Catholic Schools - What happened to daily Mass?

  • Thread starter Thread starter GoodForm
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
G

GoodForm

Guest
I went to Catholic schools in the 70’s, and even during that wacky time we still started each school day off with Mass. Thankfully the school we send our children to today still maintains this practice, but sadly this seems to be the exception these days.

I have some very negative opinions as to why I think this has happened, and I want to get your feedback on this. I’m hoping I’m totally wrong, but here goes.

I believe the reason this has happened is that Catholic schools have caved in to the nominal Catholics and non-Catholics who attend. I believe these people may have put some pressure on the schools to “better use their time”, to quit “wasting” such valuable learning time. “Every day is a bit much don’t you think? Why not just make it one day during the week?” Add to this the watered down catechesis resulting in a diminished appreciation of the Mass, and you have what you have today, Mass on Friday’s only.

You might argue something about the Priest shortage, but I’ve seen this in parishes that have more than 1 Priest.

Thoughts? Comments?
 
😉 I’m sorry. I intended for this thread to be posted in the Water Cooler forum, but got a little too quick with the mouse. :o If the moderator might move this to that forum, I would appreciate it.
 
I too went to Catholic elementary school where the day started off with daily mass. This was in the 70s too.

Now it seems that Catholic schools hold a weekly mass for the students, if any mass at all.

Our parish holds two daily masses in the morning and we only see students there one day a week, at best.

I don’t know the reasons for this change. I appreciated attending mass daily as a child. I probably didn’t appreciate it as much as I did in the early years (first through fourth grade) as I did after the fourth grade.

As I see it, daily mass is about 30 minutes at best. As a part of religious education and the overall education, this does not seem to be too excessive in the scheme of the education of a student.
 
My School holds a Monthly Mass… For a few reasons…

We’re lucky if our Priest can make it early…
We have no Church… We convert our gym during Mass Days… And as someone who helps with this, it is no easy task.
Due to state requirements, we have a pretty strict schedule…

Luckily, we have religion as one of our classes daily, for all 4 years.
We also have a small chapel occasionally used for Mass before a Sports event, and it is open 24/7…
I’ve been there at midnite working on a play and it was opened :eek:

If we were a Parish school, I’m sure we would see maybe 3 Masses a week.

At my grade school, it was 2 Masses a week.
 
there is at least one previous thread on this topic, our Catholic school had daily Mass in the 60s, that went to once a week in the 70s, reason was board of education mandated school hours and for some reason pastor did not offer an earlier Mass. any time at Mass comes out of school day and must be made up. because of bus schedules school could not run later in the afternoon.

this was the same problem at my kids’ school. the daily Mass was offered at 6 am because most parishioners were factory workers who had to be to work at 7, the nuns were there, but a little early for school kids.

at current parish there is a special 8:15 Mass on Friday for the school, the kids take turns by class doing readings, music etc. the trouble is, the teachers tell me, parents think of kids go to Mass during school the don’t have to come Sunday, less than half the school families attend Sunday Mass in this parish. that is one reason I have been resisting a regular children’s Mass during CCD, because I fear families will not come on Sunday.
 
The state requirements is something I didn’t think about, and one of the reasons I started this thread: to gain some understanding.
 
When I went to a Catholic school we always had daily Mass. And sometimes my mother would send us off to church on Saturdays, as well. And of course we always went to church on Sundays and holidays.
 
during the summer, my daughter becomes a daily communicant with me (unless she’s stayed the night at a friends, or has a friend over, I’m not scrupulous about it for her).

CARose
 
In Texas, the state has no authority over the number of hours a day, number of days per year or the curriculum of any private school, including Catholic schools. Unfortunately, the diocese decided to use a program of regulating school hours that closely mimics the public school regulations so some schools might still have a problem.

In either case, Mass should qualify as “school time” at least as much as inane school assemblies, craft and field days, and field trips do for the public school kids. 😦

My kids are fortunate to attend an independant Catholic school. However, this means that we don’t have a Church attached or nearby. (Actually we are attached to a Greek Orthodox church but that doesn’t help with daily Mass.) The Basilian Fathers graciously allow one of their priests to serve as chaplain for our school and he comes to say Mass twice a week. When he cannot make it due to duties to his order, we have some parish priests who fill in but it is completely “free will” extra work for them in addition to thier regular schedule. One priest comes on his day off. 👍

And that is why our school does not have daily Mass.

Still twice a week is a lot more than what the other Catholic schools nearby have - which is usually once a week. The other days of the week, our kids start the day with chapel including the Angelus.

When we were in Venezuela, the kids attended a Catholic school and had Mass three times during the year. 😦
 
CA - 70s…since our parish offered daily mass, we students were ‘encouraged’ to attend daily as well. It was not mandatory, but since it was an 8 am mass this worked out perfectly for working moms. They could drop us off at Mass knowing the nuns would escort us to the schoolyard afterward (though most of us walked or biked). If the child did not attend the mass, they had to be at clas by 8:55, if I recall. School attendance records were based on when the school bell rang, not the church bells.

The students had reserved seating - by class - on one side of the church, leaving the other side for the regular parishioners. And yes, the teachers were there - making note of who was there and who wasn’t. Well, back then, no parent wanted the reputation of being a non-supportive Catholic parent, so just knowing a mental roll call was being taken helped matters.

Also, the 7th and 8th grade class was responsible for the music at that mass and the guys rotated off as altar boys.

Now fast forward to the late 80s, early 90s - CA still…my son is enrolled in Catholc school at the parish where he was baptized and hubby and I were married. In the verbage of the contract beside the tuition amount was a pledge to do volunteer work X number of hours per month - and that number increased the less $ one could afford. Mass was not required of the students, though they were certainly ‘welcome’ to attend.

Big difference - there was no reserved seating. There were a few of the nuns there, didn’t recognize any lay teachers. There was no indication at all that any of the school personnel were responsible for making note of which students were there and ensuring the safety of making sure the students got across the busy street to the school after mass. There also was no student choir.

In both cases, daily mass attendance wasn’t required, but the efforts each school took to sending the right signals about the importance of attending made the difference, imo.
 
40.png
DIT:
I probably didn’t appreciate it as much as I did in the early years (first through fourth grade) as I did after the fourth grade.
Click to expand...
It was in my early years I enjoyed mass the most because of the upper class choir/musicians. They were very talented and it inspired me to learn to play the guitar in 4th grade so that I’d be ready to take my turn at the altar when I got to 7th. When our class got to that point, we often encouraged the K-5 kids to help out from time to time. I remember spending recesses in 4th and 5th learning the guitar chords from the 7th and 8th grade girls…it was so cool!

I can also remember how excited I was to finally be able to go up to receive Communion like the big kids (little ones stayed kneeling in those days, they didn’t present themselves for a blessing).
 
40.png
puzzleannie:
because of bus schedules school could not run later in the afternoon.
Click to expand...
Well there’s another difference between my 70s education and others’…there was no public bus system to the school/church, nor were we part of the public school system…if a parent signed their kid up for our school, they bore the burden of getting the kid to and from school. All of us were within biking/walking distance and the neighborhoods were safe back then - plus no one walked to school alone - they’d meet up with a classmate in the neighborhood or walk with their brothers and sisters. Of course if it rained (which in So. Cal. is not often) then one parent would take a car load of students in with their own kids.

sigh I miss that part the most.

The same transportation issue was in place for my son in the late 80s…when we signed the bottom line, it was clear transportation was our responsibility only. They did have an after-school program to help accommodate working parents, and they charged $25 each time you got there after 5:00 on the dot!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top