Many people are afraid to admit the truth about their attendance at Mass on Sunday. St. Dominic is a Catholic School, so most students go to Mass every Sunday, right?

This article was sparked from Mr. Matt Winkelmann’s curiosity during his plan period. Mr. Winkelmann went around the learning commons and to a few nearby classrooms to ask students if they attend Mass every single Sunday. The students’ answer choices were yes, no or I do not want to answer. When Mr. Winkelmann tallied the answers, the numbers were too close for comfort.

I decided to take the survey into my owns hands and go poll classrooms myself. This allowed us to test if some people were only saying yes because Mr. Winkelmann is a Religion teacher or if the majority truly goes to Mass on Sunday.

The first classroom I visited was all seniors, most of them my friends, so I knew that I would get the truth. I could not have been more correct. Five students said yes, and eleven said no. Mr. Winkelmann and I got to thinking that maybe they all said no because they felt comfortable answering someone their own age honestly.

In order to test that theory, the next class I polled was a freshman Biology class. When I went in, the first question one of the freshman blurted out was asking if I was going to judge them. I assured them I was not going to judge, but that this poll was solely for my own curiosity. I asked them who attends Mass every single Sunday. Only five students said yes, and twenty students said no.

After the freshman class, I tested one more class to see if students are afraid to admit they do not attend Mass in front of people who they fear will judge them. I asked a sophomore religion class in front of their religion teacher–eleven students said yes, and nine said no.

This poll was eye opening for me. Personally, I realized you should not judge others for their faith life. I am the first one to admit my relationship with God is not perfect, but each and every person is continually growing in their faith. While attending Mass on Sundays may seem like a big commitment, the hour you give to God will bring you the grace needed to face even your toughest situations.