{"id":13357,"date":"2015-09-24T07:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-09-24T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/5-facts-about-communion-and-american-catholics\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:19:35","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:19:35","slug":"5-facts-about-communion-and-american-catholics","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/09\/24\/5-facts-about-communion-and-american-catholics\/","title":{"rendered":"5 facts about Communion and American Catholics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Pope Francis is scheduled to celebrate Mass on an enormous scale Sunday, with 2 million people expected to gather on a mile-long parkway in downtown Philadelphia. And nearly 1,500 priests and deacons <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nj.com\/news\/index.ssf\/2015\/08\/how_will_pope_francis_hand_out_communion_to_2m_peo.html\">will be on hand<\/a> to help distribute Holy Communion.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Communion, Catholics receive bread and wine.\u00a0The church teaches that when the bread and wine are consecrated by an ordained priest, they become the actual body and blood of the risen Christ; a theological explanation for this process, known as transubstantiation, has been supported by official church teaching since the 16th century.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Catholic Church has a variety of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/prayer-and-worship\/the-mass\/order-of-mass\/liturgy-of-the-eucharist\/guidelines-for-the-reception-of-communion.cfm\">rules and guidelines<\/a> about who can receive Communion. For example, only baptized Catholics are eligible to receive Communion. If a Catholic is conscious of having committed a \u201cgrave sin\u201d \u2013 for example, divorce or cohabitation with a romantic partner outside of marriage \u2013 he or she must first repent and perform penance for that sin before being eligible to receive Communion.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are five facts about U.S. Catholics and Communion:<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/09\/24\/5-facts-about-communion-and-american-catholics\/ft_15-09-17-catholicsmass\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-273327\"><img data-dominant-color=\"ededed\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #ededed;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"310\" height=\"384\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.17.CatholicsMass.png?resize=310,384 310w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" class=\"wp-image-24657 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.17.CatholicsMass.png\" alt=\"Most Catholics Regularly Receive Communion When They Attend Mass\" ><\/a><\/figure>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The church recommends that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ccc_css\/archive\/catechism\/p2s2c1a3.htm\">Catholics receive Communion every time<\/a> they attend Mass, and about four-in-ten Catholics (43%) say they do so. Overall,<strong> 77% of Catholics report taking Communion at least some of the time when they attended Mass, while 17% say they never do so.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\">While Hispanic Catholics are as likely as white Catholics to attend Mass weekly, <strong>Hispanic Catholics are much less likely than white Catholics to say they regularly receive Communion.<\/strong> Only 21% of Hispanic Catholics receive Communion every time they attend Mass, compared with 56% of white Catholics. About a third of Hispanic Catholics say they take Communion only some of the time they attend Mass (35%). And roughly a quarter say they never receive the Eucharist (27%).<!--more--><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\">Catholics who currently are cohabiting or have divorced and remarried without seeking an annulment (and thus are <a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/religion\/2015\/09\/02\/chapter-2-participation-in-catholic-rites-and-observances\/#fn-23735-8\">presumably ineligible<\/a> to receive Communion) receive the sacrament less frequently than other Catholics. However,<strong> roughly two-thirds of Catholics who are cohabiting or divorced and remarried still <em>do<\/em> participate in the rite at least some of the time.<\/strong> Indeed, 34% say they receive Communion every time they go to Mass, 7% say they accept the sacrament most of the time and 23% take Communion some of the time.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>About six-in-ten Catholics say the church should allow divorced Catholics who remarry without getting an annulment to receive Communion. <\/strong>This is about the same as the share who say the church should allow cohabiting couples to receive Communion (61%).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"is-style-has-big-number wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Many Catholics believe the church will change its rules on who can receive Communion.<\/strong> Indeed, 54<strong>% <\/strong>of Catholics say they expect the church to allow divorced Catholics to receive Communion in the next 35 years or so. A similar share also says cohabiting couples will be permitted to receive Communion in the next 35 years (56%).<\/p>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/09\/24\/5-facts-about-communion-and-american-catholics\/ft_15-09-10_5factscommunion2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-273167\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e4ecf0\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e4ecf0;\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"401\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png?resize=480,301 480w, https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png?resize=640,401 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 480px, (max-width: 782px) 782px, 640px\" class=\"wp-image-24655 not-transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png\" alt=\"Will Rules About Communion Change?\" ><\/a><\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pope Francis will celebrate Mass on an enormous scale Sunday, with 2 million people expected to gather on a mile-long parkway in downtown Philadelphia. We gathered key facts about Communion and U.S. Catholics for the occasion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":309,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":null,"sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[161,180,179,172],"bylines":[951],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[517],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-13357","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-beliefs-practices","category-catholicism","category-christianity","category-religion-politics-1","bylines-aleksandra-sandstrom","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-religion"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":453,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2015\/09\/24\/5-facts-about-communion-and-american-catholics\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":24655,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":24655,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":24655,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":24655,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":24655,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png?w=640&h=401&crop=1","width":640,"height":401,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":24655,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/09\/FT_15.09.10_5factsCommunion2.png?w=640&h=401&crop=1","width":640,"height":401,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"5 facts about Communion and American Catholics","description":"Pope Francis will celebrate Mass on an enormous scale Sunday, with 2 million people expected to gather on a mile-long parkway in downtown Philadelphia. We gathered key facts about Communion and U.S. Catholics for the occasion.","og_title":"5 facts about Communion and American Catholics","og_description":"Pope Francis will celebrate Mass on an enormous scale Sunday, with 2 million people expected to gather on a mile-long parkway in downtown Philadelphia. We gathered key facts about Communion and U.S. Catholics for the occasion. ","schema_type":"Article","noindex":false,"canonical_url":"","primary_terms":[],"custom_schema":[],"og_image":24655,"indexnow_submitted_at":null,"gsc_index_status":null},"prepublish_checks":{},"apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"relatedPostsOrdered":[],"bylinesOrdered":[{"key":"96da8ad1-405c-41d7-91a0-7c77398712d4","termId":951}],"acknowledgementsOrdered":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/13357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/short-read"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/309"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13357"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/13357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103218,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/short-read\/13357\/revisions\/103218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"bylines","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bylines?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"collection","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/collection?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"datasets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/datasets?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"_post_visibility","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_post_visibility?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"formats","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/formats?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"_fund_pool","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_fund_pool?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/languages?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"regions-countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions-countries?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"research-teams","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-teams?post=13357"},{"taxonomy":"workflow-status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/workflow-status?post=13357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}