Inviting College friends to Church

[pjMerluza]

I attend a college, and i have friends who are catholic but not practicing. I was wondering how i could invite them, because i would have a hard time explaining why they couldn’t receive communion. I feel like if i did, then they just wouldn’t go. So how do i invite a non-practicing Catholic to Mass without offending them?

 

[JohnDamian]

So how do i invite a non-practicing Catholic to Mass without offending them?

You don’t mollycoddle around the point. You should be honest and ask if they want to come to mass; if they do then that is great - beforehand however make sure that they know not to recieve.

If they still choose to recieve; you might want to ask them to speak to the Priest; or after mass you might (together) ask the Priest about recieving communion when non-practicing.

 

[Brannock]

If I was with a group of my friends before going (evening Mass on campus), I usually just tried to announce it on my way out. “I’m heading over to Mass, anybody wanna come?”. I never expected anybody to take up the offer. One friend in particular had discussed the possibility of coming with me on several occasions, but every week he made an excuse to not come.

In my 3rd semester, it was my first week running the music, and I came to him right a couple hours before and said, “I am nervous doing this by myself, will come down and play at Mass with me?”. Much to my surprise he immediately jumped up and came right with me. He has been to Mass every Sunday ever since, came to every bible study, went to confession, had his confirmation a year later, and now he is the music director at a parish in VA.

I guess the point of the story is, just ask, God will take care of it, so offer the invitation. But also, don’t be discouraged if nobody takes you up on your offer.

 

[Barbkw]

I’d test the waters first, to see if your friends are interested in the historical, spiritual and liturgical significance of our Mass (as college students might be).

Comparing and contrasting Catholic and Protestant services.

However, as Brannock expressed it above, I do think that is more commonly how the Holy Spirit works - by gently pushing people into the Water

 

[stanncie]

Hi

The way I did it was kinda tricky. I have a friend who at the time i knew was not much of a practicing catholic but still identified herself as one.

My young adult group organized a trip to St Augustine and it was open to anyone. I invited my friend and suggested she come to the group a few weeks before the trip so she could get to know the people with whom she would be traveling. Now i knew she couldn’t say no to the trip because she loves travel and she’s a very type A person so she would never go anywhere where she didn’t feel at least semi-comfortable.

She started coming to the weekly meetings and then went on the trip. In the beginning she didn’t like the prayer group but she made friends with the people there so she kinda kept coming. Then she started hanging out with us outside of the church during social events and such. For a few months she just did the social fun stuff but never volunteered for anything we did and believe me we are always doing something but i didn’t press. Slowly she started participating more and more and volunteered a little.

Keep in mind she’s still not coming to mass on Sundays since the group meets on wednesdays. We usually do something after mass like go to a restaurant or coffee shop so she missed out on that. She kept hearing about it so she started coming to Mass! Soon thereafter i convinced her to go to a retreat I had attended the year before and she was really changed after that. Now she often comes to Mass, volunteers more and is going on another retreat with me later this month.

Now i don’t take credit for this since it’s clearly the work of God and all of the prayers of everyone in the group.

The key is to focus on someone that is already a bit open to it and to be very very patient. All of this has transpired in approximately 6 months. And please don’t nag people or act holier than thou that’s a big turnoff.

 

[TimothyH]

I attend a college, and i have friends who are catholic but not practicing. I was wondering how i could invite them, because i would have a hard time explaining why they couldn’t receive communion. I feel like if i did, then they just wouldn’t go. So how do i invite a non-practicing Catholic to Mass without offending them?

Invite them to confession too.

Seriously, you could just bring it up as you are arriving. You could say, “Man, I’m so stoked that you are here with me. It’s so awsome that we get to worship together today.”

“Wait a minute… Oh man, I just remembered… I guess you havn’t been practicing for a while, huh? You havn’t happened to have been to confession recently, have you?”

When they answer no, just say, “Oh, man, you skipped church dude, that’s a mortal sin. You gotta confess that. What a bummer that you can’t recieve the body and blood of the Lord, dude. It would have been so awsome to receive Jesus with you. No worries though, at least we can join the choirs of angles in their unending hymn of priase together! C’mon, lets hurry in so that we can get a good seat where we can see all the action at the altar!”

-Tim-

 

[Busymom1]

Go ahead and ask non-Catholics too! That was the start of my journey into the Catholic church. I went to college at an out of state school. I come from an area where there aren’t many Catholics and I can’t say that I knew more than a small handful while I was growing up. But once at college there were lots of Catholic students in my dorm. They didn’t try to evangelize me or anything dramatic, it was just a nice invite from a couple of them to go to Mass with them. I went with them and they were very helpful in telling me what I could and couldn’t do and pointing out things during the Mass and made me feel comfortable. As time went on, I kept going to Mass. When I graduated from college and moved far away, the church I chose to go to was a Catholic Church. Later I converted, but I realize that those kids that invited me back in college never knew the influence that their simple actions had on my life. So, open the door whenever you can. It doesn’t have to be a big dramatic thing. And if you never see the fruits of your labor then don’t stress about, because you may have planted seeds that will later grow in beautiful ways.