But a survey by the group Christian Research published in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper showed that around 862,000 worshippers attended Catholic services each week in 2006 exceeding the 852,000 who went to the Church of England.
Given that the population of the United Kingdom is 60,776,238, those are not exactly numbers for either side to be proud of if their goal is to get everyone to church.
True. The funny thing is that on one level religious demographics haven't changed in sixty years (1978 Mass Observation thingy showed around 75% of the population at least slightly religious; figure has remained pretty stable over the six decades after then). The Churches can't really blame the outside forces of secularisation for their decline, the answer is closer to home (especially as regards the CofE. Anyone who's been to an Anglican service in the past few decades will understand what I mean here...)
My own view is that churches are ultimately responsible for their own decline. They have not responded to the decline in the need for observers to attend a 'community' church service on a weekly basis. Those who have taken note often propose the completely opposite solution to what is required; saying churches need to me more 'hardline' to win people back. Nonsense.
The Catholic Church has suffered a detachment from lay Catholics who do not personally uphold or support aspects of Church moral and social teaching and would probably admit to not subscribing to the doctrine of Papal supremacy or infallability (which technically would make them 'protestants') In various Social Attitudes surveys north and south of the border, Catholics tend to hold on to more liberal views on contraception, divorce, gays and even abortion than many other faiths despite their Church upholding some of the most conservative doctrine.
It makes it increasingly difficult for the Church to maintain both worshippers and attract men to the seminaries. The Church is a victim of its own stubborness. The 'solid as a rock, infallable' Church however has overturned more doctrine in the past 40 years than it did in the past 400, yet it wouldn't admit to that. Purgatory was abolished (after which the Church was still 'infallable') in order to help win the hearts and minds of potential members in the developing world with it's high infant mortality rate.
The CofE, as an outsider looking in is spineless in standing up to the demands of African churches (despite holding the purse strings) and is more interested in maintaining the Communion and the robes of office than theological advancement.
