other community-building activities that draw in greater numbers of “Mass-only” Catholics could be an effective way to boost overall engagement in parish life for young adults as well as other generations.
To investigate this pattern, we compared levels of participation in parish activities by age group and found that, similar to the patterns of Mass attendance, young adults participated in parish and community activities at greater rates than other age groups. Specifically, 72% of young adults surveyed participate in at least one parish activity, more than any other age group. Equally important, this pattern holds for nearly every activity, so that, except for respondents whose “children attend parish children’s activities” and those who “lead or help with other (nonliturgical) ministries,” 18-29 year-olds are more likely to engage in each activity than any other age group.
Are you actively involved in your parish in any of the following activities? FIGURE 45
Attend social activities Go to Confession
26 24 16 10 9 26% 9 My children attend parish children’s activities
Even among respondents who still attend Mass, the number who attend regularly is down significantly. Specifically, while the questions were asked slightly differently, the 2025 survey found 50% of respondents attend Mass at least monthly compared with 84% of respondents of the 2003 survey who said they attended at least monthly. This suggests a massive decline in regular attendance in just two decades.
Mass Attendance
Perhaps most interesting, however, is the fact that, between 2003 and 2025, the generational pattern of regular Mass attendance has flipped. In 2003, regular attendance increased with the respondent’s age, with nearly twice as many respondents aged 65+ attending Mass weekly as young adults (18-29). In contrast, the 2025 survey shows that regular Mass attendance decreases with the respondent’s age. A far greater proportion of young adults (1829) in this survey attend Mass daily, weekly, or monthly than any other age group.
FIGURE 48
2003 Mass Attendance: (by age)
FIGURE 49
2025 Mass Attendance: (by age)
Of course, survey results do not allow us to draw causal arrows, so we do not know whether this flip is due to the fact that yesterday’s disengaged youth have become today’s disengaged older adults, or whether, among young adults who do identify with the Church, there is a resurgence of engagement. But one fact is clear: Church leaders should be taking time to consider how best to cultivate engagement where and how it is present so that they can
maintain it in the short-term, and build on it over time.
YOUNG ADULT ENGAGEMENT IS TENUOUS
While young people are the most highly engaged in parish life of any age group, our survey revealed that their engagement is tenuous and should neither be taken for granted, nor assumed to remain strong in the future. In particular, given the somewhat surprising finding that young adults (18-29) are the most engaged in parish life, we drill down into the data to learn more, looking specifically at these engaged young adults and their responses to questions around thoughts of leaving the Church or their parish. This analysis, which is provided in detail below in Section 5, revealed the fragility of young adult engagement.
SECTION 5:
Insights from Disengaged Catholics
Over the past two decades, the number of Catholics who have disengaged from parish life or disaffiliated from the Church entirely has risen dramatically. In this survey, we aimed to investigate two things: First, we aimed to learn what, if anything, the Church could do to re-engage the 33% of survey respondents who attend Mass “seldom” or “never.” Second, we sought to understand more about the one-quarter of engaged Catholics who “often think about leaving the Church.”
To that end we asked a series of questions, including:
• To those who indicated they often think about leaving the Catholic Church, we followed up to ask why.
• To those who indicated they often think about leaving their parish, we followed up to ask why.
In addition, as a follow-up for those who said they “seldom” or “never” attend Mass, we asked what would make them return to the Church.
LEARNING FROM THE DISENGAGED
Notably, this survey found that a plurality (43%) of the Disengaged said they were “not sure” what it would take to draw them back to the Church. Among the other responses, 20% said “nothing” could be done to bring them back.
However, when the results are disaggregated by age, a very different story is revealed.
Specifically, among young adults who do not attend Mass, 21% said “feeling I was welcomed” and 22% said “ministries that connect to me and/or my family” could bring them back. Together, nearly half (43%) of young adults who attend Mass “seldom” or “never” are willing to consider returning to parish life. What’s more, while 20% of the total disengaged subset said “nothing could be done to bring them back”, only 6% of young adults said the same.
These findings strongly suggest that for key populations, notably young adults, who have disaffiliated or disengaged, there are opportunities to re-engaged them in the faith.
FIGURE 50
What would make you return to the Church? (by
Feeling I was welcomed
21 12 11 7
Ministries that connect to me and/ or my family
21 8 7 5
age)
More openness and transparency from Church leadership
14 13 11 12
Not sure
31 39 44 46
THE RISK OF DISAFFILIATION
While it is a priority of Church leaders to understand what, if anything, can be done to re-engage those who have walked away, it is equally important to understand what might be driving individuals from the Church. To that end, we asked those who are currently engaged if they consider leaving and why.
Among the two-thirds of respondents who attend Mass at least a few times a year, the Faithful and Occasional, one-quarter said that they “often think about leaving the Church,” indicating that they are at risk of disengagement. Even more worrisome, the proportion of adults aged 18-29 (33%) and 30-44 (37%) who “often think about leaving the Church” is significantly higher than adults aged 45-64 (19%) and 65+ (7%). As noted above, these are the most engaged populations at present.
These findings suggest that the current engagement among younger adults is tenuous and that Church leaders should not take their participation in the Church for granted.
I often think about leaving the Catholic Church. (by age)
62 59 77 91
33 37 19 7
5 4 4 7 Not Sure
ISSUE - ALIGNMENT, NOT SCANDAL, TOPS PEOPLE’S CONCERNS
To better understand why people consider leaving the Church, this survey asked a follow-up question only to those who indicated they “often think about leaving the Church.” Responses varied, but the most common answer among all age cohorts was: “the Church’s position on certain issues does not align with my values.”
Yet, deeper in the data, a pattern of age emerged. Among 18-29 year-olds (17%) and 30-44 year-old (15%), the second most common response was “I don’t feel like I have a place in the Church or my local parish” followed closely at 15% by “the Church is in too much crisis or scandal.” Comparatively, only 3% of Catholics ages 65+ answered that they don’t feel like they have a place in the Church or my local parish as a reason why. Among older Catholics, “not sure” was the second most common answer (25%).
Specifically, more than three-quarters of those who said they often think of leaving the Church disagreed with the statement, “I often think about leaving my parish.” Here again, 18-29 year-olds (25%) and 30-44 year-olds (29%) are significantly more likely than older Catholics to think about leaving their parish.
Why do you think about leaving the Church?
The Church’s position on certain issues does not align with my values
I don’t feel like I have a place in the Church or my local parish
The Church is in too much crisis or scandal
I don’t feel I can trust the Church or its leaders
I don’t feel the Church today is the same Church in which I was raised, or to which I converted
We dove another layer deeper to understand whether there was a distinction between those who think about leaving the Catholic Church in general versus those who feel disconnected from their parish. Here, a different story unfolded.
Specifically, more than three-quarters of those who said they often think of leaving the Church disagreed with the statement, “I often think about leaving my parish.” Here again, 18-29 year-olds (25%) and 30-44 year-olds (29%) are significantly more likely than older Catholics to think about leaving their parish.
Similarly, the survey posed a follow-up question to the small subset of respondents who indicated that they often think about leaving their parish, questioning the factors that may be driving them away. Responses indicated that nearly one-quarter (24%) are considering leaving their parish because of parish consolidations and the impact that is having on their experience and priest availability. A similar number (25%) consider leaving the parish because “the liturgy just doesn’t speak to me anymore.”
Why do you think about leaving your parish?
The liturgy just doesn’t speak to me anymore
The priest is less available due to parish consolidation
No longer conveniently located for me
Not enough community outreach and good deeds offered
My friends go elsewhere
sure
Collectively, these results around engagement reinforce other findings in this study that suggest Catholics have a greater connection to their local faith community than the institutional Church. For young adults, these findings suggest that, while young adults are drawn to and engaged in parish life, the support among these highly-engaged young adults is both tenuous and a source of hope. The open door many young adults hold for coming back suggests that while many consider leaving, many also consider returning.
SECTION 6:
Youth Formation and Ministry
Church leaders broadly acknowledge that the future of the Church depends on the engagement and formation of young people. As overall churchgoing rates decline, so has attendance in other forms of faith formation and Catholic education, which means that parishes and dioceses have fewer opportunities to connect young families and their children to the faith and to the life of the Church.
For this survey, we were interested in assessing the level of engagement in Catholic education, youth ministry activities, and faith formation among engaged Catholics—that is, among Catholics who attend Mass at least a few times per year. To that end, we asked questions across three categories:
1. Youth engagement in faith formation and education
2. Youth engagement in parish activities and youth ministry outside educational activities
3. Overall impressions of the quality of youth ministry and faith formation opportunities
The results paint a complex picture of moderate engagement in activities, with evidence of disconnect between activities and full participation in the sacraments.
YOUTH ENGAGEMENT IN FAITH FORMATION, EDUCATION, AND YOUTH MINISTRY ACTIVITIES
To begin, we asked Catholic parents who go to Mass at least a few times a year to select from the following:
• My children are baptized and fully engaged in all age-appropriate sacramental preparation.
• My children are baptized but NOT fully engaged in all age-appropriate sacramental preparation.
• My children are not baptized.
Two-thirds of parents (66%) responded that their children are baptized and fully engaged in all age-appropriate sacramental preparation. That leaves one-third whose children are either not baptized (6%) or who are baptized but not fully engaged in age-appropriate sacramental preparation (28.3%).
These results pose a challenge for Church leaders, because today’s young people are tomorrow’s Church. And if one-third of children whose parents attend Church at least occasionally are not full participants in the faith, it suggests the likelihood that they remain engaged in the Church is low.
FIGURE 54
*Omits respondents who answered “I have no children” (49%)
However, while only 66% of parents indicate that their children are baptized and fully engaged in age-appropriate sacramental preparation, fully 76% of parents have their children engaged in some kind of educational or youth ministry activity in their parish—which means a greater number of parents enroll their children in parish educational and other activities than pursue sacramental preparation for their children.
THREE IN FOUR CATHOLIC PARENTS UTILIZE CATHOLIC SCHOOLS OR YOUTH PROGRAMS
In order of engagement, Catholic education holds the highest level of participation, with 40% of respondents indicating that their children attend either a parish school (14%) or another Catholic school (26%). Coming in a close second are Catholic youth sports programs, in which 35% of respondents indicate their children participate. My children are...
My children participate in:
Religious education and parish youth groups closely follow, with 32% of respondents indicating their children participate in religious education and 30% in youth groups.
The roughly 10 percentage-point gap between those families whose children are fully engaged in age-appropriate sacramental preparation and those who are engaged in parish or diocesan youth activity suggests that there are engaged families who are poised and ready to engage more in the parish and in faith formation. The challenge is deciding how to make the most of that opportunity.
A deeper dive into the data suggests that 22% of families who have chosen to send their children to Catholic schools have not fully engaged their children in age-appropriate sacramental preparation. Here again, the gap between engagement in faith formation, educational, and youth ministry programs has not correlated with full participation in the life of the Church.
QUALITY/IMPRESSIONS OF YOUTH MINISTRY
In addition to assessing overall engagement in youth ministry, we also asked all engaged Catholics (those who attend Mass at least a few times per year) their impressions of the quality of educational and youth ministry activities. To that end, we asked respondents to rate their level of agreement with the following statements:
• My parish has an active and well organized youth group that brings young people together regularly for faith and fellowship.
• My parish youth group is seen by the youth as a fun and engaging way to connect with one another.
• Our parish religious education program is thriving and helps young people strengthen their understanding of and participation in the faith.
• Young people in our parish/diocese understand the core tenets of our faith.
• Our parish school is thriving and is seen as a place where students grow both academically and their faith.
Roughly three-quarters of respondents agreed with each of those questions—76% agreed that their parish has “an active and well organized youth group that brings young people together for faith and fellowship” and 73% agreed that the “parish youth group is seen by the youth as a fun and engaging way to connect.”
What’s equally interesting is that more young adults aged 18-29 and 30-44 strongly agree that the parish youth group is active and well organized and that it’s seen as by the youth as a fun and engaging way to connect than adults aged 45-64 and 65+. This suggests that younger adults—those who are more likely to be connected to parish youth groups—think more highly of parish efforts to engage young people than older generations.
FIGURE 56
My parish has an active and well organized youth group that brings young people together regularly for faith and fellowship.
FIGURE 57
My parish youth group is seen by the youth as a fun and engaging way to connect with one another.
Perceptions of religious education is also strong, with 76% of respondents agreeing that their “parish religious education program is thriving and helps young people strengthen their understanding of and participation in the faith” and 75% agreeing that “young people in our parish/diocese understand the core tenets of our faith.”
FIGURE 58
Our parish religious education program is thriving and helps young people strengthen their understanding of and participation in the faith.
Agree
20 19 17 10 74 77 75 76 6 4 9 14
G
FIGURE 59
Young people in our parish/diocese understand the core tenets of our faith.
18 19 14 8 76 75 75 75 6 6 11 17
What is interesting—and worrisome—is that there appears to be a far less positive view of local parish schools. Of the 1,769 respondents who indicated that their parish has a school, only 53% agreed that their “parish school is thriving and is seen as a place where students grow both academically and in their faith.” While this study did
not include a “why” question in follow-up, this finding raises questions for Church leaders about the connection between the faith community and its school, and what might be driving such a low overall perception.
FIGURE 60
Our parish school is thriving and is seen as a place where students grow both academically and their faith.
FIGURE 61
Our parish school is thriving and is seen as a place where students grow both academically and their faith. (ONLY respondents with school.)
Sure
Conclusion: Understanding a Church in Transition
This survey reveals a Catholic Church that defies simple characterization. The data resist binary narratives of either decline or renewal, instead presenting a more nuanced picture of an institution navigating profound transformation. The findings suggest that trust, when present, often exists at a deeply personal and local level, while institutional confidence remains more tentative. The remarkable engagement of young adults— unprecedented when compared with historical patterns—stands in sharp tension with their simultaneous consideration of departure, creating what might be called a “high engagement, low attachment” paradox that merits serious attention.
The survey also demonstrates meaningful progress. The transparent rules and policies the Church has adopted and institutionalized—and that its lay and clerical leaders have been co-responsible in executing—have significantly restored accountability and trust in Church leadership. This progress must be sustained. None of us can take our eyes off this critical work. Much remains to be done on behalf of victims of abuse and for the health of the body of Christ. Yet the data shows that the Church is in a stronger position than it has been in decades and is on the right path.
At the same time, important work remains ahead. Lay, clergy, and religious leaders must continue institutionalizing transparent, accountable, and co-responsible practices across all aspects of Church leadership and management. The survey suggests these improvements will yield benefits across multiple domains: expanding trust in Church leadership, strengthening financial support, increasing engagement, and ultimately facilitating both the Church’s evangelical mission and its work for social justice. Perhaps most significantly, Catholics across ideological divides and generational cohorts have voiced remarkable consensus that transparency, accountability, and coresponsibility are not nominal ideals, but essential for enduring renewal of the Church.
