AMHERST, NY (WKBW) — This week marks the holiest in the Christian calendar for Christians, but the faithful are not filling up service seats like they did in the past. According to the latest Gallup Poll, service attendance has declined across most religions in the U.S.
The poll says just three in 10 Americans attend a religious service every week or almost every week. It also found Protestants rank second when it comes to weekly churchgoers, followed by Muslims and Catholics.
We are taking a closer look at two faiths, one that is losing churchgoers and another gaining.
“I’m really proud to be on the frontlines of religion because I think it's so meaningful and relevant to people's lives today,” stated Rabbi Sara Rich,
I met with Rabbi Rich at Temple Beth Tzedek in Amherst where she leads her synagogue's congregation in worship. That's where we discussed this latest Gallup Poll that says there has been a 7% increase in the Jewish faith over the past 20 years.
“It's beautiful news to hear. What I take from it is that people are getting something out of the prayer experience that takes place and out of the community and I know people who come even more for the community than for the prayer. But I don't think people want to be at a synagogue if they don't connect with the people, because you can just pray at home,” replied Rabbi Rich. “It’s something positive about what's going on these walls.”
Rabbi Rich says she's not certain what led to the increase but often counsels those looking to convert to the Jewish faith.
“But to me, it's more important that if someone new comes — not just that I say hello, but that I introduce them to someone else so that they can start building their connections within the community, so I see my role is more of a convener, you know, two people together,” remarked Rabbi Rich. “The thing that they like about Judaism is that there is a real focus on asking questions and grappling and not necessarily having the answers, but that there is no question that's off limits and so that's often when I’m speaking to people in a conversion process. They love that part.”
“What do we need to do to make people feel more welcome in the church?” commented Father Paul Seil.
Not far from the Amherst synagogue, members of the Catholic community gather for weekly Mass at UB’s Newman Center, a mix of students and residents.
Father Paul Seil serves as campus minister and tells me they must give parishioners a reason to return.
“Two of our parishioners and a committee just did a very extensive survey on why people come to the Newman Center. Many of them were disaffected Catholics, are of other faiths, who come here looking for whatever we offer,” Father Paul explained. “Hopefully we can build relationships more and more with one another in the body of Christ, as we call it. We Christians call it. we can build that up by the body of Christ by getting to know each other better by trying to accept one another better, trying to overcome the divisions that we see not only in the churches but in our country as well.”
The Catholic church continues to see some of the biggest drops in keeping the faithful in its pews. This latest poll says it has had the largest decline in church attendance. It dipped 12% for those attending Mass.
