Missing Part of Mass

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Hello, I am a Youth Minister at a Catholic Parish. I had a small confortation today with our Nursery School teacher. (Actually they just play games, don’t really learn). She has been asking me several times to get high school students to help with the Nursery during Mass. Parents drop their children off before Mass and they stay there until somewhere between offetory and communion. I told my students if they helped at the Nursery, they need to go to another Mass. Eg. do 9 am Nursery and 11 am Mass. The students don’t want to stay that long on a Sunday morning. So they opt for Mass.

Well I told the Nursery teacher and she got mad a me for telling my youth to go to Mass. She said it is the same as the children’s liturgy… but I told her the children’s liturgy, they leave mass for the readings and homily then come back. And when they leave they hear the children’s liturgy and discuss the readings. Nursery does not do it.

Down to the question. What part of mass is acceptable to miss? Am I wrong? Please help. Thank you.
 
Sunday Mass is important. There is no part of the mass that will be called “acceptable to miss”.

At my church, we have people volunteer to work at the nursery, and they go to the mass at another time. We also hire someone to work there too.

Kids are our future, if we don’t give them opportunity to participate mass, what other opportunities will be?
 
laforec said:
Hello, I am a Youth Minister at a Catholic Parish. I had a small confortation today with our Nursery School teacher. (Actually they just play games, don’t really learn). She has been asking me several times to get high school students to help with the Nursery during Mass. Parents drop their children off before Mass and they stay there until somewhere between offetory and communion. I told my students if they helped at the Nursery, they need to go to another Mass. Eg. do 9 am Nursery and 11 am Mass. The students don’t want to stay that long on a Sunday morning. So they opt for Mass.

Well I told the Nursery teacher and she got mad a me for telling my youth to go to Mass. She said it is the same as the children’s liturgy… but I told her the children’s liturgy, they leave mass for the readings and homily then come back. And when they leave they hear the children’s liturgy and discuss the readings. Nursery does not do it.

Down to the question. What part of mass is acceptable to miss? Am I wrong? Please help. Thank you.
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Anything before the first Sign of the Cross or after the final Blessing is ok to miss.

You are correct if they (the young people) and it would include the nursery teacher would need to attend another Sunday or Saturday evening Mass to meet their Sunday obligation. Childrens church is only for those who have not received their First Holy Communion.
 
this makes some sense. I’ve heard people say you could miss the opening blessing and as long as you make it for the first reading your ok…

how do i go and explain it to this women with out her getting angry and quiting the nursery program, (b/c she seems like she is not very friendly) (btw, i’m new, i’ve been working for 10 months)
 
No part of the mass is okay to miss.

I’m tempted to leave the church before the final hymn is over simply because our parish has an annoying habit of applauding the chior. Usually they do this after the mass has ended, but sometimes they do it after the communion song. I’ve mentioned this to the pastor and he just shrugs his shoulders. (sigh)
 
laforec said:
this makes some sense. I’ve heard people say you could miss the opening blessing and as long as you make it for the first reading your ok…

how do i go and explain it to this women with out her getting angry and quiting the nursery program, (b/c she seems like she is not very friendly) (btw, i’m new, i’ve been working for 10 months)
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Before, I used to miss a little part of the Mass, but when I’ve come to realize how important it is to my soul, I come early instead. Sometimes, we miss because we have no choice, but it is not OK to think it is ok to miss the first few minutes.

If the lady gets angry over this, then this is not the kind of job for her to have. For a volunteer to do this kind of job, he/she must value the importance of the Mass and they do this for the sake of the kids’ parents who will have quiet moment to be with the Lord.

It will defeat your purpose to have kids working and missing part of the mass.
 
laforec said:
Down to the question. What part of mass is acceptable to miss? Am I wrong? Please help. Thank you.
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No, you’re right - if it’s “either/or” then the students need to go to Mass.

I can appreciate that the Nursery volunteer needs help (but on behalf of teens everywhere, I’m a bit irritated that she saw your group as an easy “mark”), but she needs to be honest with those who sign up, and let them know that they will need to attend another Mass in order to meet their Sunday obligation. Babysitting other people’s kids doesn’t “count” as a valid reason to miss Mass.

And I’m a little uneasy in my mind whether it’s even okay for the little kids to miss Mass - after all, they, too, are baptized members of the Church; they’re not Catechumens. Aren’t all the baptized required to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation?
 
i totally agree, however this women is very vocal in the church. Nursery is not considered under my Youth Ministry area, it is under the Pastoral Minister. And the Pastoral minister will not confront her. I told her teens usually like to sleep in Sunday mornings, (the majority come to the 11 am instead of 9 am - we have a lot of teens coming to Mass - Praise the Lord) anyway when i told her that the reason they don’t really want to help is beacuse they may want to sleep in (these students are not lazy, i usally have them at the church several evenings do lots of ministry), she got annoyed and told me that she would find her own teens. I told her i would ask the group again, but she said don’t bother… very strange and aquward…
 
jmcrae said:
No, you’re right - if it’s “either/or” then the students need to go to Mass.

I can appreciate that the Nursery volunteer needs help (but on behalf of teens everywhere, I’m a bit irritated that she saw your group as an easy “mark”), but she needs to be honest with those who sign up, and let them know that they will need to attend another Mass in order to meet their Sunday obligation. Babysitting other people’s kids doesn’t “count” as a valid reason to miss Mass.

And I’m a little uneasy in my mind whether it’s even okay for the little kids to miss Mass - after all, they, too, are baptized members of the Church; they’re not Catechumens. Aren’t all the baptized required to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation?
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well it is more of the really little ones, the infants and one / two year olds. the Kg-1 go to the children liturgy and the older ones stay in mass…
 
Can anyone tell me where this is supported in the Catechism or the Cannon Law?
 
laforec said:
Hello, I am a Youth Minister at a Catholic Parish. I had a small confortation today with our Nursery School teacher. (Actually they just play games, don’t really learn). She has been asking me several times to get high school students to help with the Nursery during Mass. Parents drop their children off before Mass and they stay there until somewhere between offetory and communion. I told my students if they helped at the Nursery, they need to go to another Mass. u.
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this post confuses me, since I do not understand what program it refers to.
Nursery usually means parents drop preschool children off during Mass (or any other time) where trained people watch them as they play, so I don’t know why it would be a problem if they are playing.
Pre-school, sometimes offered in conjunction with RE for older children, is a more formal class with a book, program, trained teachers and aides, and a curriculum geared for their age. Teens can certainly help but should not be in charge without adult supervision.

Often preschool programs on Sunday, which should be parent-run, include either liturgy of the word. It may also be a Mass for children from children’s lectionary, with the priest, and is a full Mass and meets obligation for parents and other volunteers assisting.

But OP switches gears and sounds like Children’s Liturgy of the Word, which is supposed to be for children ages 4or 5 up to 7 or 8, who have not yet celebrated first communion. They are taken to a place of instruction by trained catechists, along with aides who may be teens, hear the readings proclaimed from the Children’s Lectionary and hear a teaching based on the readings from an approved resource, or from a deacon. They then are brought back to Mass before the liturgy of the Eucharist begins. So there again the adult and youth participating do meet their Mass obligation. It is best for those volunteers to rotate so that they only miss the readings and priest’s homily once every few weeks. Ideally the adult volunteer should make the effort to attend another Mass to hear the “real” homily, but as long as it is not every week it is permitted. If there are not enough volunteers for this, then the adults will have to attend another Mass.

If it is a situation where this “Nursery” program does not allow the adult and teen volunteers to participate in Mass, they must attend Mass at another time. This work does not exempt them from their obligation. it is the worst possible thing to teach teens that it does. If the Nursery supervisor person does not know this she has no business being in charge of any parish-sponsored children’s or youth activity.

from OP I don’t know exactly what is going on, but in general for a preschool program parents should be the primary source of volunteers, since it is for their convenience as much as for their children, and teens can help. If it can’t be run without the parents taking turns it should be dropped.
 
laforec said:
this makes some sense. I’ve heard people say you could miss the opening blessing and as long as you make it for the first reading your ok…

how do i go and explain it to this women with out her getting angry and quiting the nursery program, (b/c she seems like she is not very friendly) (btw, i’m new, i’ve been working for 10 months)
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if she quits, good riddance. then the parish can get someone working with children who actually understands what that work is about.

there also needs to be clear direction from the pastor first on your job responsibilities, then on what youth ministry means in your parish, and third, in what capacity are youth volunteers to serve in your parish and under what guidelines. New youth ministers are usually targeted as an easy mark for volunteers, you are expected to produce willing and able volunteers on a moment’s notice, and you and the teens are criticized when it does not happen. This goes on in parishes that have a problem attracting and training adult volunteers. I fight this all the time. Your kids cannot serve in any capacity with the younger children unless and until they have been trained for it and are supervised by competent adults, for one thing. Use that as an out it you have to.
 
laforec said:
this makes some sense. I’ve heard people say you could miss the opening blessing and as long as you make it for the first reading your ok…

how do i go and explain it to this women with out her getting angry and quiting the nursery program, (b/c she seems like she is not very friendly) (btw, i’m new, i’ve been working for 10 months)
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What you need to do is make an appointment with the pastor and discuss this with him. It is up to him to address her on this issue.
 
laforec said:
i totally agree, however this women is very vocal in the church. Nursery is not considered under my Youth Ministry area, it is under the Pastoral Minister. And the Pastoral minister will not confront her. I told her teens usually like to sleep in Sunday mornings, (the majority come to the 11 am instead of 9 am - we have a lot of teens coming to Mass - Praise the Lord) anyway when i told her that the reason they don’t really want to help is beacuse they may want to sleep in (these students are not lazy, i usally have them at the church several evenings do lots of ministry), she got annoyed and told me that she would find her own teens. I told her i would ask the group again, but she said don’t bother… very strange and aquward…
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I would make sure (after talking with the pastor) that you tell and even give out printed information to the youth and parents that are under your program that one must attend Mass, the whole Mass to meet their Sunday obligation. This will most likely be a teaching moment for the parents too.
 
puzzleannie said:
if she quits, good riddance. then the parish can get someone working with children who actually understands what that work is about.

there also needs to be clear direction from the pastor first on your job responsibilities, then on what youth ministry means in your parish, and third, in what capacity are youth volunteers to serve in your parish and under what guidelines. New youth ministers are usually targeted as an easy mark for volunteers, you are expected to produce willing and able volunteers on a moment’s notice, and you and the teens are criticized when it does not happen. This goes on in parishes that have a problem attracting and training adult volunteers. I fight this all the time. Your kids cannot serve in any capacity with the younger children unless and until they have been trained for it and are supervised by competent adults, for one thing. Use that as an out it you have to.
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Youth ministry used to provide child care for RCIA and other meetings for the Evangelization and Education commissions. That stopped when “Protecting God’s Children” was put in place. We no longer provide child care, but do welcome children in RCIA with the parents. They generally don’t pose any problems.
 
puzzleannie said:
if she quits, good riddance. then the parish can get someone working with children who actually understands what that work is about.

there also needs to be clear direction from the pastor first on your job responsibilities, then on what youth ministry means in your parish, and third, in what capacity are youth volunteers to serve in your parish and under what guidelines. New youth ministers are usually targeted as an easy mark for volunteers, you are expected to produce willing and able volunteers on a moment’s notice, and you and the teens are criticized when it does not happen. This goes on in parishes that have a problem attracting and training adult volunteers. I fight this all the time. Your kids cannot serve in any capacity with the younger children unless and until they have been trained for it and are supervised by competent adults, for one thing. Use that as an out it you have to.
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You are so right. Youth Ministry is expected to do everything no one else wants to do. And we are the first to be bumped from our meeting space when another group wants to use it.
 
I found this in the catechism.
2181 The Sunday Eucharist is the foundation and confirmation of all Christian practice. For this reason the faithful are obliged to participate in the Eucharist on days of obligation, unless excused for a serious reason (for example, illness, the care of infants) or dispensed by their own pastor. Those who deliberately fail in this obligation commit a grave sin.

Does this mean if Father says it is okay to help with the Nursery, and not replace mass, that is okay?
 
laforec said:
You are so right. Youth Ministry is expected to do everything no one else wants to do. And we are the first to be bumped from our meeting space when another group wants to use it.
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That just makes my blood boil. The youth are in the process of discerning their religion - deciding for themselves what their religion will be, and how committed they will be to the practice of it.

I don’t know how we get people to realize that they are not a pool of free labour, and that they, in fact, need their meeting space, in order to be able to (hey!) have their meetings, hash things out, and discover their faith.

So many people seem to be under the impression that young people couldn’t possibly be doing anything very important, anyway. :mad:
 
laforec said:
Can anyone tell me where this is supported in the Catechism or the Cannon Law?
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This is in the catechism in sections 2180-81.

I think that it is obvious that attending mass means attending all of the mass.

There are some circumstances when a persion may be excused from attending any of the mass. The details of what constitutes a “serious reason” are not spelled out in detail. It seems clear that if there is doubt about whether someone has a permissible reason for missing mass the pastor should be asked to make that determination.

As I read the law, if the pastor determines that these teens have a good reason to miss mass, then they have fulfilled the requirement of canon law. But if he does not they are obliged to attend the entire mass, not a portion of it.

I certainly know what I think the pastor ought to say in this circumstance. I wouldn’t want to do anything to undermine the critical importance of the mass in the eyes of our young people. But under canon law the decision of whether this is obligatory lies with the pastor.
 
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