The faithful have to accept that church attendance is decreasing and should focus on drawing people to the Church through the community, said Archbishop Paul Cremona yesterday.

Mgr Cremona spoke about his recent experience at the Bishops Synod held recently in Rome.

The archbishop described the experience as one of dialogue and humanity.

In his address at the synod, Mgr Cremona compared the reality of the present day to the early times when the Church had just started.

“We have to propose a new model of being Church and the model which corresponds to today’s reality is the primitive Christian community. We have to compare the Church today to, and shape it on, that community,” he had said.

Before over 250 participants, the archbishop called on those present help the faithful accept that the reality has changed.

“Many of our faithful still live in nostalgia of and compare the present situation with the model of the Church that was present 30 to 40 years ago. Since the Catholic Church has not remained in a privileged position as it was then, they live in an atmosphere of shock when the Church, or its pastors, are challenged. Many times they stand in fear of speaking openly before this, many times, hostile culture.”

Mgr Cremona explained that it is important not to focus on numbers and said that decreasing numbers are a reality that has to be accepted.

“Many are downhearted because statistics show falling numbers of people who go to Church. If the primitive Church had begun with calculating statistics of their numbers with regard to the whole world, they would have never begun preaching the Word of God, since they were so few,” he said during the Synod.

During the press conference, Mgr Cremona spoke about the importance of bringing the message in the Bible to life. “Our religion is not simply made up of the Bible but it is our role to bring the Bible to life,” he said.

Mgr Cremona explained that decreasing church attendance is a fact that has to be accepted.

“The faithful have to draw in people by focusing on small communities – the Church is not found in the masses but in small groups,” he said.