Motivation in Church

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I’m not sure where I should have posted this - please forgive me if this isn’t the right spot. I’m 33 and have been a Catholic all my life- although there were times you couldn’t tell that.
Anyway - Our parish is very small as compared to some. I would say we have around 40, maybe 50 total people attending mass weekly. I’m going to that 90% of our mass attendees are 55 and older. Two years ago, we were introduced to the idea of a Parish Council. I started going because I thought our parish was and is very boring. It’s hard to get my daughter, 11, motivated to want to go to mass or attend anything church related when our nieghborhood protestant church is full of kids and are doing fun stuff, unlike ours, which isn’t. We have 4 to 6 kids that attend our mass. I’ve tried to liven things up as much as I can. We had an Octoberfest last year and the kids dressed up as Bible Characters, we had face paint and a hot dog roast. It was fun. We will have a simple hot dog roast this year- but I’m competing with a friend’s Halloween party and another friend’s Haunted House party. Oct 22 should be a great day :nope: ANYWAY - moving on to Christmas Dinner. We usually just meet for dinner the first Sunday in December. Santa Claus comes and hands out a candy cane and listens to each of the kid’s desires. I’m not a fan of Santa- although I am of St. Nick.

My question- How do I liven up the Christmas Dinner to make more people want to come and their families get excited about coming. Well, they don’t have to be excited, I would just like to see our church hall packed like it once was 15 years ago. Any thoughts ? What do you guys do for your get togethers ? I would love to see more involvment from the parishners instead of just sitting there, talking to their neighbors.
 
kita04 said:
I’m not sure where I should have posted this - please forgive me if this isn’t the right spot. I’m 33 and have been a Catholic all my life- although there were times you couldn’t tell that.
Anyway - Our parish is very small as compared to some. I would say we have around 40, maybe 50 total people attending mass weekly. I’m going to that 90% of our mass attendees are 55 and older. Two years ago, we were introduced to the idea of a Parish Council. I started going because I thought our parish was and is very boring. It’s hard to get my daughter, 11, motivated to want to go to mass or attend anything church related when our nieghborhood protestant church is full of kids and are doing fun stuff, unlike ours, which isn’t. We have 4 to 6 kids that attend our mass. I’ve tried to liven things up as much as I can. We had an Octoberfest last year and the kids dressed up as Bible Characters, we had face paint and a hot dog roast. It was fun. We will have a simple hot dog roast this year- but I’m competing with a friend’s Halloween party and another friend’s Haunted House party. Oct 22 should be a great day :nope: ANYWAY - moving on to Christmas Dinner. We usually just meet for dinner the first Sunday in December. Santa Claus comes and hands out a candy cane and listens to each of the kid’s desires. I’m not a fan of Santa- although I am of St. Nick.

My question- How do I liven up the Christmas Dinner to make more people want to come and their families get excited about coming. Well, they don’t have to be excited, I would just like to see our church hall packed like it once was 15 years ago. Any thoughts ? What do you guys do for your get togethers ? I would love to see more involvment from the parishners instead of just sitting there, talking to their neighbors.
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There is certainly a lot of potential material, in the coming celebration of Christmas, to make it exciting. We celebrate God the Son taking human nature upon Himself, by way of the completely unique participation of a young woman Mary, and with the challenging participation also of a righteous man Joseph - all this pointing toward the singular event in human history that is to come: the Cross of Salvation. What’s not to get excited about?!

Maybe you could organize a little “play”, in costume, with the characters above and maybe some others, to express their personal thoughts and hopes about all this.
 
A play, interesting. That would get people involved because we would need costumes. I could google around and see what I come up with.

🙂 Thank You. Maybe we could do this at the dinner ?

Any other thoughts out there ? Or maybe someone could add to the play idea ?
 
we really started getting family involvement when the St Vincent started hosting dinners and breakfasts for the needy the weekend after each holiday. Families donate seasonally appropriate gifts (toys for Christmas, baskets for Easter, shoes and underwear for back to school, outerwear for TG, small appliances and household items for Valentines). Whole families collect, donate, sort, give out gifts, as well as serve prepare and clean-up for the meal. And recipient families also go on to become active in parish life.
 
kita04 said:
I’m not sure where I should have posted this - please forgive me if this isn’t the right spot. I’m 33 and have been a Catholic all my life- although there were times you couldn’t tell that.
Anyway - Our parish is very small as compared to some. I would say we have around 40, maybe 50 total people attending mass weekly. I’m going to that 90% of our mass attendees are 55 and older. Two years ago, we were introduced to the idea of a Parish Council. I started going because I thought our parish was and is very boring. It’s hard to get my daughter, 11, motivated to want to go to mass or attend anything church related when our nieghborhood protestant church is full of kids and are doing fun stuff, unlike ours, which isn’t. We have 4 to 6 kids that attend our mass. I’ve tried to liven things up as much as I can. We had an Octoberfest last year and the kids dressed up as Bible Characters, we had face paint and a hot dog roast. It was fun. We will have a simple hot dog roast this year- but I’m competing with a friend’s Halloween party and another friend’s Haunted House party. Oct 22 should be a great day :nope: ANYWAY - moving on to Christmas Dinner. We usually just meet for dinner the first Sunday in December. Santa Claus comes and hands out a candy cane and listens to each of the kid’s desires. I’m not a fan of Santa- although I am of St. Nick.

My question- How do I liven up the Christmas Dinner to make more people want to come and their families get excited about coming. Well, they don’t have to be excited, I would just like to see our church hall packed like it once was 15 years ago. Any thoughts ? What do you guys do for your get togethers ? I would love to see more involvment from the parishners instead of just sitting there, talking to their neighbors.
Click to expand...
Before coming up with some ideas, better straighten things up.
You church is better with few people and boring than the Protestant Church with the firecrackers (if you want them do not go to Church but to the Circus).
I would not make you child compete with the Protestant: “Daddy, our Mass is so boring!”, “Yes, Honey, it is boring. To be boring is no tragedy!”; “Daddy, I want to go to the next Church!”; “No, Honey, you come to ours!”; “Why?”, “Because ours is better!” and you can explain why is it better.
I tell you that for it is very important for the child to learn that going to the Church may be utterly boring but you go for the right reason: it is God’s house and you are going to visit your Father.
If you get your child to learn this and if you get this into her mind, you’ll have a Christian for Life, for good and bad moments.

Having said that, some ideas :
  • crib: each day you approach the Magi to the crib and the start that should come from the air in a transparent liine (fishing line)
  • crib contest for kids
  • learning a song from different countries.
  • live Crib on Christmas Eve.
  • coins for Somalia: put them in a transparent and thin hollow tube and see them going up
  • storey-telling:each aged person adopts 1 child to tell her stories: old people love to tell stories, kids love to listen to stories.
  • kids learn how to make christmas biscuits from the traditions of people in the community if they know traditional cokkies from diff countries.
  • ask permission: letting hot air baloons (with candles or made with paper, with Christmas Decorations
  • write a letter to Jesus
  • if you have a river, let small boats lightened with christmas decorations, ask permission
  • if from different nationalities, come to the church with different clothes of different traditions.
  • the children surround the altar on christmas eve
  • each window of Catholic Houses will have this image. I have seen in Spain. If you want I will find out you where to buy. See below the links
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Kids, even younger ones and bashful ones, like to be noticed. Each kid usually has some strength that can be called upon, whether it be singing, reciting a poem or letter, dancing, or just dressing up and parading around.

Ask each of the kids what they would like to do to make the Christmas dinner special. Work that angle with them, with a backup plan if they prove resistant…“Do you think you could play St. Nicholas (hope you told them the stories) and give bags of gold (gold-covered chocolates)to everyone at the tables?”

If you are the “normal” Parish, you are probably doing a pot-luck, with everyone bringing a favorite dish. How about having the kids (if there aren’t that many) over to your house the week before and making something for the dinner which they can “contribute”…cookies, brownies, decorated hard-boiled eggs…stuff that will last a week until the dinner. No “bought” stuff, please, Then, at the buffet table, put a sign next to each family’s dish and next to each child’s contribution, and encourage the adults to compliment the kids on their dinner contributions. If they are old enough, have them write recipe cards for what they made, and put them by the special dish.

At your Masses, have the kids bring the Offertory collection, water and hosts to the altar. Make this a regular service for the kids. I’m guessing some are already serving at the altar (A night out for pizza as a reward for altar servers is always a good idea).

Do you have a age range? Have an older kid take a young one under tow to teach him/her to serve at the altar.

Who cleans the church? Ask for kid volunteers. Go pick them up on the way. Use the opportunity to teach them about the sacristy and sacred vessels and candles and the altar books and linens.

Do you have a St. Vincent dePaul Society? When you visit a family with children (take food, give other assistance), ask for a young person to volunteer to go with the adult couple…of course, this is your chance to catechize them as to what STVP is and does, and how to be respectful to people who are receiving help.

If you do a gift tree, or gifts for poorer families at Thanksgiving, St, Nicholas Day, Christmas, Easter, put the tree or collection point in the church lobby. Then at the special Mass before distribution, have the kids bring in the presents at the Offertory and place them before the altar to be blessed (maybe the celebrant will even use incense that Mass, and incense the gifts). Then make sure the kids are included when the gifts are distributed.

These are just a few things to help the kids become part of the parish.

Peace.
 
Make baby Jesus handmade Christmas cards with some note from them to Jesus.
Have each kid read it aloud before placing it around the crib. That should bring the house
down along with heaven.

You might start them on a spiritual bouquet for the parist priest. A spiritual bouquet is
a number of prayers said, communions received, masses attended, for their parish priest.
Then connect the dots. This should be done at the beginning of advent.

Have them make a christmas decoration, a log, wreath, to place before the altar from the chridren to Jesus ,Mary, and Joseph.

Practice christmas songs to be sung at the dinner.

Let each one make a Christmas banner.

Have some of the seniors tell a story out of their Christmas past.

And you have a nice Christmas.
 
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