Welsh Journals

3. THE LAITY OF THE CHURCH IN WALES: SEX DIFFERENCES IN RELIGIOUS PRACTICE, ATTITUDE AND INVOLVEMENT Richard Startup and Chris Harris INTRODUCTION In an earlier paper we described the current state of the Church in Wales, characterized as a major Welsh, national, territorial and public institution (Harris and Startup, 1995). With the help of data deriving from a commissioned study of the 'State of the Church in Wales' we sought to evaluate the extent of its influence on Welsh life. It was argued, for instance, that although disestablished, the Church maintains the mission of an established church, and that the imperative to maintain an inclusive territorial structure, taken together with the existence of central funds, tends to turn members inwards rather than outwards and causes their energies to be absorbed in the struggle to maintain the traditional pastoral structure at the expense of evangelistic activity (Harris and Startup, 1996 examines clergy activity). Weekly attendances at Church in Wales services form about 2 per cent of the population of Wales aged fourteen or over, a figure rising to 5 per cent at Easter. Some evidence is also presented that the laity of the Church provide a relatively narrow social base which makes the development of missionary activity in more secularized areas problematic. Bearing this characterization in mind, the intention here is to carry further the understanding of Church life by focusing on the laity and, in particular, on issues to do with the differing outlook of men and women and differences in their contributions to the life of the Church, women constituting approximately two-thirds of the active laity. Among the related topics taken up is one particularly germane to the earlier paper, viz. the extent to which the Anglican laity are representative of the Welsh population. Gender has of course figured prominently in recent debates within the Welsh Church concerning the (successfully achieved) ordination of women, but the similarly important issue of the failure to attract both sexes equally into the laity