When it comes to pulling Catholics into pews, Christmas rites top the list – followed by a tie between Easter, the Christian calendar’s most joyous day, and Ash Wednesday, which is the most sobering.  Last year, about 51% of U.S. Catholics attended Mass on Easter, the same percentage as Ash Wednesday, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. Christmas drew in roughly 68%.  The bridge between Ash Wednesday and Easter is the penitential season of Lent.  “Participating in Ash Wednesday, which leaves a black cross on the forehead, is one way for Catholics to identify themselves publicly and to express pride in their religious tradition,” noted Father James J. Bacik, writing for the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests. “It is also a way of indicating an intention to take Lent seriously.”  Ash Wednesday services have, in recent decades, become common in some Protestant denominations. But what about Lent?  Lent is “not on the radar of most Americans,” according to a new Lifeway Research study focusing on Catholics, Protestants and the unchurched. One in four participants in the survey (26%) say they observe Lent to one degree or another. That’s lower than the 30% of Americans who claim to attend worship services weekly or almost weekly, according to 2023 polling by Gallup.  Most believers who observe Lent find their own ways to mark the season, with some form of the “give up one thing for Lent” pattern as the norm. It’s hard to find evidence of ancient Christian patterns of fasting and abstinence in the survey results.  “Fasting is on the Christian liturgical calendar, not unlike the Jewish Yom Kippur and Muslim Ramadan,” noted Lifeway Executive Director Scott McConnell in the organization’s summary of the study. “For Christians attending non-liturgical churches, they may not even notice the season of Lent has arrived. It is not that they look down on the practices of fasting, prayer and charity. But if they participate, they may be exchanging additional time with God for other forms of self-denial.”  Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ guidelines, “Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics.” Also, “Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. … When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal.”  The Lifeway study found that Roman Catholics (59%) and Hispanics (39%) are “the most likely to say they participate in Lent.” At the other end of the spectrum, non-churchgoers (89%) “are the most likely to ignore Lent.”  Among those who observe Lent, other results included:  – Half said they surrender a favorite food or beverage. More than a third (37%) said “they fast from a bad habit,” with a quarter of survey participants saying “they fast from a favorite activity.”  – Almost half (49%) of those surveyed stressed attending worship services while 36% said they “give to others.” Also, 34% said they increased their prayer life, while 22% read Lenten devotions or relevant Bible passages.  – Catholics were more likely than Protestants – 55% versus 38% – to fast from a specific food or beverage.  – Regular churchgoers focused on public worship. Lifeway reported: “Lent observers who attend church services more than once a week (55%) and about once a week (61%) are more likely than those who rarely or never attend (31%) to say they typically attend church services” during Lent.  – More African Americans and Black Americans (41%) said they focused on reading devotions and Bible verses. In general, women (28%) were more likely than men (17%) to embrace this discipline. Protestants are more likely than Catholics – 35% versus 12% – to increase their Lenten readings.  At this point, it appears that Lent, even for Catholics, has become a “choose-your-own-penance adventure,” said David P. Deavel, who leads the theology department at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. This gamble on individual decisions – without clear standards from the church – has strengthened beliefs that Lent is simply “giving up one thing.”  From there, it’s “nothing in many places,” he said, reached by email. “My theory on Lent is that it’s neither hot nor cold, as done now. If it were more stringent, it would be more popular.”  Terry Mattingly is Senior Fellow on Communications and Culture at Saint Constantine College in Houston. He lives in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and writes Rational Sheep, a Substack newsletter on faith and mass media.  The post Terry Mattingly | What’s become of Lent in America?  appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal. ...read more read less