The disconnect between what a landowner’s sons say and what they do is the theme in this Sunday’s gospel where Jesus uses the story to hold a mirror up to his audience’s hypocrisy. These days, there seems to be a disconnect between the number of people in surveys who say they regularly attend religious services and the number who actually do.

In Pew Research Center studies over the past decade, the number of people who report attending services weekly has remained pretty stable, dropping only from 39 percent to 37 percent. Yet Pew says that time diary studies, in which respondents report on concrete activities over a limited span of time, often show lower rates of church attendance than data from surveys, which perhaps better reflect how people see themselves or would like others to see them rather than how they actually behave.

A study at the University of Michigan looked at the rate of self-reported church attendance by Americans in contrast with actual attendance. “America maintains a gap of 10 to 18 percentage points between what people say they do on survey questions, and what time diary data says they actually do,” said the report.

Among the growing share of religiously unaffiliated adults in the U.S., few (5 percent) say they are searching for a faith tradition or going to services weekly or more often. But what keeps people who have a religious affiliation—that is, who identify with a particular religious group—out of the pews?

A Pew Research poll several years ago asked respondents to answer in their own words. Among religiously affiliated Americans who attend worship services no more than a few times a year, 24 percent cite personal priorities—including 16 percent who say they are too busy—as reasons they do not attend more often. Another 24 percent mention practical difficulties, including work conflicts, health problems, or transportation difficulties.

Homily hint: Declining church attendance rates (whether reported accurately in polls or simply noticed in the pews) are a reality in many congregations. Aside from quality preaching and well-planned liturgies, other steps that can help reverse the trend include innovative transportation programs such as “buddy” programs that team those who have transportation up with those who need some help getting to church.

Source: Articles by Michael Lipka for Pew Research and Tina Dupuy for City Watch