Cathedral attendance up, says Church of England
Five days after one of Britain's great churches, London's Westminster
Abbey, was seen on television by millions as the site of a royal
wedding, the Church of England released statistics showing that weekly
attendance at its 43 cathedrals rose by 7 percent in 2010.
"Attendance
at services outside Sundays has grown more significantly by 10 percent
over the past year. Steady growth since the beginning of the millennium
is encouraging cathedrals to explore the unique position they hold in
the life of the nation and is restoring confidence in mission,"
commented Lynda Barley, head of research and statistics at the
Archbishops' Council, in a news release.
About 15,800 adults and
3,100 children and young people attend Sunday services at cathedrals,
while over the whole week the figures rise (by 73 percent) to 27,400 and
7,600 respectively. Westminster Abbey—which is not a cathedral, but a
"royal peculiar" under the direct supervision of the monarch—adds, on
average, 1,800 people each week to those numbers.
