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Hoosier-Daddy
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oh, but it is.
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Ok. I don’t want to start a debate about whether or not family bonding is something we do at Mass. But I do want to explain my point of view and everyone is free to either agree or disagree with me.
When I hear “family bonding”, I picture family members doing an activity in which they directly engage socially with each other, for instance: a family eating dinner together and telling each other what they did that day; family members playing a board game together; or parents reading to their kids before bed. Nothing like this happens at Mass. Yes, there is a community aspect to it, but the main “engaging” goes on between each person and Jesus.
The OP specifically used the words “family bonding” in her post and then got angry that some of us pointed out that Mass isn’t really the place for family bonding but rather the place to focus on Jesus. She also specifically asked how in the world we came to the conclusion from her original post. My last post was strictly in response to that.
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JMMJ
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I vote for letting them go to the Mass they choose. Truthfully, healthy teenagers are busy people. One hopes their teenagers are busy with a lot of good “stuff” on their schedule. School, athletics, friends, dating, part-time jobs, volunteer activities, etc. It doesn’t leave a lot of time for family bonding time. Therefore, the limited time they do have for the family, I would prefer to spend doing something fun where we can continue to learn about each other and catch up with what is going on in each other’s day to day lives. For me , that would mean a cook-out or a family day excursion on the weekend.
Add to all of that the fact that it is important to respect the individuality of the way your children desire to express their spirituality… maybe they want time away from the family so they can have some sort of peace of mind they don’t have with a lot of siblings and their parents around… whatever it may be.
Add to all of that the fact that it is important to respect the individuality of the way your children desire to express their spirituality… maybe they want time away from the family so they can have some sort of peace of mind they don’t have with a lot of siblings and their parents around… whatever it may be.
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tafan2
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I Very thankful that we have so many really good parishes within a 20 or 30 minute drive.
But I don’t find it amazing. In an urban setting, it should be almost the norm. I know it’s not always.
But I don’t find it amazing. In an urban setting, it should be almost the norm. I know it’s not always.
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0Scarlett_nidiyilii
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Be grateful your kiddos go to Mass and don’t start picking at them.
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Hoosier-Daddy
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It may only seem like a blessing because you don’t have it. Our best parish we ever had was in a rural place where everyone went to Mass at 9 AM. And the parish was so faithful and reverent. Now we have a teen Mass, a Spanish Mass, a Basque Mass, a Polish Mass, a Contemporary Mass, etc… And why is it that they all are supposed to be different but they end up being all the same! Some of us look at you as the blessed one…
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Hoosier-Daddy
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The family should indeed be bonding at Mass. Mass is a time for family bonding. The domestic Church is an extension of the universal Church and Mass probably should reflect that. The Church is FULL of language supporting the idea that Mass is a family bonding time. We call priests Fathers, we call each other brethren, or brother and sister. And we are sons and daughters of the King. I mean it is everywhere. And so “bonding” should definitely be reflected in familial Mass attendance.Hoosier-Daddy:
Ok. I don’t want to start a debate about whether or not family bonding is something we do at Mass. But I do want to explain my point of view and everyone is free to either agree or disagree with me.
When I hear “family bonding”, I picture family members doing an activity in which they directly engage socially with each other, for instance: a family eating dinner together and telling each other what they did that day; family members playing a board game together; or parents reading to their kids before bed. Nothing like this happens at Mass. Yes, there is a community aspect to it, but the main “engaging” goes on between each person and Jesus.
The OP specifically used the words “family bonding” in her post and then got angry that some of us pointed out that Mass isn’t really the place for family bonding but rather the place to focus on Jesus. She also specifically asked how in the world we came to the conclusion from her original post. My last post was strictly in response to that.
Your definition of “family bonding” is different from mine. That’s where we disagree. I agree that there is a community and “familial” aspect to the Mass, but I wouldn’t call it family bonding. It sounds too much like people sitting around playing together or talking to each other. That’s not what happens at Mass. We bond at Mass because we are all connected through Christ, and it extends beyond our own families to everyone else in the Church.
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Hoosier-Daddy
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Right, and that bonding is ideally represented in the domestic Church modeling the universal Church. It seems less than ideal to have a sibling or child go worship with communal brothers and sisters with a father purposely separated from their real domestic Church. It’s something I’ve never understood. Now most of the time we attend the “teen” mass as a family anyway. Actually there aren’t that many teens there. Plus having been a youth minister the biggest complaints from parents was having to separately drive all the way back to Church to pick up or drop off teens. And as far as the type of bonding you are visioning with families… a pack of teens is like a million times worse!
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exiled1
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I asked a simple question of other Catholic families. It really didn’t need to become a “teachable moment” on the definition of family bonding.
If we, as a Catholic Answers community, cannot have conversations without finding error, or something to correct/redefine in each other…good grief!
If we, as a Catholic Answers community, cannot have conversations without finding error, or something to correct/redefine in each other…good grief!
Friend, when you post on an Internet forum, you need to be prepared for the kind of responses you’re going to get. People are going to share their opinions, some of which you may not agree with or like. Some may misinterpret what you say. Some may find your posts to be an opportunity for a teachable moment. Some may break off into little “side discussions” on your thread. That’s the nature of the forum.
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Hoosier-Daddy
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This is an extremely polite and engaging thread. No one is out of line. The discussion is progressing civilly and in an informative way with people sharing ideas. CAF is extremely civil. Perhaps too much so. But psalm30 and I are both enjoying the discussion even if we are coming at it from two different views.
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maryjk
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It is a blessing to us, and we have multiple times for Mass.
We wouldn’t all fit if we tried to have just one time. Our’s are the same, although we have different music. That is partly due to the fact that we have different musicians.
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13pollitos
Guest
It is a blessing, yes! To live in a community that can support several Masses is amazing! What a sense of community. I have seen many parishes merge over the years. It isn’t the number of Catholics it is the number of practicing, Mass attending Catholics.
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DarkLight
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Several years of shift work have taught me to appreciate parishes offering multiple times for Mass. Many people forget that there are a lot of people who don’t have nice 9-5 M-F schedules - it was very hard often to schedule so I could be off for Mass at all, and many times I was near falling asleep for it!
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JanetF
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So true DarkLight. My husband currently works Sunday through Thursday. so we go to Saturday evening mass. He took a vacation Day for Easter so he could go to Sunday mass (he won’t attend the long vigil on Saturday of Holy week because he has a bad back and can’t tolerate the length).
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