If the following were offered each Sunday at your parish, which would you typically take part in?

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If the following were offered each Sunday at your parish, which would you typically take part in? Please check all that apply:
  • The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
  • Post-Mass public prayers of Thanksgiving.
  • Pre-Mass kaffeeklatsch in the parish hall.
  • Post-Mass Coffee Social.
  • Pre-Mass Rosary.
  • Post-Mass Rosary.
  • Pre or post-Mass Divine Mercy Chaplet.
  • Parish prayer group.
  • Pre-Mass Bible Study on that day’s readings.
  • Post-Mass Bible Study on next Sunday’s Mass.
  • Post-Mass adult ongoing catechesis.
  • Quick workout before or after Mass in the parish gym.
  • Assist in hospitality ministry.
  • Assist with post-Mass kids/teens catechesis.
  • Choir practice.
  • Cantor/musicians practice.
  • Help supervise kids on playground after Mass.
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I’m not much for crowds and bad coffee so the pre- and post- kaffeeclatsches are out for me. I do go out to breakfast with spiritual friends after Mass so I get good conversation and good caffeine.

Choir practice on Sunday does not work for me. If it’s before Mass, it’s too soon: I like to sit with the music a few days, both in prayer and to technically work out the bugs, before singing on Sunday. If it’s any time on Sunday after Mass, it’s too far away from Sunday and other choir members tend to forget things.

Sundays are days of rest for me so I try not to schedule too many things that day so the prayer group and catechetics is out.

I’m in the choir so I need to get things ready for mass so no Rosary before. There’s a Rosary being said before one of the Saturday masses that I’m a song leader at but, again, I’m setting up for mass at that time (between Confession and start of Mass).

I don’t do well with children or workouts. 'Nuff said.

I pray the DMC at 3 pm with others in the Adoration chapel on Sundays.
 
I’m not much for crowds and bad coffee so the pre- and post- kaffeeclatsches are out for me. I do go out to breakfast with spiritual friends after Mass so I get good conversation and good caffeine.
Many parishes have the ability to prepare good coffee – actually VERY good coffee.
 
I’m usually coming straight from night shift, so really anything before Mass isn’t guaranteed, and I don’t always want to do a whole lot after because I’m tired and want to go to bed. I’d be happy if some sort of continuing catechesis were offered though.
 
There is a lot that I would consider:

Mass of course needs to be attended.
Not a fan of coffee, but do like social time so I would do the Post Mass Social (Not a morning person and the fast would put me of the pre Mass one)

I pray the Rosary and Divine Mercy. While I prefer to pray the Rosary in my own way I would probably be OK with doing the Divine Mercy in a group. Same goes for the prayers of Thanksgiving and Parish Prayer group.

I may drag myself out for the Pre Mass study on the Readings and I do something similar to the post Mass study on the next weeks gospel on a Wednesday. All would depend on timing. Same goes for the Catechesis.

Workout: No, gym gear is not appropiate for Mass and I would not want to carry a change with me. Post Mass walk however is something I do 😀.

Would be happy to assist with the playground or kids catechesis.

I enjoy singing, but people don’t enjoy hearing me so that rules out the music.

In reality:

If I sign up to help with hospitality ministry, the kids catechesis or playground or the adult catechesis or bible study I would feel committed so I would work it into my schedule. I would need to see what other time commitments they would require. Since I don’t think the divine mercy chaplet or prayer would take long I would probably be at them quite a bit.

As much as I enjoy the social I would not feel committed to attend, so it would depend on other things, and if I am completely honest I would likely attend once in a while but not frequently.
 
None. Unless you would allow me to have free coffee and be left alone after Mass 😅
I wanted to be a server long ago, but they only allow boys here so that was squashed. After that I didn’t really care about participating in the Church, like I said elsewhere, I would be a lot more helpful to the ‘secular’ society in my work or something. If I HAD to choose though, I guess I would take part in the Mass, by doing the readings. I used to do it long ago. Was a good way to basically make me read scripture more often, too.
 
Sundays are days of rest for me so I try not to schedule too many things that day
That’s it in a nutshell for me. My Protestant background included Sunday School, a morning worship service, and an evening service, so I would be down with a pre-Mass Bible study, but not on the day’s readings; that’s for the homily. I would also be good with a non-liturgical evening music-and-worship service. But don’t mess with my afternoon nap 😮

D
 
I forgot a few things:
  • Confession before Mass
  • Confession during Mass
  • Confession after Mass
  • Talking some Chesterton or watching the game with fellow parishioners in the parish pub sponsored by the KofC.
 
A couple of notes. I guess if we had catechism for literally everyone as they do in the Baptist Church, I would be fully on board. The Rosary before Mass finished high, but at my parish it is considerably less than 10% that are there at the start to say it, though some join in as they arrive for Mass. It is a little bit of an issue for me because I have to keep reminding them that they must start on time, lest they go right up against the procession. Sometimes announcements are needed. Several times I have had to stop singers from saying the rosary to cover some important point because of late start times.

Wouldn’t care for coffee after, but in that, I would have no choice, at least when my wife is with me. She is always one of the last to leave as it is. In fact, last week we visited a parish in another city. Even then, she started talking to a lady that had set in front of her, and we still were one of the last to leave. I took a picture for my son to show him that even when she knows no one, there is still no escape.
 
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Many parishes have the ability to prepare good coffee – actually VERY good coffee.
Parishes should use one of the following coffees:



My preferred is Mystic Monk because they are trying to build a large monastery, while Abbey Roast is trying to build an addition.

And today, I just heard about a another one called Vocation Brew, they donate all their proceeds to priestly vocations.

https://www.vocationboom.com/coffee/

Finally, there is a pro-life coffee called Lifeboat Coffee (not sure if they are Catholic, but they are 100% pro-life)


God Bless
 
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Confession before Mass is great. I could go if I needed it in order to receive. Again with the barely get to Mass on time thing it probably would be only if I needed it. However aiming to get out to a pre Mass event would probably be good for me.
 
I do some of these already. Our post-Mass prayer of Thanksgiving isn’t public, but my family always does it. Then it’s off to grab a quick donut from Coffee & Donuts on the way to CCD. Our Bible studies are during the week.

Doing anything before Mass is tough when the Mass you normally go to is at 8am. 😴 Even tougher with kids.

I’m kind of torn about doing too many of these things on Sunday, On the one hand, having activities on Sundays when people are already there can make it easier for people to participate, which can make a lot of sense. On the other hand, making Sunday too busy can make it harder to appreciate it as a day of rest.
 
Oh my giddy, what smorgasbord of options. The only one I would go to is the Mass, as my family is already overcommitted in the Anglican parish they attend.
 
I would really like to have post-Mass bible study, adult catechesis, as well as coffee social.

I really miss being able to “be” with the community. Most of the time, everyone just runs off after Mass—at least locally. I’d have to drive or train to another part of town once, twice, or thrice, to get one or all of my selected options.

So, I have kinda just given up. 😔
 
Honestly I’d take just about anything that offered a different option for confession. Around here, basically there’s 2h on Saturday where you can get confession at any of the like 4 parishes that are closer than an hour away. If you can’t make that time then it’s going to take 2-3 weeks to be able to schedule a time for confession.
 
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