Almost every Catholic who goes to Mass regularly knows one or more inactive Catholics. The difference between the two is that inactive Catholics do not practice their faith. They do not go to Mass as often, may not be registered in a parish, and are not involved in serving in parish ministries such as reading at Mass, teaching in the parish religious education program, or volunteering in parish support of the homeless.

The fact that a Catholic is not active in a parish does not mean that he or she does not have faith. Some inactive Catholics are more spiritually-minded than those who go to Mass every Sunday. They believe, but do not belong.

An urgent concern is that inactive Catholics have fewer means available to encounter Christ and grow in their faith. If a baptized Catholic does not go to Mass or participate in a parish, his or her faith may deteriorate since it is not reinforced by active participation. Think of a runner on a track team. If she does not practice and exercise on a regular basis, she will lose strength and weaken her ability to compete. The same is true of Catholics who do not practice their faith.

Approximately 21,000,000 Catholics in the United States are inactive. The American Religious Identification Survey, 2001 by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York studied inactive Catholics. The study found that of Catholics responding, 59% were members of a parish and 41% were not. Drawing on U.S. Census information, the study determined that 24.5% of the U.S. Catholic adult population in 2001 or 50,873,000 were 18 or older. Of these, 41% or 20,858,000 were not members of a parish. Most of these 20,858,000 people are inactive Catholics.

Younger Catholics are more inactive than those who are older. Dean R. Hoge and his colleagues researched the religious patterns of Catholic young adults ages 20-39. They found that only an estimated 10% of the young adult Catholics are “core Catholics”—that is, those we find in our parishes or university centers each week. The other 90%, highly influenced by a culture of choice, choose other ways to satisfy their spiritual hungers. [Young Adult Catholics, Religion in the Culture of Choice by Dean R. Hoge, William D. Dinges, Mary Johnson, SNDdeN, and Juan L. Gonzales, Jr. (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2001)].