I love Old Folks at Mass, I even love the Old Folk Mass

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danhager

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I just want to go on record to say that I love the Extraordinary Form, even though I am an Ordinary guy. I have noticed a trend in some comments about Mass attendance that sounds like some young Catholics want to go to parishes where everyone is young. They don’t seem to like old people. They associate baby boomers with everything wrong and awful with doctrine and liturgy. Without defending amateur guitar strumming or piano plunking at the Folk Mass, I have to say that, as a man born in 1976, I don’t really trust any organization that only has youngsters in it. That was the creepiest thing about the Legionnaires of Christ promotional materials back in the 90s: no old men. I like to see a sea of white heads in the congregation. The Lord promises life, and that in abundance.
 
While I understand the desire many (perhaps most?) have for parishes where there is an abundance of similar people whether the common factor is age, interests, background or something else, there are situations in which this is unavailable. It’s important to know how to thrive in all conditions.

In my parish, I am the only American. I am the only married woman my age who does not have children. I am the only person who is married to a non-Catholic. If I and the other parishioners couldn’t get past these differences, I wouldn’t have any friends. I think my life is richer because of the diversity around me. I’ve learned things I might never have discovered were it not for those around me who have lived lives so different from my own.
 
danhager said:
I have noticed a trend in some comments about Mass attendance that sounds like some young Catholics want to go to parishes where everyone is young. They don’t seem to like old people. They associate baby boomers with everything wrong and awful with doctrine and liturgy.
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I’m sort of young (upper 30s) but I would not want a parish with all young people. A healthy parish has a good balance of people of all ages and backgrounds. I have enjoyed getting to know the older people in my church as well as the young families. So many of the older generation are a wonderful example of faithfulness, and were instrumental in building our parish, and I am glad they are with us.

Plus, I don’t know if there is a such a thing in the U.S. as a parish with all young people. There seem to be significantly more older people than younger who attend Mass regularly. Over the next 10-20 years, as more elderly pass on, I think we are going to see a major crisis of numbers in the Catholic Church (well, we kind of already are, but it will become far more pronounced).

I haven’t seen the trend you mention in the comments here, but I would guess that attitude has to do with either of two things: 1) a worry that a parish with all old people is a dying parish or 2) perhaps in some cases, as you say, a perception that the older generation was the one who messed up our liturgies–which is not a completely fair attitude.
 
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I think promos of all kinds have young people.in it because it is more efficient to convert/appeal to young people. Young people will have most likely have kids etc.
I am not defending this practice or obsession for the youth in the postmodern mayhem. Just saying it for what it is.
Rad Trads want to see youth because most mystical youth is consideribg other religions. So they are just counting heads - how many people under age X are convinced?
They are just making projections about the future. Just my thought.
But I agree with you that there should never be a congregation only for the young. That is foolish. We all get old one day and all of us were kids once so…
 
I dig what you say about diversity- I agree. It makes you learn, especially at a parish.
 
EnglishTeacher said:
I’m sort of young (upper 30s) but I would not want a parish with all young people. A healthy parish has a good balance of people of all ages and backgrounds.
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Yes and no on this. If you have a relatively compact parish, embracing a fairly small neighborhood, you are going to have a lot of people with the same circumstances there. If its a poor area with only a few major employers who are declining- the number of young people you are going to find their is likely to be quite small.

Similarly, if the parish has a huge university sitting in it, or if the parish is a well-heeled section of town, the demographic mix will reflect that.

I don’t think that there is anything the church can do about it.
 
I wonder if we truly have succumbed to a kind of practical atheism, a “sociological” model of the Church, with no real awareness of or conviction about the Communion of Saints? We know that this or that parish can lose viability, especially if it needs to downsize, but we should never, in my opinion, slip into the notion that a Church with lots people at the edge of their lifespan is a weak or dying Church. My parish is a large one in the growing South, Raleigh NC. 5000 families, to be precise and many more unregistered. There is a columbarium as you enter the Church, and it is moving and edifying to see the names on it added, in greater and greater numbers, year by year. I think of it as a wall of prayer around the church.
 
I think you’re making way too much out of preferences.
It’s a Catholic church.
Mass is said, Christ is made present in the Eucharist. It’s all good.
 
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Certainly, but humans are still social animals. We need adaquate social interaction and Christian community to become the best people we can be
 
You miss my point.
The demographics don’t really matter, we’re all brothers and sisters in Christ.
 
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