The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-04-20
How MANY People Go to Church.

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How Many People Go to Church.
Tho Times OF Philadelphia, for some time
past, has been sending reporters about that
city to obtain census OF the average at
tendance on the churches OF all denomna-
tions Its total, as so far gathered from n
count OF the congregations on different Sun
days worshipping in 90 churches, is s1,O77
people. OF these attendants 27,l2O were
| mon, &c. 01 women, and 17,166 children.
The Times census Is not yet complete, but
all tho principal churches have been visited,
andSye get from its figures an approxlm1-
| tive idea OF tho number Of regular attend
ants on divine worship in Philadelphia.
We must, however, remember that good
many OF the congregations have been count
cd during Lent, a season when the Roman
Catholic and Episcopal churches are more
frcquentcd than ut ordinary times. Still,
the total shows the aggregate number of
people over whom these churches exercise q
direct influence, and affords us n basis for
estimating the proportion the church-going
population OF Philadelphia bears to the
whole OF all ages. Ciphering out the in
fants, the dccrepit, and those otherwise 80
ulHubltt us W bt ulluDlt W 40 W tiuItll, We
find that the City OF Brotherly Love main
tains its reputation as the seat Of wide-
spread interest in religion and a careful re-
gard for formal religious obscrvances.
The Sun undertook census Of our princi-
pol New York churches on a Sunday several
months since but we did not attempt to
count the congregations Of the city 50 thor
oughly as the Times is counting them in
Philadelphia. So far as we went however,
our figures did not justify us in claiming for
Now York as large an attendance, i'm proper
tion TO the population, as Philadelphia has.
We have more foreigners who have long
neglected public worship than that city has,
and the traditions Of the past have less hold
here than there Philadelphia too, is more
a city of families and households than New
York, and II lacks those attractions for men
Of cosmopolitan tastes or of luxurious habits
which the greater city presents so abund-
antly. And such men as these are not apt
TO be regular church goers, II they attend
church at all. Yet New York is remarkable
among the capitals OF the world for the
large proportion OF its inhabitants who re-
gard attendance on divine services on Sun
day as either a religious duty or q social
obligation.
Taking the figures OF the Times, we find
that tho average attendance on the %
churches it enumerates is about 500. But
we must bear in mind that in the case OF the
Roman Catholic churches the congregations
have been frequently counted at each mass,
while in the Protestant churches only those
at a single service are given. Yet. while in
the latter the attendance on the different
services is likely 10 be Of the same persons
in large part, in the Roman Catholic
churches IL varies at the successive masses;
and we know by experience taking them as
Il whole, that by far the most crowded
churches in our large cities and towns are
those under tho direction OF Rome Thus,
while the total attendance last Sunday
morning on the Northern Presbyterian
Church OF Philadelphia, the best-llled Prot
estant place Of worship, was 544, that on the
six Lenten masses of the Holy Family Cath
Ollie Church was 5,2Gl.
The last census gave tho number OF re-
ligious edillcos in the United States as g. Os2,
furnishing sittings for p ,66j, OG2 persons, or
about half the population Of the Union Of all
ages. This would give about $40 sittings
TO n church or synagogue Allowing that
half of them are regularly occupied, we get
a total Of constant church-going population
Of about II 100000 and Of those who attend
the services more or less regularly there
must be above fifteen millions, even il,
counting the different congregations at the
various services OF the Roman Catholic
churches, they do not still more closely APP
proach, in the aggregate, the whole number
OF sittlngs.
Another point Is interesting In the con-
gregations counted in Philadelphia there
were a third more women than men, and
the women and children together thus were
twice as many as the men. Applying these
figures to the whole country, and estimating
the regular or occasional attendance at say
100000, we find that OF the church goers
100000 are men, about 100000 women, and
about 100000 women and children
This is very rough estimate, but it ndi-
Gates that the people of the United States
cling fast to their religious traditions, that
the churches have powerful hold on the
majority Of the people, and that women
here as elsewhere throughout Christendom
are their most faithful supporters, and are
anxious to bring up their children in some
religious faith and TO respect the ordinances
OF the church.