My husband and I have been married for 31 years, and we dated for six years (chastely) before we got married.
So I speak from the perspective of many years of experience.
The discipline of going to church is more likely to be practiced if the Christian lives geographically close to their church.
Conversely, people are more likely to find excuses to skip church if they have to drive a long distance to get there.
We were Protestants for the first 25 years of our marriage. As you know, worship services are optional for Protestants. The very idea of any kind of “obligation” goes against basic Protestant theology of “salvation through grace, not works.”
So,yes, it’s easier for Protestants to roll over, shut off the alarm, and go back to sleep on Sunday morning. Maybe Catholics will attend Mass no matter how far away they live. But I don’t buy that. I know many MANY Catholics who often skip Mass. It seems that many Catholics nowadays don’t take the “obligation” seriously.
My husband and I learned early in our marriage that when we lived within a few blocks of our church, we didn’t roll over and go back to sleep. But when we chose churches that involved a substantial drive (more than a mile), we had a tendency to find reasons not to go to church. This was especially true after we had children.
Then we became Catholic. The reason we first started visiting the Catholic church is that it was the CLOSEST CHRISTIAN CHURCH to our house.
We couldn’t attend our regular Protestant church (we had not been kicked out yet) on Sundays because of our daughters’ involvement with an elite synchro team in Chicago. At that time, there were no Protestant churches offering Saturday evening worship services.
So after about eight weeks of missing church entirely, I said, “I’m going down the road to that Catholic church. At least they’re Christians. And I want to obey the admonition in Hebrews to not forsake assembling with other believers.”
My husband agreed to join me, and we took the very short (less than half a mile) drive to the Catholic church and visited the Mass. And today, we’re Catholic.
I’m not saying that Catholics should attend Masses that are blatently irreverent just because they are within easy driving distances. And I’m certainly not advising Catholics who are devotees of the Traditional Latin Mass to suppress their preference in favor of lessening their carbon footprint. Everyone has to make up their own mind according the fervor of their desire and the strength of their convictions, as well as the amount of gas money in their family budget.
But I think that in the long run, most Christians (maybe this doesn’t apply to CAF members!) will be more likely to faithfully attend church if they live close to their church.
And of course, there’s the aspect of getting involved with the parish life outside of Mass. It’s a lot easier and cheaper and less-time consuming to attend Bible studies or volunteer for work days or join the choir if you live close to the church
), and it is probably one of the most reverent in the diocese, so I don’t really need to go anywhere else.