Attendance at adoration

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phrederik

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does your church have adoration? we do once a month and the attendance is poor to say the least, 2 - 5 at most. we’re a small parish, but the numbers are disappointing. any suggestions on how to excite interest in others to join us would be greatly appreciated.

thx!
 
We also do it once a month. Its been my experience that when ever I am there for a Holy Hour there are normally at least 3-4 of us there, often 5-6. I hope that is true for every hour through out the day but I do not know.

I have a sense that Adoration attendance has picked up for us over the past year, but I dont have the factual numbers to be certain of this.

We have a decent size active parish, but there is always room for improvement 🙂
 
I am wondering if, paradoxically, it might work to have it more frequently? We have it every Wednesday all day, with two watchers in each half-hour slot. It finishes at 8 pm, though; we would never try all night as it wouldn’t be seen as safe.

The thing is, with it only being once a month, it might go by before people have realised it. I know it would be on the newsletter, but they’ve also got to remember the first Monday of the month or whatever, and and it’s easy to get confused where they were up to in the month when making doctor’s appointments and so on.

If it was every week, they’d have more chance of remembering it was happening, and always keeping that day free.

Suggest it to the two or three you get already, and see what they think.
 
Sadly, my parish has adoration only on Holy Thursday night.

So I frequent one weekly and two perpetual adoration chapels in other parishes. I’m a scheduled adorer at one of them. They’re both well-attended, so I’m thinking it might be the more hours of adoration available, the more people will show up.

A very lovely, new twist on the lame movie line: “If you build it, they will come.”
 
Eucharstic Adoration ,normally , is a lay-driven mission. This requires a participation of many adorers to properly enact this program. I will give a quick program to follow that I have seen work.
1: Talk to the pastor , first and foremost is his approval.
2: Schedule speakers to address the congregation at Mass for 3-4 weeks in a row to
talk only on Adoration. ( Priests or laity) Use what you have.
3: In the rear area, away from the altar, set up a sign in sheet on a seperate table for the parishoners to commit to a hour or two. Also pass out pamplets, letters quotes, sayings, etc. Have someone at the table to answer questions.
4: After a month or so see what results you get. Try to start out with more hours than less.
You will be surprised at the response you can attain.
5 :Pray at every mass for Adoration. Remember Eucharistic Adoration is an extension of the Holy Mass.
6 : PERSEVERE
 
there is First Friday adoration at parishes near me generally 9am (after morning mass) until 7pm. the closest one has adoration the first Monday of the month from 7:15 to 8:15pm primarily for the youth of the parish to focus on vocations but all are welcome (I am the sacristan at this service)
 
Our parish has adoration every weekday, from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. (except only until 5 p.m. on Friday). Most every time I have been there, I have seen four or five people, often more. We have people signed up to cover one-hour shifts, and all of the shifts are full. We also have people that sign up to fill in on short notice, should a scheduled adorer call in sick. Seems to work.

You build it and they will come is exactly right. IMHO, the more hours you have adoration, the more people think about it being available, the more convenient and accessible it is to them, and the more they incorporate it into their schedules. And, as you know, once you start going to adoration, you can’t stop!

Our pastor talks about adoration often, at RCIA, at daily Mass, and at Sunday Mass.

Check out therealpresence.org/index.html, especially therealpresence.org/eucharst/pea/a2.html, for some great resources.
 
thomas_jd said:
Eucharstic Adoration ,normally , is a lay-driven mission. This requires a participation of many adorers to properly enact this program. I will give a quick program to follow that I have seen work.
1: Talk to the pastor , first and foremost is his approval.
2: Schedule speakers to address the congregation at Mass for 3-4 weeks in a row to
talk only on Adoration. ( Priests or laity) Use what you have.
3: In the rear area, away from the altar, set up a sign in sheet on a seperate table for the parishoners to commit to a hour or two. Also pass out pamplets, letters quotes, sayings, etc. Have someone at the table to answer questions.
4: After a month or so see what results you get. Try to start out with more hours than less.
You will be surprised at the response you can attain.
5 :Pray at every mass for Adoration. Remember Eucharistic Adoration is an extension of the Holy Mass.
6 : PERSEVERE
Click to expand...
Your suggestions sound good and workable and I hope all those who have this grace follow it through and more graces will come to bring much to fruition.
Just cain’t let pass the statement on “Adoration being an extension of Holy Mass” Ina way it is for sure because they both involve “Adoration”. Perhaps someone with more knowledge than I will expound on that a bit. The Mass is a re-enactment of Calvary, the unbloody on-going sacrifice of Our Savior Jesus Christ to Our Heavenly Father for us. It is truly an ACTION event. Adoration of the Holy Eucharist is in a sense “deed is done” Our Lord it is called to be “in repose” in entirety of course. To re-cap this ACTION event even before the consecration, the very entrance of the priest says "I go before your altar, to the God of my joy the God of my youth. Kissing the altar and beginning with the Trinaterian call."In the name of the Father…"short prayer follows,then we all admit we are sinners and beg God’s forgiveness, the whole congregation heads come up and the priest says "May Almighty God bless us forgive our sins and bring us to everlasting life. Then we are given lessons through the readings, Old and New Testament, after that we recite just what we believe in the creed about our Triune God. then there are intercessory prayers and then the “Liturgy of the Eucharist” begins. Another comparison would be a mother birthing a child. Again we call our Catholic Church, Holy Mother Church. God Bless
 
thomas_jd said:
Eucharstic Adoration ,normally , is a lay-driven mission. This requires a participation of many adorers to properly enact this program. I will give a quick program to follow that I have seen work.
1: Talk to the pastor , first and foremost is his approval.
2: Schedule speakers to address the congregation at Mass for 3-4 weeks in a row to
talk only on Adoration. ( Priests or laity) Use what you have.
3: In the rear area, away from the altar, set up a sign in sheet on a seperate table for the parishoners to commit to a hour or two. Also pass out pamplets, letters quotes, sayings, etc. Have someone at the table to answer questions.
4: After a month or so see what results you get. Try to start out with more hours than less.
You will be surprised at the response you can attain.
5 :Pray at every mass for Adoration. Remember Eucharistic Adoration is an extension of the Holy Mass.
6 : PERSEVERE
Click to expand...
This is excellent advice. I would strongly advocate for weekly adoration to start–Wednesday or Friday are the most traditional days. We used to have weekly adoration on Wednesday from after the noon Mass until 9pm. We now have a chapel that is open daily. The driving force behind the change was our Legion of Mary and a few additional folks, but we had strong support from our pastor.

I’ll be praying for your efforts.
 
nannyma said:
Your suggestions sound good and workable and I hope all those who have this grace follow it through and more graces will come to bring much to fruition.
Just cain’t let pass the statement on “Adoration being an extension of Holy Mass” Ina way it is for sure because they both involve “Adoration”. Perhaps someone with more knowledge than I will expound on that a bit. The Mass is a re-enactment of Calvary, the unbloody on-going sacrifice of Our Savior Jesus Christ to Our Heavenly Father for us. It is truly an ACTION event. Adoration of the Holy Eucharist is in a sense “deed is done” Our Lord it is called to be “in repose” in entirety of course. To re-cap this ACTION event even before the consecration, the very entrance of the priest says "I go before your altar, to the God of my joy the God of my youth. Kissing the altar and beginning with the Trinaterian call."In the name of the Father…"short prayer follows,then we all admit we are sinners and beg God’s forgiveness, the whole congregation heads come up and the priest says "May Almighty God bless us forgive our sins and bring us to everlasting life. Then we are given lessons through the readings, Old and New Testament, after that we recite just what we believe in the creed about our Triune God. then there are intercessory prayers and then the “Liturgy of the Eucharist” begins. Another comparison would be a mother birthing a child. Again we call our Catholic Church, Holy Mother Church. God Bless
Click to expand...
“The act of Adoration outside of Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place at Mass” Pope Benedict XVI
 
Our parish does not have adoration.

Although I respect the practice, personally I can’t see getting anything out of it. To me, I don’t find it any more beneficial in praying before visible consecrated hosts and before those that are locked up in the tabernacle.

To each his own, I guess.
 
Our parish just built an adoration chapel this past Summer. It’s open 7 days a week. Occasionally they’ll have adoration in the church. They did three days of adoration at the beginning of the year, and then again the day of the March for Life. The next time they’ll do the solemn exposition, that I’m aware of, is on Holy Thursday. I prefer going to adoration in the church vs. the chapel, but I go to both.
 
We have weekly adoration. Attendance varies weekly from 2 or 3 to a dozen or more but it’s usually pretty good. Amazingly we don’t have any assigned adorers meaning we don’t ask anyone to sign up for shifts, but people have been pretty dedicated on their own. Adoration time is a couple of hours after afternoon Mass and ends with Benediction.

I agree with the person who said that one way to get people interested is to schedule it more frequently. Otherwise people forget it’s there. If its available weekly, or more often, people are more likely to remember. If they can’t attend one week because of their other responsibilities they can often make time to attend another week.

We’re lucky that we haven’t needed to assign shifts but I think it’s a good idea to ask people to commit to specific times, just to be safe.

Choose a time that’s convenient and start small. I think one reason our adoration more or less works is that it’s weekly but only a couple of hours. We don’t have to worry so much about finding adorers to fill in all day. If you have a lively parish maybe you’ll soon find enough people to have adoration all or part of the day and that’s good but I would still suggest starting small with a shorter time period.

It also helps that our adoration time follows Mass. Father always invites people to stay for adoration after Mass (except for the rare times it has to be cancelled and then he explains why that week). News of adoration soon spreads through word of mouth that way. People also find out because religious education classes happen around that time and people often drop in before or after classes.

Advertise. We advertise adoration in the parish bulletin.

Ask for it and be available. Be willing to volunteer your time. If father seems unwilling (and I’ve experienced this) be willing to offer your time. Even if he says no that time the seed is planted in his head that there’s interest, that someone has asked for it, and he might be more willing next time you ask.

Pray, not only for your regular intentions, but that adoration continues at your parish and that it’s succesful. Pray for your parish and its renewal. If the pastor (or others in charge) drags their feet, pray that God enlightens them.
 
thank you to everyone who has replied and offered suggestions. our current adoration time is the first thursday of the month for 1 hour in the evening. my wife and i are in ‘charge’ as we expose and repose the Host. and we’re usually joined by the same 1 - 3 others. what do people think of each of us inviting someone to join us? maybe a personal invitation could stimulate interest and attendance could grow exponentially! another idea i’ve had is to make the bulletin notice informative beyond date and time. something that describes adoration for those who may not understand; it’s possible many may not know what adortation is.
 
I think you would have success with using a simple approach of inviting people. (It is especially effective if you have vocal support from the pastor.)
  • Invite the members of the different parish ministries and the “leaders” of the parish to attend, i.e. Knights of Columbus, St. Vincent dePaul, rosary group, bible study group, parish staff, major volunteers, choir, etc.
  • Ask your parish RCIA team to bring RCIA members to Adoration at least once.
  • Ask your parish CCD teachers to “require” their students, including the Youth Group kids, to attend Adoration at least, say, 3 times during the Sept through May class year. Depending on their age and temperament, the duration of the kids’ visit may be as short as 15 minutes or could be the whole hour. Request that they be accompanied by their parents (i.e., the kids don’t just get dropped off) and encourage siblings to come – i.e. family attendance is welcome and encouraged.
 
We have Adoration every Wednesday night, with usually about 12 people or so. No one signs up. It’s before daily Mass, and there’s a singing/catechesis ministry after that–it’s nice if you can put some things back-to-back like that. People can come for Adoration, go to Mass, eat dinner at the church, and go to the other ministry all in the same night, so they’re more likely to make the effort to be there.
 
I have a parish of just under 400 families (on paper) and I would say out the 400 I can account for about 285 on a “regular” basis. My parish has Perpetual Adoration and we have started two years ago. It took us just under one year to work up to it. I as the pastor believe in it and use every opportunity in my homilies to preach about it as well as the Sacament of Reconciliation. There are priests who travel from parish to parish and set up strict adoration programs. If you wish more information you can reach me through my website: http:/www.blessedmotherschildren.com

Peace,
Fr. Neil
 
My Parish has Adoration, I think every Friday. including myself there are probably 3-6 people during adoration 10 people at the most. It also disappoints me. I wish people would take the quote from Pope St. Pius X on the Holy eucharist and Adoration more seriously: “Holy Communion is the shortest and safest way to Heaven.”

My solution to more vocations and attendance at mass is this: Return St. Michael, the defender of our faith in both sight and prayer. We need to Return the St. Micheal prayer at the end of mass.
 
thomas_jd said:
“The act of Adoration outside of Mass prolongs and intensifies all that takes place at Mass” Pope Benedict XVI
Click to expand...
Such a beautiful statement by Our Holy Father. And Adoration sure does prolong and intensify All that takes place in the Mass. Thank you,God Bless
 
My parish is very blessed to have 24/7 adoration in a side chapel where the tabernacle is. The Blessed Sacrament is always in exposition in the Monstrace. There always has to be one adorer in the Church. This is by hourly time slots that an adorer fills in
 
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