I was really disappointed in my parish today

[mwalker]

Today I went to the holy day of obligation Mass at 7 PM. There was only 3 people there, including me, except for the priest. As it turns out, our local high school was having its first football game of the season tonight. I suspect that many of the parishioners were gone to the football game. I can only hope that they went to a vigil Mass somewhere else or was gone to Mass somewhere else today. Our parish did not have a vigil Mass yesterday so they couldn’t have gone to it because we didn’t have one. So I only hope that they went somewhere else. Needless to say, I was and am disappointed.

*Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.*

Luke 18: 10-14

 

[Fergal]

Today I went to the holy day of obligation Mass at 7 PM. There was only 3 people there, including me, except for the priest. As it turns out, our local high school was having its first football game of the season tonight. I suspect that many of the parishioners were gone to the football game. I can only hope that they went to a vigil Mass somewhere else or was gone to Mass somewhere else today. Our parish did not have a vigil Mass yesterday so they couldn’t have gone to it because we didn’t have one. So I only hope that they went somewhere else. Needless to say, I was and am disappointed.

How wonderful. There were only 3 people under the Cross of Christ with Mary on that original Good Friday. Remember Jn 19:25? Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene

Just thank God you were there. After all your soul is your business. The souls of others is their business. if they found the appeal of the game more enticing I am sure the Lord will remind them of it during their face to face meeting.

I can understand you dissapointment but you should also rejoice in your joy.

 

[saylo]

I wish just once on the Sunday following a Holy Day of Obligation, the Priest would ask who missed the Holy Day and who went to mass. Then he kindly instruct those that missed for no reason that they are in mortal sin and to please refrain from going to communion.

When is the Church going to start to enforce these rules?

Well said…and charitable too.

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Our pastor announced it on Sunday, we had a good turn out for the 7PM vigil Mass, and my wife said the 9AM Mass was good.

However, not as many turned out as do on Sunday, so its obvious, that not all Catholics take Holy Days of Obligation serious.

Jim

 

[whatevergirl]

Agreed. Priests should, from time to time, remind folks the gravity of what mortal sins are. Would be most welcome and refreshing…

I agree–mass is actually more for us, than God. God wants us to fellowship in community and in worship to Him. But, He doesn’t need us…we need Him. It would be also refreshing if priests spoke of why things become mortally sinful…not just the do’s and don’ts of the Catholic faith. There are substantial reasons why our faith treats certain sins differently…and I wish there would be more explanations…

 

[Larowyn]

Priests will drive people from Mass if they tell them they are sinning.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

Today I went to the holy day of obligation Mass at 7 PM. There was only 3 people there, including me, except for the priest.

I agree that it’s disappointing to see a small number of people come for holy day Masses. The crowd at my parish was larger than yours, but still much, much smaller than you would see on a Sunday. On the other hand, the priest commented that it was wonderful to see people, especially on a Friday night.

But it seems to me that one of the reasons people don’t take holy days seriously is that the Church itself doesn’t take them seriously. If a holy day falls on a Saturday or Monday (except for Immaculate Conception and Christmas) the obligation is dispensed. In most dioceses the Ascension has been transferred to Sunday. If the days were important, wouldn’t we always celebrate them?

 

[MomblessedX3]

We didn’t have a football game…the school district scheduled Freshman orientation at the same time. It is so irritating.

I didn’t attend mass because of this, but I didn’t realize it was a mortal sin.

I guess I need to go to confession today so I can recieve the Eucharist tomorrow.

 

[Gamera]

Holly, one time on a sunny summer Saturday, I walked into church for confession and found I was the only parishioner there. I went inside the confession room and said, “Hi, Father. I guess it isn’t very crowded today.” He looked at me and said, “More crowded than usual.”

 

[Thunderbird]

It depends on the time of day, too. My church didn’t have a Vigil Mass but we did have 3 masses during the day (7am, 12:10, 7:30). I wasn’t around for the early morning one but I helped out for the other two.

Really, I expected the afternoon mass to be sparse and the evening mass to contain the most people…come to find out it was the other way around. 12:10 looked like our Saturday 5pm mass in terms of crowd (filled every row - Amen!). The 7:30 on the other hand only had about 30 people including the choir and priests. I asked my priest why so few people showed and he said people just prefer noonday mass for some reason.

Anyway, we didn’t have lectors or anything scheduled for any of the masses, so father had me scrambling around for volunteers. Fun times.

 

[Simon_X]

For the person who started this blog. No, you should not feel guilty. To judge things that are wrong as being wrong is just being prudent. You are right to be upset by things that are wrong. That is just, and you show that you have discernment and a well formed conscience to recognize that things are indeed wrong.
The thing is that these days so many people, including a lot of Catholics, do not have a very well formed conscience.Often through no fault of their own. Many people growing up in the 60’s and 70’s and since then did not receive a proper Catholic education even in Catholic schools. Many Catholic parents didn’t do a very good job teaching their children either, and some trusted the Catholic schools “expecting” them to pass the faith on to their children. Sometimes because they themselves had received a terrific Catholic education in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, at the hands of holy priests and nuns. But after Vatican 11 many priests and nuns were anything but a good example to their charges.
That being said. We are living in a time of great sinfulness. Even a lot of Catholics think that sleeping with people outside of marriage is perfectly natural and acceptable, especially if you are engaged to be married. A lot of people just do not have a strong sense of sin anymore. But wherever sin is great, God’s grace is greater. God always wins in the realm of goodness.
I once read somewhere that in the end times (which we are living in now) sin will be so rampant that it will be epidemic. And of course the saints of these times will be “the greatest of saints”. To me that means that those who are most aware of sin will have to suffer immensely because they will hurt all the time seeing so much sinfullness all around them. That means that those of us (by the grace of God) with the more developed consciences must constantly go before God on behalf of our brothers and sisters who stray. We must plead for His mercy and pray for His grace on all souls.
That does not mean that we think we are better than others, we just recognize that God has given us a clearer view of things, and therefore called us to look after those around us. If we see sin in others, we most certainly see it most clearly in ourselves.
God bless you in your suffering for righteousness sake. But don’t waste even a drop of that suffering, offer it up with Christ’s suffering for those who don’t even realize that they are offending God. Keep them in your prayers and close to your heart, and that will please Jesus endlessly. If you can learn to see those erring people as your beloved children, you will take on the heart of Jesus, and you will understand what love He felt for all of us sinners when He hung there on the cross.

Amen

 

[Simon_X]

Priests will drive people from Mass if they tell them they are sinning.

It’s their job to tell people what sin is if that don’t know…

 

[whatevergirl]

We didn’t have a football game…the school district scheduled Freshman orientation at the same time. It is so irritating.

I didn’t attend mass because of this, but I didn’t realize it was a mortal sin.

I guess I need to go to confession today so I can recieve the Eucharist tomorrow.

Hi momblessed;

You are not in ‘mortal’ sin if you did not have intent, or didn’t know that something was sinful. I have felt guilty of such things too, and yes, it’s better to go to Confession than not…but just wanted to let you know that if we have no idea something is a mortal sin, we are not (as) culpable as we will be the next time, now that we DO know. God bless!

 

[Biggie]

I feel so ashamed of myself now. I should not be judging my fellow parishioners. I hope that I did not commit a mortal sin by judging them as I just went to confession.

Ouch! Nothing to feel ashamed about. I was just making a sincere statement.

I don’t like “electric” Masses - you know, a shock at every Mass. Depending on where you go, there is so much that potentially distracts and it is already difficult enough to keep your head in the game. I know the Mass is supposed ot be a “communal celebration” but I made up my mind a long time ago that concept doesn’t work for me. It is for me much more contemplative and personal, between Our Lord and me. So faced with some of the nonsense that can be said from the pulpit, the over-ceremonial, modernized, human oriented, performance enhanced, production value Masses I have attended, I have placed myself in a mental monastery. I just want to find Our Lord there and hang out.

 

[jmcrae]

I have a couple of questions. The priest today left out the homily, the Nicene Creed, and the exchanging of peace with each other. Is this excusable because there were so few people there or what?

I don’t think so. Even if he was by himself, it was still a Solemnity. The Mass that I went to was packed to the walls and full of kids, because it was also the 40th Anniversary of the promulgation of Humanae Vitae.

The people who brought up the gifts brought their babies with them, and the babies also got a special blessing at the end.

 

[Holly3278]

Ouch! Nothing to feel ashamed about. I was just making a sincere statement.

I don’t like “electric” Masses - you know, a shock at every Mass. Depending on where you go, there is so much that potentially distracts and it is already difficult enough to keep your head in the game. I know the Mass is supposed ot be a “communal celebration” but I made up my mind a long time ago that concept doesn’t work for me. It is for me much more contemplative and personal, between Our Lord and me. So faced with some of the nonsense that can be said from the pulpit, the over-ceremonial, modernized, human oriented, performance enhanced, production value Masses I have attended, I have placed myself in a mental monastery. I just want to find Our Lord there and hang out.

I’m sorry Biggie. I did not intend to hurt your feelings or cause you negativity in any way.

 

[Larowyn]

It’s their job to tell people what sin is if that don’t know…

It’s very hard to tell people something that they don’t want to hear, and that difficulty is even greater when you also want them to keep showing up after they hear it.

 

[Beachcomber]

Our parish had a pretty robust turn out for Mass yesterday and we live in a resort area where everything is extremely laid back. It was nice to see people take a break in their day and spend time with the Lord.

 

[Biggie]

Our parish had a pretty robust turn out for Mass yesterday and we live in a resort area where everything is extremely laid back. It was nice to see people take a break in their day and spend time with the Lord.

Maybe all the OP’s people were there!

 

[Thunderbird]

So, I showed up forty-five minutes before the evening mass was supposed to start and the church wasn’t open yet so I sat down on the front stoop and people-watched. Why do I mention this? Because I watched as people pulled into St. Leo’s PRIVATE parking lot, parked and then walked PAST the church and off to do their shopping/dining in the neighborhood.

We had to open up the back lot just so our few lil parishoners could park for Mass. I mean, I feel like we need to put up a sign of some kind so people won’t steal our spaces… at least on Holy Days and Sundays.