Daily Mass....a Young Man came!

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purplesunshine

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Like many on this forum I’m faithfully seeking my spouse. One of the ways I do that is go to Daily Mass. I’ve also joined a young adult group with people around my age and do things with older folks in the context of the Church.

Yesterday, though, I was surprised. For the first time after 6 years of going to Daily Mass I saw a unmarried/not seminarian guy between the age of 18-30. It was the FIRST TIME EVER!!!
As a teen I went to a church that had many young people but only female teens and older people attended Mass.
I’d gone to a Catholic uni but at Daily Mass there were female students, the more serious seminarians (male), a couple married guys, and then staff & faculity. I go to Daily Mass often at many different parishes and its often dominated by old women, a few older males and then perhaps 2 or 3 young women (like myself). In all honesty he’s probably one of the first males I’ve seen under 50 going to Daily Mass.

I realize that this is a sad commentary on men today. What makes it do-able for us young women who go off after Mass to our full-time jobs of being teachers, managers and office-workers and guys cannot?

And on another note…why aren’t you older guys going to Daily Mass, either?
 
Good for that guy! Where do you live? Ha ha. At my home church in Oregon, there was a hot man at every mass… the priest (seriously, what a waste). 😃
 
What time is the mass you attend? I am 27 and single and I attend a 9:00am mass on Sundays. I seriously think I am the only single person there (well almost). Everyone else is either 60+ or married with kids (ages 5 and under). It seems very few in my age range that are single attend mass (guys or girls)… or they all attend a later mass which I cannot attend due to other conflicts. It doesn’t help that I am a morning person and my circadium rhythm aligns with that of an old man :).

However, when I was in college (large public university)… all the Catholic masses had tons of young girls and guys unless you went to one at like 7am. Was your school small?

All in all, I have a ridiculously busy schedule with work, sports teams, volunteering, etc and I find time to go.

On a side note, I am moving soon, so I will be attending a new church…I am curious to see if that will be different.
 
us seniors look at the same situation in a somewhat different light. we rejoice when we see any young man or lady at daily Mass and then we start praying like mad for religious vocations. So far all of the prospects have since become engaged to be married (so I guess heaven directed our prayers in a different way) and the cute thing is, invariably the first thing they do is bring the novio to morning Mass so we can meet him or her! very sweet
 
You know I am married and want to attend daily mass but the problem is my work schedule and mass schedule. The only daily masses start at 0800 and so does work. I wish there were 0600 masses for people in my boat. I believe more of us younger (or less “life-experienced” people) would come if these fit more into our schedules. At the Catholic college I am looking at going to if I am accepted for my Master’s there is a noon time daily mass which I do intend on attending. I am psyched about that.
 
purplesunshine said:
And on another note…why aren’t you older guys going to Daily Mass, either?
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😃 I go to the 6:45 AM mass sometimes, and it seems like nothing BUT old men. Seriously, at least 60% of the people there are single, elderly men.

I would have had the same reaction as you, if I saw a young, single man at mass. I almost fell out of my pew in shock, when I saw a young, single man in line for Confession a few months ago. (Haven’t seen any since, unfortunately!!)

🤷
 
Wow, Purple, thats a little man bashing there. But it is true that men, of which the Church was founded on, have decreased in number. Especially the young men. It seems we (I include myself because I am young I guess, early 30’s) have collectively forgot that love is power not weakness. Christ is the ultimate love, and those who attend daily mass, at least this is true for me, are looking for that love in the Eucharist that will lift there hearts and help them live out their life as a whitness to that love that came to save the world from sin. I leave for work at 5:45 am and usually dont get home until after 6 pm, so it is hard to do it daily; however, when I get the chance, I go.

Unfortunately, I see first hand the attitude towards religion in general in the catechism class I teach for 9th graders. Many are just indifferent, some are serious about it, but the few that are just blinded are the sad ones. I dont know how to get in their heads, and I pray that the Holy Spirit works through me to touch them; better yet, that that beloved Consoler touch their very hearts. We should all be praying for vocations to the church, indeed, it is a time of crisis. But also, we need to deeply pray for a return to the church of all the young men and young women who are chosing not to live their catholic faith anymore, for whatever reason. And, we have got to evangelize…Catholics do that too, ya know! Christ wants us to find those young people and tell them they are loved, there is a man who sees their heart, he can lift them up out of darkness, and he will sit them on top the mount of Zion. We are the lights of the world, we want to shown them all our lights, but we have got to tell them how to light their own candle. If we bring Jesus to the needy, we can sit back and watch him save them…

Peace to all of you,

Christian Love
 
Was it on the east coast? Maybe it was my boyfriend 😃

Seriously though, sometimes all guys need is a little encouragement, i.e. “Hey, I’m going to Mass before/after work, why don’t you come with?”
 
Well, I live in the Dallas area, and I’d have to say that I see about the same number of men and women at mass. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of them under 25. Many of them are married, but I think as far as singles go, its probably pretty close to 50-50. Its sad that more young people, those between 18 and 25 do not go to mass. But it has a lot to do with time, location strength of the parish.
I lived in College Station, home of Texas A&M, and the Church that most of the students attended has a ton of young adults. I’m talking about those who graduated college and are single. At the 5:30 pm daily mass there were probably 150 people there most days. Somewhere around 60% were students and maybe 10% were married and over the age of 40. The rest were in that age group of 25-35, and I’d say in this group there were more males than females.
 
I go to a later youth mass on Sundays with is pretty good and is always packed with young people. The music is good and the talks are always very real. Not just the same old this or that. I think the church has failed the youth out there by ignoring them and not giving them more services to draw them in that they can relate too. I know of 3 youth masses on Sunday that always draw big crowds. If all the churches provided these I think there would be an upsurge in attendence all around. I noticed that mid Sunday morning or afternoon seem to be the best times. I used to attend one that started rather late on Sunday and they never had much of a turn out. 🤷
 
I’m single and 28 (male) and I used to go to daily Mass on Mondays and Fridays just up the street from where I work downtown, but due to one of the priests leaving (for retirement) the daily Masses downtown have temporarily halted.

My schedule and Mass schedule elsewhere just conflicts.

There’s very little fanfare at all that I show up for daily Mass, nor do I expect any. When I do go to daily Mass, it’s typically elderlly folks present. I rarely see young women my age, or if I do, they hardly seemed interested that I, a young man, am also present. Perhaps they think I’m married? HA!

I have a friend who is also about my age and we were talking several months ago about dating and finding a good Catholic spouse. He shared with me this story about this young woman who he saw coming to daily Mass and how he approached her, asked her to coffee, and (once coffee seemed to be a success) on a date – then he never heard from or saw her again. He was afraid he scared her off. So, now when he sees a young woman at Mass, he’s reticent to approach since he doesn’t want to be the cause her feeling uncomfortable and feel that she can’t go to Mass without being considered date material. Makes sense, really.

I, for the most part, don’t care anymore. I mean, there are some attractive, apparently single girls who I see at Sunday Mass, but I don’t bother with them. Most of them act like they don’t want to be talked to - that or they’re playing coy which I find both stupid and immature.
 
I think the hard thing is that many younger people (both men and women) are in a transition during that age. Some don’t take their faith seriously and because of that don’t go to Mass.

I don’t know what else it would be… I’m young (not single) but my fiance lives 4.5 hours away from me, so when he’s not here or I’m not visiting him, I go to Mass alone, and I’ve noticed that I’m one of the few single persons there. I’ve went to a number of different churches here in my hometown and it’s always the same case. It’s normally older people or married people with families. Very few single men or women going by themselves.

So it makes me wonder if many people just don’t get into the going to Mass regularly until they themselves have a family and see the importance of it?

I mean, when I went away to college, I was Lutheran, but I didn’t go to church. I was in a darker period of faith. Then I met my then boyfriend and became Catholic, and now attend Mass regularly. So obviously what I’ve said doesn’t apply to everyone, but I just do wonder if it’s the case with many young people?
 
puzzleannie said:
us seniors look at the same situation in a somewhat different light. we rejoice when we see any young man or lady at daily Mass and then we start praying like mad for religious vocations. So far all of the prospects have since become engaged to be married (so I guess heaven directed our prayers in a different way) and the cute thing is, invariably the first thing they do is bring the novio to morning Mass so we can meet him or her! very sweet
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Huh, guess that explains it some. I do my very best to make daily Mass. I’m certainly not perfect, but coming there most every morning I can make it seems to make me closer to Him. I have a really good relationship with our Priest too by do that. After Mass I’ll follow the older folks into the church kitchen and we’ll grab coffee and find something to eat in the fridge. 🙂 Most of the people there are (I would have to say atleast) 3-4 maybe 5 times my age and they always seem to pay special attention to me. All my life I have felt called to married, but these people, I can tell, are nudging me to look into the Seminary. Makes it a little harder too see where God is calling me. I tell them after I graduate I want to pursue meteorology and that for now that seems to be where He wants me.
Sierrah said:
I go to a later youth mass on Sundays with is pretty good and is always packed with young people. The music is good and the talks are always very real. Not just the same old this or that. I think the church has failed the youth out there by ignoring them and not giving them more services to draw them in that they can relate too. I know of 3 youth masses on Sunday that always draw big crowds. If all the churches provided these I think there would be an upsurge in attendence all around. I noticed that mid Sunday morning or afternoon seem to be the best times. I used to attend one that started rather late on Sunday and they never had much of a turn out. 🤷
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Oh of course nothing says, “same old this or that” than reverently focusing our attention to God, as opposed to turning Mass into a upbeat song and fellowship service. :rolleyes:
I find it very sad that reverently praying and focusing our attention purely on the Lord has turned into “same old this or that”.

Yes I have went to several Lifeteen/youth oriented Mass(whatever you want to call it). I find it so hard to pray and focus on God there. The music, albeit Christian, is all pop culture like, I’m literally forced to hold hands, the sign of peace turns into an excuse to hug every person around you, absolutely no reverence during Communion. I can tell that this is clearly an attempt to just get teens to show up at Mass rather than truly understand what it is about. Every Lifeteen goer I have spoken to thinks the “other” Masses are boring with no fellowship and that Lifeteen Mass is so much more fun. I find this incredible selfish among my generation. That: “ I don’t like to go to Mass unless it’s fun” attitude. What happen to that: “Gee, God gives me 167 hours a week to have fun, socialize, do whatever I want, perhaps I should give that 168th hour back to Him for blessing me with all that I have” attitude. Kids love to socialize, when you turn Mass into a socialization event, you’ll undoubted gain attendance, but most importantly lose focus on our Lord’s Passion. Take away the fun and you’ll lose attendance, but whomever stays, however little it might be, you’ll know are there because they at least understand: “God you want me here, even though it may not be fun I know for some reason you want me to be here so here I am Lord.”

There is nothing wrong with the church stepping up to provide activities that are oriented towards their mind set in order to engage them to become part of the church, but bringing that inside Mass is truly sad.
 
Here’s my report… I am one of those really old guys, 51…LOL… I was assigned the penance of going to 1 Mass outside of the regular Sunday obligation one time. So I went on a Thursday after work (530pm). Since then, about 2 months ago or so, I ve tried to make it to that particular daily Mass every week. They also have Eucharistic Adoration after the Thursday evening Mass.

So who shows up at that time? About 20-30 regulars. Pretty good mix, but mostly older people. But happy to say, at least 2 younger men and usually 2-3 younger woman (20s) show up every week. So, there are younger Daily attendees out there if you go to the right Masses I guess.

I really can’t say I pray for any particular vocation, but I am happy to see younger people there since our future is going to lie with them some day…

Peace…
 
TraderTif said:
😃 I go to the 6:45 AM mass sometimes, and it seems like nothing BUT old men. Seriously, at least 60% of the people there are single, elderly men.

I would have had the same reaction as you, if I saw a young, single man at mass. I almost fell out of my pew in shock, when I saw a young, single man in line for Confession a few months ago. (Haven’t seen any since, unfortunately!!)

🤷
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How do you know the older gentleman are single Tiff? 🙂

I would have to say though, I do see a lot of young men and women in the Confession line. 👍 So that’s very encouraging…Might be a weird place to meet Single guys/gals, but who knows? 🤷
 
Simon_X said:
How do you know the older gentleman are single Tiff? 🙂
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:hmmm: Now that you mention it…I suppose I don’t…I just sort of assumed it, since they always come alone. (I assumed they were widowers or something.) Perhaps I am wrong!! :o
 
TraderTif said:
:hmmm: Now that you mention it…I suppose I don’t…I just sort of assumed it, since they always come alone. (I assumed they were widowers or something.) Perhaps I am wrong!! :o
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ha, I was only teasing… 🙂 Merry Christmas
 
purplesunshine said:
Like many on this forum I’m faithfully seeking my spouse. One of the ways I do that is go to Daily Mass. I’ve also joined a young adult group with people around my age and do things with older folks in the context of the Church.

Yesterday, though, I was surprised. For the first time after 6 years of going to Daily Mass I saw a unmarried/not seminarian guy between the age of 18-30. It was the FIRST TIME EVER!!!
As a teen I went to a church that had many young people but only female teens and older people attended Mass.
I’d gone to a Catholic uni but at Daily Mass there were female students, the more serious seminarians (male), a couple married guys, and then staff & faculity. I go to Daily Mass often at many different parishes and its often dominated by old women, a few older males and then perhaps 2 or 3 young women (like myself). In all honesty he’s probably one of the first males I’ve seen under 50 going to Daily Mass.

I realize that this is a sad commentary on men today. What makes it do-able for us young women who go off after Mass to our full-time jobs of being teachers, managers and office-workers and guys cannot?

And on another note…why aren’t you older guys going to Daily Mass, either?
Click to expand...
I’m afraid to say that I’ve only gone to daily Mass once or twice. The few times I was there, the parishioners were indeed at least my parents’ age, which is one of the reasons that makes me shy away from it. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a younger woman there, either, though.
 
puzzleannie said:
us seniors look at the same situation in a somewhat different light. we rejoice when we see any young man or lady at daily Mass and then we start praying like mad for religious vocations.
Click to expand...
Maybe that is scaring them away?
 
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