Church Picnics/Outdoor Mass

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Maybe this is just particular to my area (Midwest) but we are in the midst of “chuch picnic season”. I am not a fan of them. They are basically money raisers, and do not offer the faith, family and fellowship they propose. And then there is the Polka Mass… :nope:

Our local paper ran a front page feature on church picnics. Of course the non-Catholic ones offered free food, soda, entertainment, etc… (truly for fellowship). The Catholic picnics emphasized the fund raising quality, even stating in dollars how much is raised at one parish (30K). The worst part is that this is my parish and I know it is basically a beer-fest. Hordes of people descend for the party. A loud band performs. Attire is very immodest. It is not a family-friendly event at all. A disgrace really and it takes place right on church grounds.

I am curious of other areas of the country have this tradition?
 
I too am from the Midwest (Michigan) and am also uncomfortable with outdoor Masses. Our parish has a pig roast each year (as it happens, next weekend), which is preceded by Mass in a pavilion. Our pastor is very reverent but, as you say, the congregation’s attire is often very immodest and a couple of years ago, I had heard that one of the ushers doing cleanup found a Host in a garbage bag!

Our pastor had done an informal survey about having an outdoor Mass every week during the summer. Thank goodness, that idea seems to have been set aside.

God bless you and yours,
 
I would suggest that you folks attend Mass at a different parish that weekend.

It’s highly possible that most people in your parishes enjoy those events and they happen to make money for the Church at the same time.
 
OK…I live in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati…There are TONS of parish festivals every summer…All featuring lots of drinking and gambling…I’m sorry, but this makes me sick…For many non-Catholics, this is the only contact thay may have with the Catholic church. I have heard disparaging remarks from many non-Catholics about my own parish’s festival…Everyone knows it’s an excuse to drink too much and teach kids that gambling is OK…

I guess my evangelical Methodist roots are showing! No matter…We do not attend any of these festivals…and I never work in our own. They always send me a packet of festival information…and a plea to help or to sell raffle tickets…That packet goes directly to file 13.

**Festivals give credence to some of the wrong ideas some people have about Cathoilcs. **

**Now real church picnics are another thing altogether. We used to belong to a church whose pastor would not allow festivals, but encouraged the parish to have non-alcoholic picnics…We had great times…It was so refreshing. **

**Lest you think I am a non-drinking prude, that is not the case…I just do not believe that the Church should be in the business of encouraging drunkenness and gambling. **

I realize that these festivals bring in money, but there are other ways to do that…Protestant churches seem to do very well without hosting these kinds of events…We can, too.

Sorry for the soap box, but this is a pet peeve of mine…Always has been!
 
Our parish has a free picnic for everyone to come together in Christian fellowship. When I was in San Diego there was a nice mass on Mission Bay offered during the summer. Outdoor mass is a necessity in many remote places, where there is no church building. A simple table becomes the altar. Jesus becomes present on this simple altar just as he does in a great cathedral.
 
Deacon Tony560:
Our parish has a free picnic for everyone to come together in Christian fellowship. When I was in San Diego there was a nice mass on Mission Bay offered during the summer. Outdoor mass is a necessity in many remote places, where there is no church building. A simple table becomes the altar. Jesus becomes present on this simple altar just as he does in a great cathedral.
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One of the most memorable Masses I have ever attended was an outdoor one…It was in Florida, and was wonderful…The parish had a great picnic, and a Mass…

And…One of the most memorable pictures I have ever seen is the one of a priest celebrating Mass on the hood of a jeep during WWII…

Jesus is truly present at all valid Masses, no matter where they are celebrated…He is always the Same Jesus (title of a book)…Isn’t that wonderful?
 
Our parish (in Dearborn, MI) has an annual Mass followed by a picnic at a local park. The Mass is held in a covered pavilion (in case of rain, obviously), and there isn’t any charge for the picnic beyond bringing a dish to pass and signing up a week prior so the parish knows how much main dish, beverage, and ice cream to provide. It’s a fellowship event, not a fundraiser. I don’t know if other local parishes have fundraiser picnics. Weekend parish festivals with carnival rides and ethnic foods prepared by parishoners seem to be more common as fundraisers.

This year we’ll be having the “picnic” on the parish grounds to celebrate our new church hall. Again, no charge for food, games, fellowship. We do have fundraisers but they are separate smaller events and are often to benefit one part of the parish (Right-to-Life, SVDP, Choir, Youth group, PTA) rather than a general parish fund.
 
CD4 said:
OK…I live in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati…There are TONS of parish festivals every summer…All featuring lots of drinking and gambling…I’m sorry, but this makes me sick…For many non-Catholics, this is the only contact thay may have with the Catholic church. I have heard disparaging remarks from many non-Catholics about my own parish’s festival…Everyone knows it’s an excuse to drink too much and teach kids that gambling is OK…

I guess my evangelical Methodist roots are showing! No matter…We do not attend any of these festivals…and I never work in our own. They always send me a packet of festival information…and a plea to help or to sell raffle tickets…That packet goes directly to file 13.

**Festivals give credence to some of the wrong ideas some people have about Cathoilcs. **

**Now real church picnics are another thing altogether. We used to belong to a church whose pastor would not allow festivals, but encouraged the parish to have non-alcoholic picnics…We had great times…It was so refreshing. **

**Lest you think I am a non-drinking prude, that is not the case…I just do not believe that the Church should be in the business of encouraging drunkenness and gambling. **

I realize that these festivals bring in money, but there are other ways to do that…Protestant churches seem to do very well without hosting these kinds of events…We can, too.

Sorry for the soap box, but this is a pet peeve of mine…Always has been!
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First, i don’t think you are a non-drinking prude… i think you are like most… there is enough negative press that goes around about catholics, and the last thing we need to do is lend creedence to the bad press…

Second, I would say that you don’t have to look far at any party, be it an office party, or Christmas party, or block party, or tail gate party, or you pick-it… to find catholic’s or non-catholics making a royal pitutti’s of themselves… and i will agree that the church picnic is especially sensitive for the reasons you mention, after all we are host to the community. The last thing we need is fuel for all of those who like to hi-lite our short cummings…

Third, the church picnic is a primary source that a good number of catholic schools pay for a good many expenses, and other church related expenses. I have also attended picnics where there was no booze… (believe it or not) and you would have never known it. Some think (wrongly i believe) that you must have booze to draw the large crowd… I am not convinced… I can tell you this. The last picnic i visited that was booze free, there was a great time had by all, and if the crowd was reduced by the booze brigade, you would not have known it… There were raised eyebrows as to the suprise of the success of the non-alcoholic church picnic. 🙂

Please don’t take this as i’m against the occasional recreational drink… even the space ghost enjoys a nice, cold, … well, you know… I just think (personally) the church picnic is not the place for a miller-lite… 👍
 
My mother’s family has reunions every summer. Since the family is mostly Catholic (and large, >100 usually attended) the parish priest is always invieted to attend as part of the family and for a couple of years when I was younger, we would have Mass at the private campsite where the reunion was held (kind of a kick-off for the reunion). The parish priest at the time was a Monsignor and very orthodox (I miss him 😦 ) and made sure every thing was very reverent.

The outdoor Mass can be a good thing if done properly.
 
Many years ago, while living in AZ, our parish had an annual parish picnic. It was in a park area and always was on a Sunday and started with Mass. I use these Masses as examples when talking to people. Even though we were at a rocky canyon picnic area, everyone knelt at all the approprite places. As I said, this was some years ago, but way after VII. Everytime someone says that we can’t kneel in churches that have no kneelers, I tell the story of one of these Masses.

I like the idea that where there are a bunch of Catholics together, for whatever reason, we can have Mass. CA has Mass on their cruises, I have been to Mass at conferences, and have been to other Catholic meetings, which even though not held in Chuch, start with Mass. It one of the great things about being Catholic. 👍
 
<<<I like the idea that where there are a bunch of Catholics together, for whatever reason, we can have Mass>>>

.You are so right…I have been to Mass outdoors, at conferences, at Women’s Day events, and next week will attend Masses at the Catholic Market Network, in New Jersey. What a witness to the world we are when we have Mass in places other than our churhes…It always makes me cry.
Another thing…A couple of years ago a friend and I went to the Call to Holiness Conference, which is held in Detroit. The conference was held in a hotel…Once I was standing in the lobby, where food and other things were set up, and there was the sudden sound of bells, announcing the presence of the Lord in the Eucarist…Sure enough there was a procession coming down the large staircase…Jesus was in a large monstrance…Everyone in the lobby dropped to his/her knees…Everyone. It was absolutely stunning, and as convert who had never experienced anything like that before, I was simply awestroke.
 
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