The Church of England has released its Cathedral Statistics 2021 and the following press release.
Church of England Cathedrals showed recovery in 2021 amid Covid-19 measures
24/03/2023
Latest worshipping and visitor data collected from England’s 42 cathedrals and Westminster Abbey during 2021 shows show attendance began to recover despite ongoing Covid-19 measures.
Increased in-person attendance, which had been severely impacted in 2020, reflected the vaccine rollout, and the easing of Covid-19 restrictions throughout the year, though it also showed that many people chose to stay away from public indoor spaces especially during those periods when restrictions remained in place, and during the late autumn that saw the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, the data showed a weekly total of 15,800 people were reported at cathedral services in 2021. This is a 22 per cent more than the equivalent figure from 2020, although still 58 per cent below the 2019 figure.
Meanwhile, the number of cathedrals offering online worship in addition to, or augmenting in-person services remained high, with 94 per cent of cathedrals continuing to offer this.
Weddings showed the closest return to pre-pandemic numbers with 230 marriages conducted in cathedrals during 2021, 93 per cent of the figure from 2019, and an increase of 250 per cent from the 2020 total.
During 2021, there were a total of 320 baptisms conducted in all Church of England cathedrals. This was 43 per cent of the equivalent figure in 2019, but a 242 per cent increase on the total number of baptisms that took place in cathedrals in 2020.
The total number of visitors to the cathedrals was just under half of the equivalent figure from the 2019 figure, reflecting the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
Volunteering has been one of the few areas of cathedral life that has not shown signs of recovery in 2021. The number of people volunteering in cathedrals has decreased by a further 21 per cent from the 2020 figure.
The Dean of Canterbury, David Monteith, who Chairs the College of Deans, said: “It is encouraging to see the beginning of recovery in our cathedrals in 2021 even amid the ongoing impacts of the pandemic.
“Church of England cathedrals have been an integral part of the country’s cultural heritage for over a thousand years, and they continue to serve as places of worship, community gathering, and tourism.
“The data from 2021 demonstrates the resilience of the cathedrals and their importance to local communities in the face of adversity.
“We have adapted to the changing circumstances throughout the pandemic, and some of what we have learnt is here to stay. This includes the gift of online worship, with many cathedrals reaching new congregations, together with those who would prefer to join services from home.
“As we look to the future, and continued recovery, we remain committed to supporting our whole communities, particularly those in need, providing a place of worship, prayer and sanctuary for all.”
More information
It would be much more informative (as well as honest) if the statistics were to be broken down by cathedral. It would then, I think, become evident that a few cathedrals have a massive distortive impact upon the aggregate numbers, noting that Westminster Abbey – which attracts large numbers during service times when the £27/adult entry fee is not levied – is treated as a ‘cathedral’. It would also be useful if there were statistics which excluded the ‘corporate’ services if a truer impression were to be given of the underlying ‘health’ of cathedral attendance (the same is true of… Read more »
Thank you for your comment. I didn’t have much to do with the Cathedral Statistics report this year – I’m currently on parental leave – but I suspect I’ll be rather more involved next year. I can’t see any reason why we shouldn’t report median figures as well as mean figures for at least some measures, as I do as a matter of course in the Statistics for Mission report. I’ll do my best to find a way to give a helpful indication of the range of figures reported. If someone would remind me in the autumn I’d be grateful!… Read more »
Just to clarify, school services are recorded separately in the ‘October 4 weeks’ standard sample in the annual C of E parish church statistics, and should not be part of the recorded USA (usual Sunday attendance) calculation. Anything ‘odd’ is supposed to be excluded. (Most school services in a parish church happen during the week anyway.)
Indeed. The conclusion could be that well resourced churches succeed – so how to resource more churches better. No-one has yet tested whether giving churches more financial support to do more of what they are already doing is a better or worse mission strategy than giving financial support for new projects.
Many thanks to all of you for your comments, and apologies for making such a dyspeptic comment, which reveals my anti-cathedral bias. Actually, it’s not so much that I am anti-cathedrals, but that I am pro-parish churches, and my existing attitudes towards the whole system as presently arranged have been perhaps been amplified by my experiences of one diocese in particular. I would (further to Mr Bennet) note the following: The general reduction in the amount of worship, especially following this: https://www.churchofengland.org/news-and-media/news-and-statements/general-synod-approves-greater-service-flexibility-benefices. This has been developing for some time, but it has increased markedly since 2019. If a multi-parish benefice… Read more »
I haven’t yet seen an explanation of how festival churches can be financially solvent. Presumably someone outside the parish is picking up the bills?
Well, Anna Norman-Walker (who was perhaps the chief progenitor of the concept when at Exeter cathedral) suggested that a limited number of services would attract a sufficient crowd that would generate the necessary collection money to cover insurance costs, plus income from community events. I could go through each of the type 4 designations in the Lincoln list and tell you just how many services they have. Suffice to say that at least one church categorised as a 4 was closed (in the sense of a formal closure scheme being made) 6 years ago (Farforth), whilst a good number have… Read more »
Spot on Froghole. It seems the powers that be seem quite relaxed by the near collapse of much of rural Anglicanism which can only accelerate and which is I think self inflicted. Why can’t there be a short lay led service in every church at the same time with communion once a month or if appropriate by extension or from the reserved Sacrament. This is the pattern in parts of France. Appoint a focal “minister” , reader, warden or substitute ,committed lay person etc who can be the local “persona”. I don’t think it’s impossible with a will to do… Read more »
Many thanks, as ever. I noted remarks made in Emily Buchanan’s ‘Sunday’ radio broadcast on 26 March, when reference was made (I think by Andrew Atherstone) to Justin Welby’s ‘strategic thinking’ not subsidising decline. In other words, the emphasis is on increasing aggregate attendance, which is not the same as increasing or maintaining the distribution or patterns of attendance. The presumption is that too often the Church has been subsidising decline. This strategy marks an ineluctable and revolutionary shift towards having gathered churches (not that the authorities seem willing to admit this openly). However, that policy presumption has not been… Read more »
Interesting reflections. Some research into church growth which had been done was folded into “Leading your Church into Growth”. Given the number of people, parishes and benefices which have been through that course, if it had been as effective as suggested, we would not be in the position we are. Clearly there are some factors involved which have not yet been captured in research, and I have long thought that proper and sustained research into real, but uncomfortable questions – qualitative as well as quantitative – would be a cheap way of informing decisions.
It’s quite understandable of course that there are questions about music on the Cathedrals statistics form. I don’t recall any questions about music on the form that parish churches fill in each year. Perhaps there should be.
Sorry for the slow reply, Shamus; we used to collect information from parish churches about music – the last figures (of numbers of organists, choirmasters, choristers, and bell-ringers) relate to 1958 and can be found here: https://www.churchofengland.org/media/18579 . I see that at that time there were reported to be 137,500 boy and girl choristers. It seems that, from a note on the subsequent statistical publication, the question was removed in order to reduce the number of questions asked of churches. Each year one of my tasks is to decide (with consultation, of course) which questions to ask on the Statistics… Read more »
Phrases like “showed recovery in 2021” and “began to recover” are doing a lot of heavy lifting in the press release. The Church’s own figures show no recovery from pre-pandemic attendance; rather a fall from a cliff edge. What’s more opaque is the lack of adjustments made for average attendance, given cathedrals were closed for public services for the significant part of 2020 (by regulation, meanwhile some cathedrals closed voluntarily during the early part of 2021). I suspect that had average weekly/Sunday attendance figures been adjusted for the weeks cathedrals were open for public worship, the authors would have found… Read more »
Hi Tim. I am responsible (in collaboration with other folk) for the questions that are asked. Sorry for the slow reply – I’m currently on parental leave so not keeping quite such a close eye on interesting conversations as I otherwise might. Until 2019, cathedrals were asked to report their usual Sunday and midweek attendance. In 2020 and 2021 we asked about usual attendance “in October”, since what with lockdowns and what not “usual” didn’t make a lot of sense when applied to the year as a whole. We chose October to align with the figures that have been collected… Read more »