I came up with an idea a few years ago where I challenged friends to go up to people after Mass to try and make conversation which would ultimately lead to friendship and then lead to catechesis. Friends were too scared to approach people so I came up with this simpler idea.
I want to get a group of people who know our Faith and have them sit for one month in the same area at the same Mass time every week. (My Christian friends have one or two services every Sunday that they attend and don’t miss, so why can’t we). This idea is to foster friendship among people. As you probably know, it’s my little mission. The priest can get this group together by making an announcement that if anyone wants to help they have to know a good amount about our Faith and be okay with the things we believe. We can interview them to find out if they agree with the Church and then possibly start the week before Ash Wednesday. We probably don’t have to make the announcement because I’m sure from the people we know we can find the necessary people. The priest will introduce the group by bringing them up and introducing them at the end of the homily. Reason being is that many people leave after the Eucharist, and so if you say it after the homily they will hear about it. He can also say “These people are an extension of myself. I cannot be there for everyone but I trust these people, and you can too. They are knowledgeable practicing Catholics who want to help you grow in your Faith but not only that, if you are new here and just want some info about us, they can help you. If you just want someone to talk to, if you have any kind of questions about God, these people are here for you just like I am. They will be here 30 minutes before Mass and 30 minutes after Mass. If they can stay longer they will.” The priest introducing us is him blessing us in front of the congregation and saying figuratively, “These people are okay. Don’t be scared of them.”
It’s an easier version of what I proposed before in my other essay. I believe a group of ten people doing this would be good. I think five would be too little. We can put our phone numbers in the bulletin if we are willing too and if allowed by the priest.
Business cards are an option but then again everyone usually has a cell so, numbers can be exchanged that way. What I like about this idea is that we can know fairly quickly if it will work, that’s why I give it a month to see what happens. You would need to come up with a name for the group like “Faith Squad.” Okay, maybe not that one but you know what I mean. I think I want everyone to sit in the middle of the church. If they sit in the front then they are too far from the people in the back. I think the people in the back are the ones we’re trying to reach.
Random thought that could help: I want the priest to encourage everyone to come up for a blessing if they can’t Receive. I want everyone to get something from the priest so they don’t feel left out.
There’s more to say but this is just the basics of the plan. You can do this any way you want. These are just suggestions.
The following are a couple reasons why we need to foster friendship. I took this from my previous essay. You might have read it already:
Our Church is incredibly impersonal and I no longer want it to be this way. Many people who attend Mass on Sunday see the same people week after week yet don’t know anyone. Many people sit alone during Mass, not by choice, but because they have no one to go with. Many people in our Church are simply alone and have no one. Some of these people struggle in the faith because they have no one to lean on. It should not be this way because we should be doing this together. Jesus wants us to be on this journey together, helping each other, but we’re not. The main purpose of my mission is that through fellowship we could catechize properly to those who do not understand the Faith or take it seriously. I’m challenging you to do this for people who have one foot in the Church, i.e. attend Mass occasionally. Let’s get both feet in.
This is a vital thing do to when you think about all the problems in our Church like how many people really want to attend Mass on Sundays and truly understand why they’re there. Think about the difference we could make in people who get to Mass late and leave the Mass early. That final blessing is so important and yet people leave because they don’t know that Jesus is giving the blessing. People that do this I don’t think fully understand the Mass and I doubt even want to be there that much. Think about the possibilities if we could just get people to go to Mass every Sunday instead of just every now and then.
How we change this is to befriend people. Through friendship we can catechize to those who people who “only” go to Mass on Sunday and that’s it. I never knew there was daily Mass until I was 26 years old. I also didn’t learn about adoration until the same age. People don’t know about the goodness that is possible from daily Mass, the rosary, adoration, etc. because they have not been catechized properly. All these wonderful things of our Faith go unused because people don’t know they exist and the things that are possible if they did them.
We can’t expect people to come to us if they don’t know us first. We make announcements at the end of Mass inviting people to a “Bible study on Wednesday night,” or a “prayer group on Thursday” but people don’t go. They won’t come to us unless we go to them first. The only chance we have to talk to people is before and after Mass.
