Pastoral Research Office | Australian Catholic Bishops Conference

Celebrating 25 Years

2021 marks the Silver Jubilee of our office. It has been a momentous journey indeed since the first appointment was made way back in January 1996. We thank our bishops for their continued support. Thank you to our staff and volunteers over the years that made this success possible, and to friends, colleagues, collaborators, fellow researchers and people we have worked with in parishes and dioceses everywhere.

2021 National Count of Attendance

The 5th National Count of Attendance at Mass and Sunday Assemblies will be conducted in all parishes and other Mass centres throughout Australia in May 2021. All Catholic dioceses and parishes are urged to take part. Read more here.

Catholic Social Profiles

The National Centre for Pastoral Research analyses Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and produces national, diocesan and parish level reports on the Catholic population. View Social Profiles here.

Research Projects

The National Centre for Pastoral Research Office undertakes and coordinates a vast range of research projects of importance to Australia’s Catholics. The NCPR makes the results available to parishes, dioceses and the Catholic community in general, and assists in understanding the results. View our Research Projects here.

The National Centre for Pastoral Research produces a quarterly, free newsletter about social research relating to the Catholic Church in Australia, available by email or by download from this website. Download it here.

The National Centre for Pastoral Research (formerly Pastoral Research Office) is an agency of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

The National Centre for Pastoral Research has ongoing responsibility for:

Carrying out the National Catholic Census Project (1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021), including the dissemination of results to parishes and dioceses.
Carrying out and reporting the results of the National Count of Attendance (2001, 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021).
Catholic participation in the National Church Life Surveys (2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016).
Providing assistance to dioceses, Catholic Education Offices and other Catholic agencies in the understanding and use of NCLS and Census data.
Providing research and pastoral planning consultancy services to dioceses and Catholic agencies.

We also undertake additional projects from time to time. These additional projects include

Plenary Council 2020 (ongoing)
Pedagogy Development: Building on Positive Learnings from COVID-19 (2021 – 2022)
Review of the Australian Catholic Youth Festival (2020)
Professional Development for Bishops Survey (2020)
Survey of Consecrated Virgins (2019)
Church Governance Survey (2019)
Survey of Religious Congregations in Australia 2018 (2018-2019)
Understanding Religious Vocation in Australia Today (2014 – 2018)
Australian Catholic Bishops’ Youth Survey 2017 (2016 – 2017)
Our Work Matters: Catholic Church employers and employees in Australia (2015 – 2017)
‘Building Stronger Parishes’ (2009 – 2015)
What do Mass attenders believe? (2014)
‘What makes people feel they belong?’ (2011)
‘See, I am Doing a New Thing! – A Survey of Catholic Religious Institutes'(2009)
‘Catholics Who Have Ceased Attending Mass’ (2007)