Is Quebec Still a Catholically Distinct Society within Canada? An Examination of Catholic Affiliation and Mass Attendance

Abstract

Since the Quiet Revolution, Quebec has significantly transformed its relationship to Catholicism. Some commentators have even gone as far as discussing an increasingly important secularization within the province. Yet, an examination of the main indicators of religiosity in Quebec provides evidence for the permanence of a certain cultural Catholicism. However, this cultural Catholicism is tending to gradually fade over time, giving place to the reconfiguration of the regime of religiosity. Meanwhile, in the rest of Canada, Catholicism tends to grow, primarily due to the immigrant population in recent years. In this general context, is Quebec still a “Catholically distinct” society? To answer this question, the authors use a series of logistic models to examine the main determinants of Catholic affiliation and Mass attendance. Age, place of birth and mother tongue emerge as principal determinants of religious affiliation and practice. Based on the findings from these models, the authors show that Quebec remains a Catholically distinct society in comparison with other Canadian regions. However, the gap between this province and the rest of Canada seems to have been increasingly fading, at least over the last thirty years.