A Jesuit and anthropologist attributes survey findings to Filipino Catholics who pray before and after meals
People pray during a Mass at a church in Malolos, Bulacan, in the Philippines on Jan. 5, 2023. (Photo: AFP)
Seven out of ten Catholics pray in the Philippines at least once a day, according to a survey by a private firm.
Social Weather Stations conducted the survey in the last quarter of 2022 in the Catholic-majority Philippines, stating that 69 percent of Filipino pray every day.
With a sample size of 1,200 respondents around the country, the respondents were asked during the survey: “How often do you pray?”
Thirty-five percent of the participants answered several times a day and 34 percent answered once a day. Together they make up 69 percent of the respondents who answered they pray at least once a day, Social Weather Stations said in a report on Feb. 20.
Jesuit and Filipino anthropologist Father Albert Alejo said the numbers could be attributed to Catholics who pray before and after meals.
“You see, our culture is fond of eating. Rich or poor, ordinary worker or bank manager, if there is food on the table, we eat to thank God for the graces that we received,” Father Alejo told UCA News.
Father Alejo, who teaches at the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, said eating was “just one of the communal” practices of the Catholic faith by a Filipino family.
“There are many others, like praying the rosary together, praying before driving or working, even praying before an exam. All of these are practices of faith that are social and communal,” Father Alejo told UCA News.
Filipino drivers still make the sign of the cross every time they pass by a church or a chapel, he said.
“I still make the sign of the cross every time I pass by a church. So, if I pass by a church five times a day, that is also the number I remember Christ by making the sign of the cross,” Manila jeepney driver Nilo Centeno, 43, told UCA news.
A jeepney is a local model of jeep used for public transport in the Philippines.
Another driver, Jessie Pascual, said he prays every day to keep him away from harm.
“Once, I was attacked at night. I was almost killed. Since then, I have always asked God for guidance,” Pascual told UCA News.
Pascual, however, said his children were not as pious as him when it comes to praying.
According to Centeno, they are just glued to their screens and computers. “When I was growing up in the province, every time the bell strikes for the Angelus, everybody stopped to pray,” Centeno recalled.
Eight out of ten households in the Philippines are Catholic (81.04 percent), followed by Muslim (5.06 percent) and Evangelicals (2.82 percent). The remaining 11.08 percent are Aglipayan, Iglesia ni Cristo or others in the Southeast Asian country of 110.2 million people, according to the Philippine Information Agency.
The survey by Social Weather Stations revealed a strong yet declining number of Catholics going to churches.
Thirty-eight percent answered they attend church services at least once or more than once a week. Twenty percent said they attend services once a month, while 9 percent said they attend church services at least 11 times a year.
Attending Mass online has likewise decreased from 94 percent last year to only 3 percent this year, according to the survey.
Latest News
Credit: Source link
