There is a group of religious practices that characterizes Catholics in terms of the frequency of their contacts with the parish community. These are the so-called regular practices, among which two are examined in particular: participation in Sunday and holy-day Mass and Easter Holy Communion.
Participation in Sunday and holy-day Mass in 1970–1983 was somewhat lower than observance of one-time religious practices. Particularly low attendance at Sunday Eucharist was recorded during the first year of pastoral work. Only those who wished to maintain contact with the church from the outset, supporting it with their offerings, attended. The lack of benches and the unaesthetic appearance of the church rising from the rubble discouraged those who were religiously indifferent and sensitive not to spiritual values but to material conditions. According to source data, the number of faithful attending Sunday and holy-day Mass ranged from 1,200 to 1,500, representing approximately 21 percent of those obliged to attend. The following years were characterized by a significant increase in the so-called dominicantes. Thus, in 1974 approximately 4,500 people attended Sunday and holy-day Mass, in 1978—5,000, and in 1982 approximately 3,600. As can be observed, attendance at Mass in 1978 rose to approximately 50 percent of those obliged to attend, while 1982 indicated a decline.
Among those neglecting the second precept of the Church, in addition to non-believers and the religiously indifferent, were people who worked professionally on Sundays and holy days. The economic conditions of the 1980s led some state institutions to encourage work on holidays by doubling salaries and offering other material benefits, which may have contributed to the low number of dominicantes in 1982. Among other factors influencing the decline in attendance, the large proportion of elderly faithful should be taken into account. This group of parishioners generally attended Mass broadcast by Polskie Radio from the Church of the Holy Cross in Warsaw. In addition, several families attached to their mother church because they had been baptized there or had entered into a church marriage there fulfilled their religious practices at that church.
The parishioners’ participation in Mass was active. The faithful generally responded to the celebrant’s calls, sang religious hymns, and 20 percent received Holy Communion. Participation in the Eucharist, both in terms of numbers and inner engagement, increased particularly during Christmas and Easter.
Having analyzed the faithful’s participation in Sunday and holy-day Mass, let us turn our attention to observance of the precept of Easter Holy Communion. Priests were already reminding parishioners of the obligation to fulfill this practice during the Christmas season, leaving Easter confession cards after the house-to-house pastoral visit. In addition, pastoral announcements mentioned the need to prepare for the feast of the Lord’s Resurrection through the Sacrament of Penance and the Eucharist.
On the basis of research conducted in 1973–1975, it can be said that approximately 65 percent of the Catholics in the MBNP parish fulfilled the precept of Easter Communion at that time, while approximately 35 percent neglected this obligation. For various reasons, such as the position they held, some Catholics went to confession and received Easter Communion outside their own parish. The appropriate time to fulfill this practice was the Feast of the Lord’s Resurrection and the remaining days of the octave; therefore, parishioners who postponed receiving Holy Communion until the end of the Easter season constituted a minority.
In characterizing the Catholics of the parish described on the basis of regular religious practices, it should be stated that the majority made use of this form of deepening their religious life, while the noticeable predominance of paschantes over dominicantes indicates a pattern typical of Polish religiosity.