The Characteristics and Behaviour of Churchgoers in an Anticipated Mass in the Malate Catholic Church

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In 1959, in his book The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills described a unique type of critical thinking as an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society, both today and in the past. He called such thinking as sociological imagination. It enables an individual to see a bigger understanding on how they live their lives and one’s role in the society. Through this special type of thinking, we can see how our personal lives are connected to society.

The Philippine Archipelago is home to 90 million people. With about 92% of our population who are Roman Catholics, the Philippines only follows Brazil and Mexico as the largest Catholic nation in the world. Colonized by Spain for more than 300 years, Filipinos embraced the religion introduced to as by the Spaniards. With several presidents who professed to be devout Catholics, the Catholic Church greatly influences Philippine society and politics. One example is the People Power Revolution of 1986 that ended the Marcos regime. The country also recognizes special days in the Catholic calendar as non-working holidays. Moreover, Sunday is usually the off day of workers to spend the day with God, most especially, taking part in the Eucharistic Celebration.

One of the Ten Commandments God gave to Moses was to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy. As a Roman Catholic, it is a Christian duty to go to Church every Sabbath Day and celebrate the Holy Eucharist. This paper will assess the behaviour and characteristics of people attending the anticipated Eucharistic Celebration in the Malate Catholic Church on Saturdays, all from a presumable sociologist’s perspective.

It is worthy to say that there is less number of churchgoers in an antic...

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We use sociological imagination to improve the lives of people by understanding what really causes societal issues and how it affects an individual and vice versa. We discussed the characteristics and behaviour of churchgoers in an anticipated mass in the Malate Catholic Church. As mentioned before, religion greatly influences the Philippine politics and society. But with the attitude and behaviour of Catholics inside the church, why is there still a growing social cancer in our country? The abovementioned mass participants may or may not sincerely practice their faith outside the Catholic Church. Perhaps, as a sign of respect inside the Lord’s dwelling, they abide by the prescriptions of the Catholic Church. Whether or not they continue on everyday with their Catholic upbringing, that is another societal concern left for us to discern and analyze.

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