Dear friends,
There were a couple of pieces of news this week that we should use and celebrate. The first one concerned the positive health benefits from attending Mass each week; the other concerned religious freedom.
The first was a study published by JAMA last Monday. I was surprised it did not get more local press, but I suppose encouraging people to attend church is not real popular. The researchers looked at data from 1992-2012 from 74,534 women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study. The women answered questionnaires about their diet, lifestyle, and health every two years, and about their religious service attendance every four years. The researchers adjusted for a variety of factors, including diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking status, body mass index, social integration, depression, race and ethnicity.
Compared with women who never attended religious services, women who attended more than once per week had 33% lower mortality risk the study found. Those who attended weekly had 26% lower risk and those who attended less than once a week had 13% lower risk. The study also found that women who attended religious services once per week or more had a decreased risk of both cardiovascular mortality (27%) and cancer mortality (21%). One of the leading researchers said, “Part of the benefit seems to be that attending religious services increases social support, discourages smoking, decreases depression, and helps people develop a more optimistic or hopeful outlook on life.”
If we had discovered a pill that lowered your mortality risk by 33%, people would be buying it like crazy. Here we have a study that says going to church dramatically lowers your mortality risk, so we should tell people about that. I would encourage you to use the data to encourage your friends and loved ones to come to Mass, especially those who claim being spiritual is enough!
The second item was a decision by the Supreme Court to “punt” the religious freedom case brought by the Little Sisters of the Poor. Even though the justices kicked it back to the lower courts, they took away the government’s power in the case when they said the government “may not impose taxes or penalties” on those who refuse to authorize their plans to provide the contested coverage. The parties, the court said, should have another opportunity to work out a way to deliver contraceptives that doesn’t violate the religious objections of the Little Sisters. I am sure this struggle will continue from all sides, but for at least one moment a small victory for religious liberty was won. We should celebrate even the small victories!
Peace,
Fr. Damian