Bucking a trend, these churches figured out how to bring millennials back to worship

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Maximilian75 said:
I would say a large amount (anywhere from 25 to 35 percent) of the Catholic 25 and under crowd that attends Mass faithfully and is involved in a faith activity outside of the Mass would say they would like to see a resurgense in polyphony, traditional lityrgy, and the like.
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Yes–a large minority, but not “all.”

At my house, my oldest child (15) often asks for us to go to the Latin Mass, while her younger brother (12) is OK with it but prefers the vernacular Mass. I’m not sure how to count the youngest child’s vote, as she says she hates church. She’s 5, so it’s early days.
 
I can only speak for myself. As a “Millennial” being 29 years old I cannot stand modernization and the way that many churches (not specifically but especially the protestant non-denominations) are going. I am so tired of the weak preaching and feel good messages with rock guitars and drums. I think a lot of my fellow young people as beyond sick and tired of it. We want TRUTH! If something is a sin then call it out, don’t dance around it. Don’t say its ok to believe this or that when its not true. As Pope Benedict said in his “Charity and Truth” there is no such thing as love without truth.

Is it so much to ask for a Church with deep theology and reverent liturgy. Incense, bells, latin, brown scapular, rosary processions? More please and keep it coming!
 
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redbaron162 said:
We want TRUTH! If something is a sin then call it out, don’t dance around it. Don’t say its ok to believe this or that when its not true. As Pope Benedict said in his “Charity and Truth” there is no such thing as love without truth.

Is it so much to ask for a Church with deep theology and reverent liturgy. Incense, bells, latin, brown scapular, rosary processions? More please and keep it coming!
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Couldn’t agree more.
 
I’m 17 and wholeheartedly agree with this.

There is a reason the Latin Mass has seen the comeback it has in the oast 2 decades.
 
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Not saying anyone did @Duesenberg. Not really understanding the hostility. Though I go to church with my mother and she does like to go to these events.

Everyone has their preferences and that’s fine.
 
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If you are a Catholic and I guess you are. The CCC 770 ( The Church is in history, but at the same time she Transcends it. It is only" with the eyes of faith" that one can see her in her visible reality and at the same time in her spiritual reality as bearer of divine life.
The Eucharist is the source in Summit of the Catholic Church no other can have the fullness that we have, CCC 790 on One Body answers that question.
Kel, I don’t know what you mean by Protestants and mass. There church is not a mass it is a communion of worship.
The Mass for Catholic’s isn’t about just Christ and what he did on Calvary. As saint Paul said when we are baptisted in Christ we are baptisted into his death and when we come together at Mass we are experiencing heaven on Earth. Where the angels and Saints gather with us in worship.
 
Maximilian75 said:
There is a reason the Latin Mass has seen the comeback it has in the oast 2 decades.
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A comeback despite the inconvenient times and locations to which many Traditional Latin Masses have been relegated. If the TLM was sincerely encouraged by the bishops, I am convinced that it would flourish. I’m not talking about saying “hey, there is a TLM at 2:30 pm on Sunday afternoon at one inner city parish where a cop car has to sit in the parking lot during Mass to ensure your safety.” I’m talking about offering catechetical and history lessons about the TLM, making it available in large suburban parishes, and perhaps, even the bishops offering it in their cathedrals on occasion.
 
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there are a few trad bishops in the us… my diocese is up for a new bishop worhin the next year and I sincerely hope he has a great love for the liturgy.
and I agree with your statement about making TLM more availible.
 
My kids couldn’t care less about TLM, or for praise and worship either. It’s not about that. TLM is simply a non-issue. It’s not even on the radar screen.

What keeps people faithful is other people spreading the Gospel as an integral part of life. The Gospel is appealing and life giving. It answers many questions about life.

Do we know how to spread it? For example:
Millenials are bombarded with all sorts of false ideologies.
How many people here are truly familiar with Theology of the Body? Not just tangentially, but truly familiar with it? This is the kind of razor that is required to nuke the deceptions that our culture offers, and do it in a joyful and confident way.
 
It depends on the Protestant.
Some still hold the Eucharist as the center of the Mass, but others say it is about the faithful (of the Zwinglian variety).

The Mass is about giving ourselves to God.
What I am saying is that the Eucharist is the Source and Summit of our Faith. The Mass is literally called the Celebration of the Eucharist.
What I am saying is that what is needed is that we need people who understand the divine reality of what goes on at Mass. It is a partaking of the one Heavenly Mass, an offering of the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus, presented in the Eucharist. If people understood and believed this, who would miss the obligatory Mass?
 
What I meant by that is all either for Christ or all for us. There are different ways to highlight the Divine Reality happening at Mass that appeal to different people.
But, what matters is the faith. If people understand and know/believe what is going on during Mass, who wouldn’t go at least to the obligatory ones? Even if its one that doesn’t “appeal” to you. That is my point. I believe I have read that Life teen masses are successful at bringing out vocations. What matters is the Faith.
 
misstherese said:
Hahah I’m seriously the same. I like going to mass and not having to talk to anyone afterwards or go to coffee and donuts because frankly the people aren’t really my crowd (plus often there is gossip which makes me go, “really?”) but in general I don’t talk much anyway.
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I’m with you. We have a social after the Sunday Mass on the 3rd Sunday of each month. Food galore, coffee, etc. But I don’t feel I fit in. I’m an introvert, I don’t go to Mass to socialize afterward, I go to Mass to worship God and that has not changed since I was 16.
 
The parish I go to has 4,000 people. If it was a Protestant Church it would be a megachurch. The difference is we have six Masses. You have thirty minutes between Sunday Masses. This makes it harder to have community.
 
I was told by a priest that participating in any other service besides Catholic Worship would be like committing adultery. Think about it we are baptized into the real body of Christ. Christ is the bridegroom and the church meaning his mother Mary is the bride. So if we seek relations with another church that is the same thing as adultery. You need to pick one or the other.
 
Yes, don’t go to another mass that isn’t Catholic.
I’m sorry if it sounded like I advocated that at all.
 
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I used to go to a Baptist Church years ago with my ex-wife. We used to go to Bible study you’d be amazed at the people that out right hate Catholics.
 
Perhaps in America, but America is unrepresentative of the church as a whole. Catholic youth in Europe are pretty traditional. That being said, I wager a larger percentage of young people (most especially converts) than you’d care to realise love the traditional mass.
 
We “internet geek Catholics” have a tendency to assume everyone else is an “internet geek Catholic”. Likely you hang out with other “Catholic nerds” (all of those titles are titles I apply to myself).

As a convert, as a person who works for the parish and does Catholic work at a national level in the US, I do have a bit of experience. Joe Pewsitter does not read all of the documents, get excited about an encyclical from 500 years ago, as much as we might wish they would!
 
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