Cathedrals enjoy 'revival' in attendance: Church of England

St Paul's Cathedral is pictured in the City of London. Image credit: Daniel LEAL / AFP© 

Cathedrals in England underwent "significant recovery", with a five-percent rise in weekly service attendance in 2023 from the year before, the Church of England said in a report released on Thursday.

The figures come despite indications of increasing secularisation in the UK and concern about declining overall church attendances.

There was a 17-percent increase in all visitors overall from 2022, with 9.3 million people entering England's cathedrals last year.

However, the figure remains slightly below levels seen before the Covid pandemic.

Holiday season proved auspicious for cathedrals as well, with a 20-percent year-on-year rise in attendance at their Christmas services.

The rise in weekly service numbers reflected a "return to in-person worship", according to the cathedrals report.

Another report from May this year showed that weekly church attendance also rose by nearly five percent in 2023 from 2022.

"By most measures, attendance, participation and engagement were higher in 2023 than in 2022 but marginally lower than they were in 2019", the latest report said.

However, marriages in cathedrals saw a 17-percent decline between 2022 and 2023, indicating that a post-pandemic surge in such ceremonies had "stabilised".

The Dean of Canterbury, David Monteith, who chairs a body supporting cathedral deans, said: "Over the past year, we have witnessed a revival in attendance and engagement, underscoring the resilience of our cathedrals and the enduring significance of their rich patterns of worship and prayer."

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Apart from running community outreach services and cultural initiatives, the report also pointed out that 2023 "saw most cathedrals across England make strides in sustainability", including installing LED lights and energy-efficient heating systems.

The Church of England has been at pains to modernise over the past few years as the percentage of the population describing themselves as "Christian" declines, and following a string of child abuse scandals and criticisms over how it handled them.

The last census in England and Wales in 2021 saw for the first time fewer than half the population describe themselves as "Christian", with a 13-percent drop from the previous decade.

Christianity nevertheless remains the largest faith in the UK at 46 percent, followed by 37 percent of the population identifying as having "no religion" in the 2021 census.

A majority of people (51.1 percent) in Scotland, however, said they had "no religion" -- a first for any UK nation.