Motivating people to attend Mass

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St_Annes

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We have an assisted living-type home. Some of our Catholics just don’t come to Church: either daily or some even on Sunday.

Would anyone have any suggestions for how to motivate people to come? We have a monthly newsletter and I was thinking of sticking something in there encourage better Mass attendance.
 
St_Annes said:
We have an assisted living-type home. Some of our Catholics just don’t come to Church: either daily or some even on Sunday.

Would anyone have any suggestions for how to motivate people to come? We have a monthly newsletter and I was thinking of sticking something in there encourage better Mass attendance.
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Is it a Catholic assisted living home?
 
If these people live in an assisted living home, they might need assistance to be able to come to Mass. It may help if someone could offer a lift to people less able to walk for instance.
 
As for motivating them to attend Mass, in your newsletter it might help if you reviewed the laws of the Church and that willfully missing Mass without sufficient reason is a mortal sin.

What scares me, is that I’m assuming these men/women are all seniors in the twilight of their life? Do they ever think about where they will spend their eternity, or do they think that everyone goes to Heaven no matter what they do or don’t do?
 
peter26 said:
If these people live in an assisted living home, they might need assistance to be able to come to Mass. It may help if someone could offer a lift to people less able to walk for instance.
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I was under the impression, from how the post was worded, that the Mass is said at the facility? Maybe it isn’t.
 
Yes, Mass is in the chapel within the facility. It’s not the physical aspect that needs motivation, but the mental/intellectual.
They are ambulatory (walker, cane or alone) and we assist them as needed.
I am just looking for some good lines or statements to throw out there.
I know we can say it’s a grave sin to skip without good reason, and I’m not afraid to do so, but does anyone have any compelling words to share?
Thanks.
 
St_Annes said:
Yes, Mass is in the chapel within the facility. It’s not the physical aspect that needs motivation, but the mental/intellectual.
They are ambulatory (walker, cane or alone) and we assist them as needed.
I am just looking for some good lines or statements to throw out there.
I know we can say it’s a grave sin to skip without good reason, and I’m not afraid to do so, but does anyone have any compelling words to share?
Thanks.
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Forgive me, but the prospect of dying a sudden and unexpected death and spending eternity in hell is pretty compelling to me. :o

Have you asked them why they don’t want to attend Mass?
 
St_Annes said:
We have an assisted living-type home. Some of our Catholics just don’t come to Church: either daily or some even on Sunday.

Would anyone have any suggestions for how to motivate people to come? We have a monthly newsletter and I was thinking of sticking something in there encourage better Mass attendance.
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Hi St Annes,
Just throwing out a few ideas for consideration.
  1. Come up with a slogan to get their attention, something like “Attending Mass is good medicine for the soul” or something similar.
  2. Interview a regular Mass attendee who exemplifies what you want more of and ask him or her how Mass benefits them and put their answer in the newsletter, provided the person is ok with it.
  3. Make a concerted effort to personally invite all Catholics to come to Mass. Some people just need a personal invitation. Some folks might give excuses why they can’t come, but others might be thinking that nobody else cares about them and this would show them that others people do indeed care.
Please disregard if none of these are feasible for your situation. Just thinking out loud here.
 
The only thing to do is to have the priest visit each person personally.
When they feel like he cares, they will agree to be taken down to the Mass.
 
First thing, I would talk to the residents to find out if they know about Mass, if they go and if they do, do they enjoy it and if they don’t go, why not. Get face to face with them. I would look at any obstacles to getting to Mass. If it’s on within the building, consider the time of day and what other activities might conflict with it e.g., is Mass offered right after a mealtime or during another more popular activity? Is the seating comfortable? Do the people who are involved in the assistance in getting to Mass do so cheerfully or do they make it seem like a burden. Is it too stimulating? Is there a lack of fellowship? What other things are done to meet spiritual needs? Confession would be the first thing I would look into, but what about offering a weekly rosary. I’d make the Mass so attractive that non-Catholics will want to go.

My mom and some friends lead the rosary at a local nursing home which is a different situation, but it was interesting. Some of the residents thought my mom was a nun and others thought she was a priest. Really. So there may be some who have despaired at the inevitable direction they mistakenly think the Church has taken, or they may be frustrated with the “never ending” changes, who knows. But nothing beats connecting with them. It might not be as isolated as a nursing home but there may be some other psycho-social needs that need to be met.
 
My mother volunteers at a nursing home where Mass is held every Thursday.
I don’t know the exact mechanism she uses, but she “collects” them for Mass every week.
 
A lot of Catholics aren’t in attendance at Sunday mass, I’ve heard the percentage of Catholics who don’t attend is about 75%. There is no reason to think that old people in a personal care home would act any different than the general population.

Attendance at daily mass is of course even smaller than in the general population.
 
Lormar said:
…if you reviewed the laws of the Church and that willfully missing Mass without sufficient reason is a mortal sin.
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Maybe your perspective would change if you placed yourself in a position of being old, feeble and tired, with muddled thoughts and vagueness of memory.

Threatening people with hell and damnation is a poor way to inspire one to go to Mass.
 
St_Annes said:
We have an assisted living-type home. Some of our Catholics just don’t come to Church: either daily or some even on Sunday.

Would anyone have any suggestions for how to motivate people to come? We have a monthly newsletter and I was thinking of sticking something in there encourage better Mass attendance.
Click to expand...
Combine it with an activity that they enjoy. For example, set up a regular checkers tournament that meets directly after Tuesday afternoon Mass, and invite the players to meet up at Mass first and then go to the games room afterwards, as a group.
 
Kielbasi said:
A lot of Catholics aren’t in attendance at Sunday mass, I’ve heard the percentage of Catholics who don’t attend is about 75%. There is no reason to think that old people in a personal care home would act any different than the general population.

Attendance at daily mass is of course even smaller than in the general population.
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I’ve read these stats too, but it seems it’s the young crowd that needs stimulation, the elderly not so much. If they have difficulties physically or mentally or feeling part of the community, the threat of hell won’t be of much help, I’m afraid.
 
Threatening people is a poor means of motivation, besides which it’s safe to say that the Church would prefer people to come to mass because they actually wanted to be there rather than just being there out of fear of the consequences.

Elderly people can sometimes just be tired of living, borne out of a combination of ongoing health problems, decreasing levels of ability and loneliness, and so lack the motivation of enthusiasm for doing much more than they absolutely need to. The first thing to do IMHO is actually to ask them - that is, genuinely engage with them on what might make them more likely to attend. More than anything else, they will want to be listened to.
 
I would try to win them over one at a time. Get to know one of them, show them that you are interested in them, and then, and only then, let them know that their presence was missed at Mass. And really mean it.

The opinions of a person who cares about you matter. The opinions of someone who wants to save you in the abstract don’t. This may mean you never get around to convincing all of them, but you can save some. And that’s better than none.
 
FWIW, my elderly mom struggles with attending mass because “they changed it again” - she was already missing mass sometimes due to physical illness or transportation problems when they changed the responses, so she wasn’t there when they started. For her, it feels too embarrassing to give the “wrong” response and being legally blind she isn’t able to read the words off of a guide - esp. when “everyone” else already knows them all by now.

It’s easy to say that’s no big deal, when to us, it is no big deal. But to her it is. I imagine she’s not the only person struggling with this.
 
I think all you can do is let them know Mass is available and invite them.They could have all kinds of reasons they don’t want to go - can’t sit/stand/kneel that long, have incontinence and want to be near a restroom, can’t remember the Mass responses, or just plain don’t want to go and are not interested.
 
Whatever you do, don’t go with the threatening them with mortal sin idea.

God encourages us with love and kindness. He doesn’t threaten us. Many elderly people already struggle with anxieties and fears and it has to do with how their brains chemistry is changing. It’s not their fault. It’s a biological process happening.

Threats aren’t the answer.
 
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