# Church attendance



## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Just out of curiosity- is religion still very much on the decline in Spain with very low mass attendance?

Was just wondering as although an Irish Catholic I am very much a non attender and was just pondering that in a small village environment is it still cool to give Sunday mass a by ball. 

Wouldn't want to be sought out inquisition style as the village heretic

Having grown up all my 52 years in Belfast we are big on religious tolerance and harmony between faiths..............


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Rabbitcat said:


> Just out of curiosity- is religion still very much on the decline in Spain with very low mass attendance?
> 
> Was just wondering as although an Irish Catholic I am very much a non attender and was just pondering that in a small village environment is it still cool to give Sunday mass a by ball.
> 
> ...


I am a non believer and only go into churches as a tourist, but MIL is very religious. She lives in Bilbao and we seem to spend much of our time there waiting for her or other family members to come out of churches so we can go and have the all important aperitivo. What we have noticed, and she herself has commented on, is that the people coming out of churches in Bilbao are older (70++) and fewer than those who are coming out of the church in our town in the province of Madrid. Here the church seems to be packed and all ages are widely represented. This is not due to just one priest either. We've been here for 21 years and there have been several in that time.


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Rabbitcat said:


> Just out of curiosity- is religion still very much on the decline in Spain with very low mass attendance?
> 
> Was just wondering as although an Irish Catholic I am very much a non attender and was just pondering that in a small village environment is it still cool to give Sunday mass a by ball.
> 
> ...


I know many Spanish people from all walks of life and of all ages and none of them go to church, except for weddings, funerals and christenings. A few weeks ago I went to the wedding of a young Spanish couple and this was a civil ceremony. Last week I took part in a debate with a group of Spanish people who are learning English and none of them went to church although a couple admitted to having church weddings and had christened their children in the Catholic church. The general view expressed by those in the debate was that only older people still attend church on a regular basis and the majority of younger Spaniards were not interested in religion. Church ceremonies in my local town (such as Easter parades) still attract a big crowd but the participants do seem to be mainly the older generation. I don´t think you are in any danger of being burnt at the stake if you move into a Spanish village and fail to attend Sunday Mass!


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

A local Spanish newspaper recently stated that everyone under 25 was a non believer. I have no idea how they came to that conclusion but we don't know anyone (Spanish) under 60 who is religious.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Well having read the replies it seems my initial impression was correct and the Spanish have indeed become quite an agnostic lot.

I may therefore Conquiscador fashion reintroduce the faith in whichever region I finally decide upon.

Meanwhile I have noticed a lot of you members on here also seem to be a godless crowd so I can start my vocation and ministry with you:

Verily I sayeth onto you expatforum members returnith to the faith, etc


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## alanp26 (Aug 8, 2015)

I love the irony in your initial posting - having also grown up in Belfast, but from the other side - I agree with you, Belfast people are very big on religious tolerance


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

A growing number of Spaniards are now self-declared non-believers - I think the last survey I saw was about 30%. There is a new "atheist bus" in Madrid, protesting about religious teaching in schools, which bears the message " “Dios a la iglesia; en la escuela, historia, arte y ciencia”. God is for the Church - schools are for history, arts and science.

El ‘bus ateo’ circula de nuevo por Madrid para protestar por la religión en los colegios | Kaos en la red

Don't be taken in by the number of "religious" festivals, especially those dedicated to the local Virgen (Nuestra Señora del Pilar etc etc). They are enjoyed by believers and non-believers alike - a bit like Christmas in the UK.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

alanp26 said:


> I love the irony in your initial posting - having also grown up in Belfast, but from the other side - I agree with you, Belfast people are very big on religious tolerance


Lol

Add it to my list of reasons for jettisoning this place!!!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Rabbitcat said:


> Well having read the replies it seems my initial impression was correct and the Spanish have indeed become quite an agnostic lot.
> 
> I may therefore Conquiscador fashion reintroduce the faith in whichever region I finally decide upon.
> 
> ...


One cannot return to whence one hast not been! Thus spake Baldi!


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

Rabbitcat said:


> Lol
> 
> Add it to my list of reasons for jettisoning this place!!!


I did 38 years ago.


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## Elyles (Aug 30, 2012)

Spain is interesting. The Catholic Church is the one most belong to however, few attend. We belong to a Protestant church in Spain with over a 100 year history that is similar to some Protestant churches in the US. Although called La Iglesia Evangélica de España, it is far from evangelical by theological standards. There are also a number of these churches here. It is operated out of the Presbytery of the North.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

My mother, luckily for me, decided that I should discover god or whatever I wanted to believe in for myself. This was either out of laziness or kindness. The consequence of it was that I was never indoctrinated into any church and have never believed. My father was a Mormon and a quite dreadful human being; he was cruel, bitter and extremely mixed up. He left that faith when he discovered that the money he had being paying into the church for 30 years of his life wasn't in fact being use to help the poor and needy, instead they used it to stock the cellars of the tabernacle with art treasures.


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## Elyles (Aug 30, 2012)

Lived near Salt Lake City, Utah which we called MO-town for a reason. Don't trust them and could stand it when they were on my doorstep. Ran a mental health center just over the border in Wyoming. Needless to say, I was not one of their favorite Gentiles. I was pretty verbal from the onset and had my share of political enemies there. They probably named a holiday after the day I left for Spain. I often dealt with kids treated like crap because they were not Mormon.


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## el romeral (May 8, 2012)

Bit strange, nobody goes to church in Spain but yet they do not allow shops etc to open on a Sunday?


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## Elyles (Aug 30, 2012)

Many here remain open on Sundays that are fiestas. Gotta get that tourist €


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

el romeral said:


> Bit strange, nobody goes to church in Spain but yet they do not allow shops etc to open on a Sunday?


I think that´s because of union opposition ... nothing to do with God!


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

el romeral said:


> Bit strange, nobody goes to church in Spain but yet they do not allow shops etc to open on a Sunday?


Again whether shops open on a Sunday or not is to do with the area you happen to be in, not Spain. For example in Madrid shops are open if they want to be and in shopping centres they are usually obliged to be open. In many smaller towns and villages in the Sierra some shops have always been open on a Sunday. With others it depended on the year and what the ayuntamiento decided. Now however, if they want to open they can.
In Bilbao however, only bread shops and some kind of newsagent type places are open on Sundays, apart from the run up to "Reyes."


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Personally, I am always closed on a Sunday...


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Here, the only shops open on a Sunday are one estanco, one asador and one bread shop plus the guardia pharmacy. Each Mass is usually "well attended" with a hardcore collection of about 50-60 daily every week and upwards of 200 or more on special occasions. SWMBO and the m-i-l go occasionally. 

I don't attend for reasons of hypocrisy, although we did go to the tanatorio this morning and the funeral this afternoon had about 300 attending.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Verily I say unto ye Thrax , you are never closed nor aloneth even on a Sunday-if there's a Frigiliana pub open

John 6 v 24


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

And keeping on the Spanish religious theme- as my hero the great Frankie Boyle once said-

Feeding five thousand people with 8 loaves and 12 fish wasn't a miracle- it was [email protected]@@@n tapas!!!!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

They might get better attendance if the communicants got a sip of the wine, I was quite surprised to see that only the priest gets the wine and the rest just get a a bit of bread on the one occasion, I had to attend a funeral.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Rabbitcat said:


> Verily I say unto ye Thrax , you are never closed nor aloneth even on a Sunday-if there's a Frigiliana pub open
> 
> John 6 v 24


Verily verily I say unto thee oh one with the rabbit, twas always so and thus it must remaineth. The day my cup doth filleth over, I say unto thee oh bollocketh...


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## alanp26 (Aug 8, 2015)

baldilocks said:


> They might get better attendance if the communicants got a sip of the wine, I was quite surprised to see that only the priest gets the wine and the rest just get a a bit of bread on the one occasion, I had to attend a funeral.


Join the reformation! Only in the Catholic Church do the priests have sole access to the wine. It's been known that some priests after multiple services of the mass are quite merry at the end of Sunday!!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

alanp26 said:


> Join the reformation! Only in the Catholic Church do the priests have sole access to the wine. It's been known that some priests after multiple services of the mass are quite merry at the end of Sunday!!


Ours was sacked the other Christmas for being drunk!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

baldilocks said:


> Ours was sacked the other Christmas for being drunk!


Seems a bit unfair....after all, Jesus turned water into wine.

From the Gospel according to Holy Mary Mother of Robert

'Verily verily I say unto ye: except there be rain in a dry month, there shall be drought'.

And all who heard pondered these words....


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Ah Mrypg but did he not also sayeth

It mattereth not if ye are cold and wet- as longeth as ye are warm and dry


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Rabbitcat said:


> Ah Mrypg but did he not also sayeth
> 
> It mattereth not if ye are cold and wet- as longeth as ye are warm and dry


'He' did not sayeth nothing.
'Twas I , Holy Mary Mother of Robert, what saith it.
Have ye not eyes to see, ye dunderhead ye..


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

The Catholic church in Spain was politicised by Franco. In the first mass I attended (a privately arranged "homenage" to a recently departed in-law) the priest directly told the congregation to vote PP as they are opposed to abortion. Given my wife's family are largely left-leaning and had paid the priest for the mass, you can guess how well that went down with them. This somewhat highlights the situation in Spain - it's very hard to be a practicing Catholic unless you support the PP.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Chopera said:


> The Catholic church in Spain was politicised by Franco. In the first mass I attended (a privately arranged "homenage" to a recently departed in-law) the priest directly told the congregation to vote PP as they are opposed to abortion. Given my wife's family are largely left-leaning and had paid the priest for the mass, you can guess how well that went down with them. This somewhat highlights the situation in Spain - it's very hard to be a practicing Catholic unless you support the PP.


And I suspect that that is why this town has a large turn out for church, but Pozuelo and Majadahonda must have churches bursting at the seams!


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Chopera said:


> The Catholic church in Spain was politicised by Franco.


I'd say it was politicised several centuries before Franco ...

Just been watching the Spanish drama series "Isabel" and the machinations of the archbishops and cardinals in confirming her as queen of Castilla, back in the 15th century.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> I'd say it was politicised several centuries before Franco ...
> 
> Just been watching the Spanish drama series "Isabel" and the machinations of the archbishops and cardinals in confirming her as queen of Castilla, back in the 15th century.


Not wishing to sound all pious but you could say Christianity was politicised by Jesus when he preached that it would be easier for a camel to go through the Eye of the Needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.
The Church, sadly, fell into the wrong hands and started keeping bad company.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Alcalaina said:


> I'd say it was politicised several centuries before Franco ...
> 
> Just been watching the Spanish drama series "Isabel" and the machinations of the archbishops and cardinals in confirming her as queen of Castilla, back in the 15th century.


Yes, maybe I should have written "re-politicised by Franco"? I guess most dominant versions of Christianity around Europe were originally installed by one royal family or another, however many European countries have now achieved a certain degree of separation between church and state. Franco did the reverse.


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