Catholics urged to identify their faith in Australia census

A question about a person’s religion has been included in all Australian censuses, which are conducted every five years. The next one is scheduled for August.

Answering the religion question has always been optional. Despite this, it has had a high response rate (93 per cent in 2021), with 5,075,910 people describing themselves as Catholic, or 20 per cent of the Australian population. 

Trudy Dantis, director of the National Centre for Pastoral Research, said data from the religion question was crucial to helping Catholic parishes, schools, dioceses and organisations understand their communities and plan for ministry and mission. 

“Census data tells us a great deal about the demographics of self-identifying Catholics in particular regions, and for this reason, it is invaluable to pastoral planning,” Dr Dantis said.  

“It is also an important aspect of planning for our Catholic organisations, since many Australians seek assistance from these institutions in times of personal crisis, and for services such as schools, health care facilities and welfare.” 

In recent times, some groups in Australia have tried to encourage people not to identify with a religion unless they are actively practising, inviting them to tick the “No Religion” box instead. However, research shows that many non-practising Catholics continue to identify as Catholic because it remains an important part of who they are. 

Dr Dantis encouraged all Catholics to tick the “Catholic” box this year, while noting that some may need to identify in a slightly different manner. 

“While the religion question provides tick‐box response categories for the major religious groups, the [Australian Bureau of Statistics] also makes provision for counting members of religious groups with small populations,” she said. 

“This option is extremely important for our Eastern Rite dioceses so that they can obtain more accurate demographic statistics about their own individual communities.”

FULL STORY

Catholics encouraged to identify themselves in the Census (Melbourne Catholic/ACBC)