How to Get More Parishoners to Adoration/Confessions

[PJM]

Hello everyone, I have felt a calling to lead my parish to a deeper appreciation of the sacrament of Reconciliation and Eucharistic Adoration. I have the approval of my pastor in this endeavor and I’ll be offering him a plan of action in January on how to do this. Currently, our parish has a weekly Eucharistic Adoration with confessions and I truly believe that greater attendance each week would will be the surest way to transform our faith community.

My current ideas are:

1. Make the structured parts of the holy hour more devout:
   a. Add organ music to the hymns we currently sing (O Salutaris Hostia / Tantum Ergo Sacramentum)
   b. Use incense, and keep the thurible in the sanctuary throughout the holy hour
   c. Schedule altar servers to assist
2. Develop a “kit” of laminated cards with the hymns and structure of the holy hour, rosaries, devotional booklets, examination of conscience guide, etc. Place this in the main aisle for people to draw from to assist them in their prayer.
3. Pray the rosary aloud together at some set point in the holy hour
4. Have each holy hour “sponsored” by a group from the parish (K of C, youth group, Eucharistic ministers, etc.) the sponsor group will be in charge of placing the materials out beforehand, leading the congregation in the rosary, and most importantly getting as many of their members to attend as possible. Members of said group will also be responsible for evangelizing by bringing other parishioners to their sponsored holy hour.

I welcome anyone’s thoughts on my ideas and would love to hear some of yours as well.

PRAY MUCH AND DO IT:thumbsup:

BUT IMO; what is really needed is the parish priest support STRESSING Catholic Doctrinal teachings on BOTH topics on some sort of regular basis in Vigil & Sunday Masses. In this group very likely will be folks who just lack proper catechesis.

PRAY MUCH!.

The underlying and girding ISSUE most likely a lack of belief in the REAL Presence; and the Nature of sin. There are “catholics” today who accept neither reality& I wish this was JUST my personal opinion.

 

[CradleJourney]

I’ll confess I have never been to adoration because I simply don’t know what to do and the times I’ve asked fellow parishioners, I’ve been given so many responses (and to me they were all fairly vague) that I still stay away because I’m concerned I’ll commit an error of some kind (and I grew up Catholic!).

So for those among your congregation who are unfamiliar with it - and who tend to want to know the whole procedure in advance - I’d say to make sure those information cards are clear AND available in the church all the time. Let people look at them before mass starts, read it over while waiting for their kids to finish after mass (helping/selling/serving/etc). Make is so easy to find out what it’s all about and how it’s conducted that it takes away all worries about newness/strangeness/etc.

---

Regarding confession - there at least I can (and have) easy to follow specific steps so that I can confidently go receive the sacrament…at least until the priest changes things on me (Omits or adds steps/discussion/etc) The one problem I have had here is with reconciliation rooms - been in more than one church where it’s difficult to locate and/or hard to know where the line is (if a line is even to be formed), etc. Our parish’s reconciliation room is down a short hallway just off the restroom - tough to tell when kneeling inside the church when someone’s heading into confession or just using the facilities without following them…ditto for trying to figure out when someone’s come out and/or whether Father’s already in there and ready, or hasn’t arrived yet. Yes, these things which probably seem easily dismissed by many are enough to make a person like me want to avoid the whole possibility of embarrassment / error. Thankfully, one of the churches downtown does it “right” grin for people like me. They actually have a sign they put up to say Father is ready, points the way to the confessional, and indicates where the line should wait.

 

[AnnArbor]

b. Use incense, and keep the thurible in the sanctuary throughout the holy hour

I think more people than you know would find this an enormous barrier to attending. You may want to reconsider the constant presence of incense during Adoration – there are quite a few people who have sensitivities and cannot tolerate it.

 

[peter26]

Many people like incense and it can add to the solemnity of the occasion. Nothing like chanting Tantum Ergo with incense swinging and a dozen or so candles on the altar. It is however probably fair to give warning say when advertising the event in the newsletter that incense will be used.

 

[AnnArbor]

Many people like incense and it can add to the solemnity of the occasion. Nothing like chanting Tantum Ergo with incense swinging and a dozen or so candles on the altar. It is however probably fair to give warning say when advertising the event in the newsletter that incense will be used.

I love incense. But even I would have difficulty with the thurible being present and active during the entire Adoration.

 

[Dan_86]

This is an interesting turn in the thread focusing on the incense as possibly being a deterrent instead of a draw for people. I can see your point that it might be a distraction or agitation to some, something I overlooked because it’s never been that for me. I LOVE incense and for me it really adds to the solemnity of an event.

Disclaimer: When I mentioned having the thurible in the sanctuary I didn’t mean to imply that it would be incensing constantly. The incense burns out after perhaps 10 minutes and afterwards the coals need to be tended. There is only a mild odor during this period, so I thought it would be a nice background “ambiance” and didn’t intend that it would be prominent throughout the whole hour. Thoughts?

 

[Dan_86]

I’ll confess I have never been to adoration because I simply don’t know what to do and the times I’ve asked fellow parishioners, I’ve been given so many responses (and to me they were all fairly vague) that I still stay away because I’m concerned I’ll commit an error of some kind (and I grew up Catholic!).

So for those among your congregation who are unfamiliar with it - and who tend to want to know the whole procedure in advance - I’d say to make sure those information cards are clear AND available in the church all the time. Let people look at them before mass starts, read it over while waiting for their kids to finish after mass (helping/selling/serving/etc). Make is so easy to find out what it’s all about and how it’s conducted that it takes away all worries about newness/strangeness/etc.

---

Regarding confession - there at least I can (and have) easy to follow specific steps so that I can confidently go receive the sacrament…at least until the priest changes things on me (Omits or adds steps/discussion/etc) The one problem I have had here is with reconciliation rooms - been in more than one church where it’s difficult to locate and/or hard to know where the line is (if a line is even to be formed), etc. Our parish’s reconciliation room is down a short hallway just off the restroom - tough to tell when kneeling inside the church when someone’s heading into confession or just using the facilities without following them…ditto for trying to figure out when someone’s come out and/or whether Father’s already in there and ready, or hasn’t arrived yet. Yes, these things which probably seem easily dismissed by many are enough to make a person like me want to avoid the whole possibility of embarrassment / error. Thankfully, one of the churches downtown does it “right” grin for people like me. They actually have a sign they put up to say Father is ready, points the way to the confessional, and indicates where the line should wait.

Hi CradleJourney, thanks for adding to the discussion! You may find the following Q&A brochure on Eucharistic adoration enlightening, especially near the end where it talks about how to act during adoration. I’d encourage you to attend, it’s very low key and easy to jump right in. No difficult prayers to memorize, just sit/kneel/stand with the priest and then pray in the presence of Jesus!

diopitt.org/sites/default/files/Eucharistic%20Adoration%20Brochure%20in%20.pdf%20Format.pdf

 

[AnnArbor]

This is an interesting turn in the thread focusing on the incense as possibly being a deterrent instead of a draw for people. I can see your point that it might be a distraction or agitation to some, something I overlooked because it’s never been that for me. I LOVE incense and for me it really adds to the solemnity of an event.

Disclaimer: When I mentioned having the thurible in the sanctuary I didn’t mean to imply that it would be incensing constantly. The incense burns out after perhaps 10 minutes and afterwards the coals need to be tended. There is only a mild odor during this period, so I thought it would be a nice background “ambiance” and didn’t intend that it would be prominent throughout the whole hour. Thoughts?

I didn’t mean a distraction or agitation --I meant the cause of a COPD /asthma/allergic reaction flare up. Just something to consider.

 

[graceandglory]

Parishes have an interest in making it convenient for people to get to the Sacraments. If their interest was in making it less convenient, they would offer one mass a day at 3:00am, and offer Confession for two minutes a day, during the middle of the work day on Tuesday.The true believers would come!

I’m in a pretty liberal large, suburban parish, due to location necessity, and we showed up early for Confession on Saturday, before 3:30. Priest showed up 15 minutes late for his 30 minutes of hearing confessions per week.

Pretty telling, if you ask me.

 

[graceandglory]

Parishes have an interest in making it convenient for people to get to the Sacraments. If their interest was in making it less convenient, they would offer one mass a day at 3:00am, and offer Confession for two minutes a day, during the middle of the work day on Tuesday.The true believers would come!
Also, the Canon Law and the directives coming from the CDW, far from giving the impression that Confession should be celebrated less that people may prove they really want it, pushes Confession every day, and on Sunday. It is the only sacrament which may be celebrated on Holy Saturday or Holy Friday. It is the only Sacrament which can be celebrated during the Mass on Sunday. That’s right, I said “during.” I am not recommending this practice, because it seems like the Congregation would rather have you do it before and after than during, but even *during *is an option.
I wouldn’t worry about whether before and after makes it too convenient, when you could go even further and still be kosher.

But, the other end of it: People probably don’t know when you offer Confession. Yeah, you hand out those bulletins, and invite them before Mass starts, but they end up lining the floor of people’s cars, and no one’s listening that guy who’s droning on before Mass even starts. Offering it to them when they are there is the best scenario, because they’ll know it’s there.

Most importantly, Catholics get the distinct impression that because most churches offer far fewer Masses on Holy Days of Obligation (weekdays!), when Catholics have to work, than on Sundays, when fewer do, that Holy Days are not considered to be all that important by the parish. They get the same impression with Confession. “Offered thirty minutes a week on the busiest day of the week at the busiest time of the day? Yeah, they must think that’s real important.” I think the parishioner’s impression is basically accurate in most cases; the parish does not prioritize this stuff.

My question is for anyone reading this…

If a parish offers an hour of Adoration weekly, but it’s during the work day, clearly, it’s not intended for anyone who has to work or attend school, so primarily only available for the elderly and retired.

Q: If I want to attend Eucharist Adoration, can I ask permission to enter the Church one evening to pray? Is that a common request?

 

[peter26]

Depends. If there is going to be someone there anyway e.g. cleaning, practicing on the organ, Father will be in the office working on his homily etc and its just a matter of letting you in, I would say its a reasonable request. One thing I love about my new job as statistician is having a key for the church - I can come and go as I please, which is a big benefit to my prayer life.