Page "Tridentine Mass" Paragraph 144

From the 1960s onwards, Western countries have experienced a drop in Mass attendance ( in the United States, from 75 % of Catholics attending in 1958 to 25 % attending by 2002 ).

These same countries saw a decline in seminary enrollments and in the number of priests ( in the United States, from 1, 575 ordinations in 1954 to 450 in 2002 ), and a general erosion of belief in the doctrines of the Catholic faith.

Opponents of the revision of the Mass liturgy argue, citing opinion poll evidence in their support, that the revision contributed to this decline.

Others, pointing, among other considerations, to the fact that, globally, there are more priests and seminarians now than in previous years ( in 1970, there were 72, 991 major seminarians worldwide, in 2002, there were 113, 199, an increase of 55 %, at a time, however, when there was an increase of global population of 64 %), suggest that the apparent decline of Catholic practice in the West is due to the general influence of secularism and liberalism on Western societies rather than to developments within the Catholic Church.