Talk:Roman Catholicism in Malta

95%?
Okay, recently it was stated that only about 50% of Maltese people go to mass. How exactly can you be Christian if you don't go to mass? Who decides whether one is Christian or not? Just because one fills in a questionairre and states that he's Christian, doesn't mean he is, right? So, what's the criteria? Who came up with 95%?

Drew88 13:53, 4 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I think the 50% was "attend mass weekly or more", which is quite high by European standards. According to the US government the percentage of "regular attendance" is more like 63%. Even using the lower figure that's above the mass-attendance rate of US Catholics which is 48%. I think Maltese Catholics might be about the highest for Catholics in the developped world as Irish attendance has dropped. I might be tempted to go strict on this, but for census purposes you go by who in a nation identifies as Catholic. (Or Buddhist or whatever) If we want to get into "who's really Catholic" things could be complex. I know of Catholics who weekly attend mass out of habit or as a social function, but they don't believe a word of it. Likewise I know of Catholics who believe in every principal of the Church, but don't attend mass weekly because of illness or laziness. Anyway as for the percentages on Malta--T. Anthony 14:09, 6 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm embarrassed, I see by your page you are living in Malta. Well I'm just saying how the censuses tend to work, you probably know your country better than I.--T. Anthony 14:18, 6 September 2006 (UTC)


 * As per T. Anthony, such a question is irrelevant to an encyclopedia. The way it is now presented should by NPOV and give all information relevant. On a side note... it is impresssive how such a short article (stub) has so many references. If only more articles were started this way! └ VodkaJazz / talk ┐ 14:39, 6 September 2006 (UTC)