The Bishop of Blackburn is among senior clergy reporting bumper attendances at churches for Holy Week and Easter services.

According to The Telegraph, Rt Rev Philip North said early indications in his diocese suggested numbers were up by a half, with some parishes almost full. He said:

“It’s odd when there is so much bad publicity about the Church, much of it deserved, there is such a hunger for faith, especially among the young.”

A big increase has also been seen in the Catholic Church, with the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols saying around 50,000 people had been to Westminster Cathedral in the last week – even before news of Pope Francis’ death:

“For the 12 o’clock [Easter Sunday] Mass, people were queuing down Ambrose Avenue in order to come in as soon as the previous Mass had finished, to find a place.

“There were 200 people outside the door following it on their phones. So there’s, as they say, something going on – and that, too, we should ponder and pray about.”

Earlier this year a report commissioned for the Bible Society, The Quiet Revival, found that church attendance in England and Wales has risen by 50 per cent over the last six years, busting the myth of church decline.

It found that the most dramatic church growth is among young adults, particularly young men. In 2018, just 4 per cent of 18–24-year-olds said that they attended church at least monthly. Today, this has risen to 16 per cent, with young men increasing from 4 per cent to 21 per cent, and young women from 3 to 12 per cent. 

Co-author of The Quiet Revival Dr Rhiannon McAleer said on publication of the report:

“These are striking findings that completely reverse the widely held assumption that the Church in England and Wales is in terminal decline…

“While some traditional denominations continue to face challenges, we’ve seen significant, broad-based growth among most expressions of Church – particularly in Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism. There are now over 2 million more people attending church than there were six years ago.”

While there are no official statistics yet for the number of people attending Easter services this year, the findings of senior clergy seem to reflect an encouraging trend.