I have read this entire thread.
It makes me sad and upset.
I can’t believe the way some of you think. It’s OK for people to sit in ignorance in the Holy Mass?! You have to be kidding. Please tell me you’re having a crabby day and aren’t thinking straight.
The more information we can put out there, the better!
That’s why we’re all here on Catholic ANSWERS forum–to get information!! You think that visitors to the Mass don’t want information?!
I’m flabbergasted at this attitude.
With so many cults and sects and denominations and feel-good groups around today, the Catholic Church should be pro-active in giving people as much information as they want about any aspect of the Church, especially the Main Event, the Summit Experience of our entire faith, the activity where we actually receive Jesus Christ Himself–the Holy Mass!!
Again, Catholic ANSWERS, everyone, not Catholic Silence! Or Catholic Watch, where you sit and watch everyone else and do what they do.
I’m involved with another thread about the Children’s Liturgy of the Word, and many of the participants in that thread state that they believe children need to be in the Mass and that the parents should teach them about the Mass.
If we are diligent to teach our CHILDREN about the Mass, why should we ignore the stranger and let them struggle to figure things out and possibly end up on a website from a sedevacantist group or an anti-Catholic group that will totally destroy the truth about the Mass?!
Maybe YOU enjoy a mystery and searching for clues–I do, too, on television on in Nancy Drew books! But this isn’t a mystery story! We’re talking about the greatest activity that humans can be involved in–the Holy Mass, where Jesus Himself is Truly Present! We shouldn’t be trying to hide that from others!
What we SHOULD be doing is offering a WEEKLY class called “Introduction to the Catholic Mass” and teach all inquirers what they will see, do, and experience in the Catholic Mass!
How many times do I have to say it on CAF (I’ve been here over ten years now)–for Evangelical Protestants, the most “happy clappy” (as some Catholics insist on calling it) OF Mass is completely foreign. It’s like going to a different planet. Other than the Bible readings and the Lord’s Prayer, NOTHING is familiar. Those “Protestant” contemporary hymns that so many CAF members criticize have NEVER been done in any Evangelical Protestant church. The older hymns like Holy God We Praise Thy Name are familiar to most older Evangelical Protestants, but not the younger ones who’ve grown up singing Praise and Worship choruses.
The prayers, the responses, the gestures, the Eucharist–ALL of it is completely, totally NEW to most Evangelical Protestants.
Think about it–ALL of these things have deep meaning, and all of these things are grounded in the Scriptures and Sacred Tradition/Church History. Somehow, some of you think it’s OK for YOU to know all the “secrets,” but it doesn’t matter if the “visitor” knows any of this. They’re just supposed to soak it all in.
Well, much of the time, Catholic churches have horrible sound systems and a visitor can’t understand half of what is being said or sung from the ambo or choir loft! (A choir loft in the back of the church is utterly strange to Evangelical Protestants!).
And much of the time, the congregation mutters the responses under their breath or stand silently and don’t say anything because they believe that a believer can fully participate in the Mass by being silent!
And let’s talk about congregational singing–as a rule, most Catholics do NOT sing the hymns or the responses. So the “visitor” would get the impression that the congregation isn’t supposed to sing, but be silent!.
And worst of all, if a visitor imitates all the others, he or she will go forward and receive Holy Communion! That’s not OK.
As for an usher or greeter actually acknowledging the presence of the people coming to Mass–good heavens! If you don’t want to be spoken to, you lower your head and fold your hands or put them in your pocket! Why do we all think that the Mass should cater to OUR personal preferences?
MOST people in the U.S. have no objection to a smile and a “good evening” or “good morning.” No one is talking about creepy people hugging your neck and pushing a stack of papers at you! Several people in this thread propose putting out a pamphlet of some type either in a tract rack in the narthex, or in the pew rack. Catholic Answers publishes several pamphlets about the Mass that are just what the OP ordered, and OUR PARISH puts these in the tract rack in the lobby, and every week, they are ALL GONE! I think a lot of CATHOLICS, even devout Catholics who attend Mass every week, like these information pamphlets not only for themselves, but to have the information in their minds when they talk to their relatives and friends about Catholicism.
Again, people, THINK about what you’re saying! Put yourself in the place of a visitor. Think about a time when you have gone to a new restaurant or tourist attraction, and NO ONE tells you how things work and what you are supposed to do and where to sit, and there isn’t any type of printed information for you to study–it’s awful and uncomfortable, and chances are good you will never go back. Remember the old song from Cheers–“You wanna go everybody knows your name.” Maybe you don’t, but many of us long for Christian fellowship and feeling like we belong somewhere and fit in. And most of us in the U.S. want to be “in the know.” No one likes to feel like a fool.
