How do you get teenagers interested in the Mass?

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Any suggestions on how to get teenagers to go to Mass short of picking them up and putting them in the car and dragging them into church? I understand a lot of it has to do with their age (when I was a teen I didn’t like going either). But the Sunday morning battles are beginning to wear on me. Part of me wants to just say the heck with it; you’re old enough to make your own choice but the other part says you live in my house and on Sunday we go to Mass. And it’s my job as your mother to make you go to Mass. Period. Is there a happy medium or should I keep fighting them every week? HELP!
 
Go to the Saturday night vigil…a few weeks of cancelling saturday night fun to go to Mass and they may be more than ready for Sunday…
 
How well-catechised are your teens? I’m a DRE that has had a few feet-draggers, but many are coming around first of all because they actually are getting an idea about what in the world is going on at mass, and second, because my volunteers are able to instill a sense of ownership in their faith (ie, treating them like adults).

Are they confirmed yet? I ask because my kids responded when I told them they would be face-to-face with the bishop and asked if they believed everything the Church teaches and wouldn’t it be a good idea to know what you are promising.

Scott
 
Thanks Meggie, that would be a good suggestion. Unfortunately it isn’t just a question of which Mass to attend, but ANY Mass. I don’t want to force it down their throats or nag them; it just makes it worse. That’s what my mother did and I stayed away from the Church for about 10 years until I finally woke up, with God’s help.Maybe all I can do is pray for them and hope they make the right choice and not waste 10 years like I did.
 
when i was growing up, i disliked mass until i learned what was going on.
 
Scott Waddell:
How well-catechised are your teens? I’m a DRE that has had a few feet-draggers, but many are coming around first of all because they actually are getting an idea about what in the world is going on at mass, and second, because my volunteers are able to instill a sense of ownership in their faith (ie, treating them like adults).

Are they confirmed yet? I ask because my kids responded when I told them they would be face-to-face with the bishop and asked if they believed everything the Church teaches and wouldn’t it be a good idea to know what you are promising.

Scott
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They are not yet confirmed. That comes next year. I have tried to explain to them what goes on at Mass but they don’t seem to want to hear it. They went to RE every Sunday until 8th grade when they started attending the youth group. All was well for awhile and then their youth leader moved and the replacement wasn’t a very good one. I am trying to get them involved in a different parish with a new youth group. They already know some of these kids through school, so that helps. But one isn’t interested at all and the other goes for social hour. Although it’s a much better program than our old parish and hopefully social hour will lead to better things, like an understanding of the Mass. But I wonder if just bacause they understand it, will it make a difference in attendance? Sometimes I feel like a miserable failure.
 
Purchase a copy of the **Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn. **Then read it with your teenagers.
 
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Meggie:
Go to the Saturday night vigil…a few weeks of cancelling saturday night fun to go to Mass and they may be more than ready for Sunday…
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Ah Meggie 😦 you can’t be serious??? Forcing them to Mass on Sunday because it is less inconvienient than on Saturday night?? This is certainly one way to help them reject it even further and even begin to hate it. The Lord would never want this.

I suggest proper explaination of the Holy Mass. Not just to go for going sake but to take the time to teah them what it is all about. I for one know that when teens are exposed to mystery and sacredness they do respond. I am a high school teacher of 13 years and also now invloved with the Parish Altar Servers.

It never ceases to amaze me as to how open teens are to the Mass once it is explained.
 
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Fergal:
It never ceases to amaze me as to how open teens are to the Mass once it is explained.
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And how can it be explained in just a couple of sentences? I ask about such a brief explanation so that it can be explained, albeit incompletely, early Sunday morning. 😉 Then, hopefully, it’ll seed a follow up conversation.

TIA
 
Wow! I don’t know where you got the idea that it is a brief explaination!!!

You think it should be done o Sunday morning before Mass?:eek: Nope too much.

We give classes on the Mass here in our Parish each Friday from 4.30pm - 5.30pm and it takes weeks and weeks over the year taking one part at a time. Very worthwhile exercise though. Same in school little by little and piece by piece.

One week might be on the ‘Holy Holy’ the other on Transubstantiation another on the Eucharistic Prayers etc etc

The kids grow in knowledge and can focus on each part as it is covered leading to an understanding finally of the whole.
 
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Fergal:
Ah Meggie 😦 you can’t be serious??? Forcing them to Mass on Sunday because it is less inconvienient than on Saturday night?? This is certainly one way to help them reject it even further and even begin to hate it. The Lord would never want this.

I suggest proper explaination of the Holy Mass. Not just to go for going sake but to take the time to teah them what it is all about. I for one know that when teens are exposed to mystery and sacredness they do respond. I am a high school teacher of 13 years and also now invloved with the Parish Altar Servers.

It never ceases to amaze me as to how open teens are to the Mass once it is explained.
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There are some teens to which the Mass is a chore.
You can explain it
You can break it down
You can shorten it, lengthen it, and sing it
You could do ANYTHING
but it would still be a chore.

Still, a chore is NOT a choice. But do give them some flexibility…eventually they WILL get it.

One of the original poster’s fears is that they will be like her and leave the church because they were forced to go to Mass. That fear may place in the despair she feels at their being un-cooperatave. The kids take advantage of that big time.

They need support in their faith, too…have them invite their cousins or other Catholic friends to a normal Mass…even if they no longer go to the youth group.
 
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Fergal:
Wow! I don’t know where you got the idea that it is a brief explaination!!!
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Well, I know that people spend their lives studying the liturgym particularly the Eucharist, but I was wondering about how to synthesize in few words what’s taking place. Perhaps even in a retorical way, i.e., to get an action out of it, namely, that the teen comes to Mass pronto.

I was thinking about something along these lines:
*The Mass is Jesus’ sacrifice to which he called all to, and that includes you.
  • Or:
    *The Mass is when Jesus offers Himself to all of us in the Eucharist, and the Eucharist is not offered anywhere else.
  • Or yet:
    *God asks for an hour per week, that’s less than what anyone spends in the bathroom between combing the hair and showering!
  • Am I close? 🙂
 
My almost 15 year old daughter is very involved with the various teen groups at our church. We also incorporate our faith in discussions about our family history, for example the Catholics in Ireland. And I agree 100% in explaining what is going on at Mass. Try to get your kids talking as much as possible and good luck! 😃
 
Augustine,
It is so hard to get it into justone sentence.

Yes the first of your quotes would be part of it. We try to incorporate the idea that a memorial actually makes present the event of Calvary without the blood!! The Jewish people have Passover where they hold a memorial in order to make present the Exodus events. We have the Holy Mass which makes present the action of Calvary. Sounds as if it is way above them right?? Try it and see!

The Catechism provides the following:

“The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ’s Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church which is his Body. In all the Eucharistic Prayers we find after the words of institution a prayer called the anamnesis or memorial.

“In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men. In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them.

“In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ’s Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present. ‘As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed’ is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out’” (CCC 1362-1364).
 
Augustine,
It is so hard to get it into justone sentence.

Yes the first of your quotes would be part of it. We try to incorporate the idea that a memorial actually makes present the event of Calvary without the blood!! The Jewish people have Passover where they hold a memorial in order to make present the Exodus events. We have the Holy Mass which makes present the action of Calvary. Sounds as if it is way above them right?? Try it and see!

St Paul probably sumed it up best when he said:
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Hope this helps!!!
The Catechism provides the following:

“The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ’s Passover, the making present and the sacramental offering of his unique sacrifice, in the liturgy of the Church which is his Body. In all the Eucharistic Prayers we find after the words of institution a prayer called the anamnesis or memorial.

“In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men. In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them.

“In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ’s Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present. ‘As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which ‘Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed’ is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out’” (CCC 1362-1364).
 
Lamb’s Supper by Scott Hahn
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As a teenager, that did it for me. It may be a beginning- he writes in a fairly consice, easy-to-read manner.
 
funny, my parents had a rule as long as your under their roof, you go to Mass period.they did back it up to, I watched one of my brothers get booted out for skipping out on Mass. as parents you cant make teens interested in everything that is good for them. you just set the rules and enforce them when broken.
 
as a DRE responsible for pre-K through High School, I offer these thoughts as I would to any parent.
  1. what is your attitude and your husband’s toward Mass, spoken or unspoken? do you make it clear you go with joy even though it is a duty you do it for love (as you cook and clean for your family, as your husband works for his family, doing duties for love). do you show that it is an onerous duty that you would skip if you could.
  2. what is the prayer climate of the home outside of Mass? meals together with grace? prayer together? even if they won’t pray with you, do they see you praying, reading bible, praying as a couple for your family? do they get a clear sense that you have spiritual life and right relationship with God as top priority?
  3. you say new youth group leader is not so hot. if they have not been confirmed presumably they are in CCD or confirmation program. have you, or especially hub, become involved in any capacity-catechist, mentor, hospitality, chaperone, small group leader–in youth programs in your parish? have you made any effort to get to know those responsible and offers assistance? do you show by your actions and commitments that spiritual development of youth in your family and parish is a priority?
 
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puzzleannie:
as a DRE responsible for pre-K through High School, I offer these thoughts as I would to any parent.
  1. what is your attitude and your husband’s toward Mass, spoken or unspoken? do you make it clear you go with joy even though it is a duty you do it for love (as you cook and clean for your family, as your husband works for his family, doing duties for love). do you show that it is an onerous duty that you would skip if you could.
My husband and I love going to Mass and never miss. We go to a Tridentine Mass but we still go to Mass with the kids at our parish. One time my daughter asked me why we go twice. I told her we wanted to set a good example for them. She said, “you’re a good mom.”
  1. what is the prayer climate of the home outside of Mass? meals together with grace? prayer together? even if they won’t pray with you, do they see you praying, reading bible, praying as a couple for your family? do they get a clear sense that you have spiritual life and right relationship with God as top priority?
Meals together and grace before used to be a regular thing but now that they are in highschool, they stay after a lot for drama club and other activities. But when we are together, we do pray together. Next to my bed I have a bible and several different spiritual books. They always catch me reading my bible when they come in our room at night for whatever reason. I’ve tried to get them to pray with me but I don’t get a lot of response to that. They know that God is my top priority.
  1. you say new youth group leader is not so hot. if they have not been confirmed presumably they are in CCD or confirmation program. have you, or especially hub, become involved in any capacity-catechist, mentor, hospitality, chaperone, small group leader–in youth programs in your parish? have you made any effort to get to know those responsible and offers assistance? do you show by your actions and commitments that spiritual development of youth in your family and parish is a priority?
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We were very involved in our old parish but have just gotten into this new one and haven’t gotten our feet wet yet. In our old parish I asked the Confirmation teacher if I could help her with anything. She turned me down. We are pretty conservative people and our old parish is pretty liberal. I voiced some concerns to them and they told us that maybe we needed to find a new parish. So we did. Many others I have talked to were told the same thing. I love being involved in parish life.
 
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