COLUMN: Who goes to church anymore?

I AM not a devout Christian or Catholic by any means. But in the four years I have lived in Mackay I have been to church a few times in the past few weeks.

I AM not a devout Christian or Catholic by any means.

But in the four years I have lived in Mackay I have been to church a few times in the past few weeks.

Attending mass always fills me with happy memories as it was a tradition I used to share with family and my late Nanna.

I must admit I wasn't a regular church-goer, I usually only went at Easter and Christmas and the odd Sunday here and there.

But while I was sitting in a service recently I was sad to see the lack of people there.

I'm not trying to push my beliefs on anyone by any means.

But it made me think... is attending church services somewhat of a fading tradition?

I remember making a passing comment to a colleague as well that I had attended a mass at the weekend and she said - "you went to church, really?".

I think she was more surprised than anything that I had gone.

I guess it is really rare when people describe their weekends, attending a church service isn't really at the top of their list, especially those in the Gen Y group.

In one service I did attend though, a woman in her 20s was being baptised.

This made me so happy.

It was great to see she had taken the next step to affirm her faith especially since most baptisms we see are babies.

Now we're coming up to Easter it has made me think about religion more and how important it is not to lose sight of why we have Christmas and Easter.

Yes presents and food are apart of these holidays, but I think we mustn't forget about the religious origins of these occasions.

Originally published as COLUMN: Who goes to church anymore?