Parish Dos and Don'ts from Millennials

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Gorgias:
Two thoughts:
  • How big is that parish? That is, to how many souls does he minister?
  • I’m betting that, at an FSSP parish, there are lots more folks who go to confession. (Oh, if only we had that problem in most parishes!) So, I’m guessing he schedules confessions because folks are actually coming to them. (That’s not really the case in most parishes in the U.S. – and yes, I get the argument that, if you don’t offer it, you won’t see the response; but, unless there’s an indication that additional times are needed, we’re not likely to see them offered.)
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Yes, but ALSO more people go to confession because it’s emphasized as very important in the parish. It’s usually addressed in homilies, so when you hear about it from the pulpit, see the confessional in use all the time, witness other people going a lot, you start going more often too.
 
Gorgias said:
Hmm… it does? Not to my knowledge. The Church says that it’s a good thing for priests to celebrate daily, but falls short of saying anything else…
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Encourage is, admittedly, my word. “Earnestly invited” is the Church’s words. I will leave it up to you to decide if that “falls short of saying it’s a good thing”

Here is the Canon:

Can. 275 …
§2. In order to be able to pursue this perfection:
…

2/ they are to nourish their spiritual life from the two-fold table of sacred scripture and the Eucharist; therefore, priests are earnestly invited to offer the eucharistic sacrifice daily and deacons to participate in its offering daily;
 
Gorgias said:
Keep in mind, though, if a priest takes his day off, then you have two days a week in which the remaining priest has “used up” his two Masses on daily Mass, and shouldn’t be celebrating any others (e.g., funeral Mass).
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If two daily masses are difficult for a parish, then it can simply offer one early in the morning, and old folks who don’t want to get up early can go to a neighboring parish. Look, my point is, it’s not difficult, in an urban area, for there to be various mass times throughout the day, available to all in a relatively short drive. I have given one example and you want to pick it apart. Why? Are you that defensive of only 8:30am mass times?
 
LisaB said:
Yes, but ALSO more people go to confession because it’s emphasized as very important in the parish.
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True. But, I think I’d say that since it’s seen as a traditional part of the faith, an FSSP parish would value it more highly than you might find in the average parish down the street. In general, confessions will see a little uptick when they’re mentioned in a homily, but then they’ll die down again.
tafan2 said:
Look, my point is, it’s not difficult, in an urban area, for there to be various mass times throughout the day, available to all in a relatively short drive.
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Right. The problem, it would seem, is coordination between the parishes. And, of course, once there’s a change in pastors, all bets are off.
tafan2 said:
Are you that defensive of only 8:30am mass times?
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No. I see how overworked the priests are in my neck of the woods. (Maybe that’s not representative; I don’t know.)

I know that, around here – given that we’re in the midst of a diocesan-wide initiative to consolidate parishes – all we hear is “hey! why isn’t there daily Mass in my church building anymore?”, and the answer that seems not to be heard is “because we’re down to our lowest number of assigned priests ever, and we’ll lose half of who we currently have in the next five years!”

So, that’s probably where I’m coming from. What we hear all the time around here is that priest burnout is real, and will get more prevalent if we push the guys we have even harder, as their numbers drop.
 
Generation X. No way will you be forgotten. I think I belong to Mrs. Bear’s generation. But what you wrote and those little emojs just fine by me. I am …well hope to be…more of a lamb than 🐻 it’s more biblical …don’t you think? 😃 🐏
 
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Don’t worry…you as well as anyone else younger are the future ( I know you have heard this before 😛) of our church and world. We boomers are heading out and will find out on judgment day how we did. Please just pray for us and know I pray for you all. I had three great leaders in my youth…saint John Paul, Mother Teresa and John Vanier. God bless…
 
I only agree with the 5th as a necessary “don’t”.
Fifth: Don’t try to be hip.
When you come back home ypu expect to not know everything, things to be a little awkward and all that. But you know what you are doing coming back. The Church is okay to just not trying to convince me. I have enough people in my daily life trying to convince and sell me stuff.
Just… be honest. Yes you will be judged in my inner forum of expanding ego of the modern world where we get to choose our religion, but honesty wins. Actually Christianity won because of all the off-speaking “medieval” priests on and offline. Just effortless.presentation of what it is that I left behind.
Let me feel guilty. The world.doesn’t let me feel any guilt. Guilt is for the weak, only the strong survive. Christianity is freedom all the priests have to do is just stop trying.
We read motivational books also. We know the techniques. We know what manipulation is all about. Some of us use it our work environment. We also hate it. We hate to see it in a spiritual space. Let God speak.
 
Gorgias said:
. In general, confessions will see a little uptick when they’re mentioned in a homily, but then they’ll die down again.
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But the solution is not to just mention it the homily. The solution is more confession times, during the week in the evening, schedule around 5 or 5:30 or 6, so people can stop by on way home to work. This does not result in a slight uptick. This results in 2 or 3 times (minimum), people going to confession each week.
 
Gorgias said:
No. I see how overworked the priests are in my neck of the woods. (Maybe that’s not representative; I don’t know.)
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None of my ideas on mass times would increase the work load significantly at all.

Adding confess times on weekday evenings does. But around here, priests have willingly done it, on their own initiative.
Gorgias said:
I know that, around here – given that we’re in the midst of a diocesan-wide initiative to consolidate parishes – all we hear is “hey! why isn’t there daily Mass in my church building anymore?”, and the answer that seems not to be heard is “because we’re down to our lowest number of assigned priests ever , and we’ll lose half of who we currently have in the next five years!”
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Yeah, well the only way to get past that is to increase devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, increase adoration times, get more people to daily mass and confession. Doing the opposite will just perpetuate the downward spiral of reduced vocations.
 
tafan2 said:
The solution is more confession times, during the week in the evening, schedule around 5 or 5:30 or 6, so people can stop by on way home to work. This does not result in a slight uptick. This results in 2 or 3 times (minimum), people going to confession each week.
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That’s not my experience, based on what I’ve seen, for weeknight confessions. Usually, I’m the only one there, or maybe one or two others.
tafan2 said:
Yeah, well the only way to get past that is to increase devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, increase adoration times, get more people to daily mass and confession. Doing the opposite will just perpetuate the downward spiral of reduced vocations.
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That’s a good plan for ten years out. What do we do for the next ten years, though, as we’re waiting for it to take effect and our current crop of priests are retiring at a blistering pace?
 
Maybe East Coast work hours are different the West Coast work hours, but my parish has two weekday Masses, one scheduled at 6:45 AM (for working people) and another at 9:00 AM.

The 6:45 AM is very lightly attended and the 20 or so (often less) that attend are mostly retirees and almost retirees (late 50s and early 60’s baby boomers who still work). I’ve never seen a millennial attend this Mass and only occasionally a Gen-Xer. But here on the West Coast, most millennials seem to arrive at work somewhere between 8:30 AM and 9:30 AM.

The 9:00 AM Mass is well attended not only by retirees but also by stay-at-home moms who bring along this pre-school children to Mass. Some grandparents will also bring along their pre-school grandchildren that they’re taking care for their working sons or daughters.

At our parish the 6:45 AM Mass might be moved back to 7:30 AM to see if that Mass time appeal more to today’s Catholic workforce. Clearly our 6:45 AM Mass doesn’t. The other alternative would be to offer a 12 Noon or 12:15 PM lunchtime Mass or an after work 5:30 PM Mass that might appeal to the nearby working Catholics.
 
phil19034 said:
it limits you regarding the type of music you can play (assuming you want to utilize you volunteers 100% - which many do)
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You can play almost anything on a piano. If there are two many “voices” for a harmony you either omit them or add more keyboard instruments.
 
Gorgias said:
That’s not my experience, based on what I’ve seen, for weeknight confessions. Usually, I’m the only one there, or maybe one or two others.
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I went on last Wednesday, 5pm was scheduled start. Got there at 5pm. Two priests hearing confessions. Line was 40 minutes long. This parish only had Saturday morning confessions 3 heard ago. They added Monday and Wednesday 5pm. Long lines on both days, Saturday lines are the same as before.

Three other parishes within a 20 minute drive have similiar experiences. One of them, about 15 years ago, went from Saturday afternoon only, to adding daily 6pm time (mon-thur). Long lines every single day if the week.
 
Gorgias said:
That’s a good plan for ten years out. What do we do for the next ten years, though, as we’re waiting for it to take effect and our current crop of priests are retiring at a blistering pace?
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More like 15-20 years ou. No short term solution when it takes 8 years minimum of formation. But sticking our head in the sand and doing nothing, as you seem to support, isn’t working out too well.
 
PeterT said:
The 6:45 AM is very lightly attended and the 20 or so (often less) that attend are mostly retirees and almost retirees (late 50s and early 60’s baby boomers who still work). I’ve never seen a millennial attend this Mass and only occasionally a Gen-Xer. But here on the West Coast, most millennials seem to arrive at work somewhere between 8:30 AM and 9:30 AM.
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Keep in mind that younger people are more likely to have small children they’re trying to cook breakfast for/get ready for school. Not to mention the horrendous commuting a lot of people do. Arriving at work at 830 doesn’t mean you leave at 815 for a lot of people.
 
Yes, this thread has drifted a bit, and we forgot about the millennials. The number of 20somethings at the 630 mass I attend is low also (the mass is well attended, guessing 50-60 people on a typical day).
 
I’m fortunate to live a block away from a parish that is very vibrant and active in the community. They offer opportunities that span this gap effectively for the most part. I can definitely agree with the confession aspect. A half hour before Saturday Mass is not sufficient. One evening a week would be helpful. The church music debate will go on until the second coming. This week my parish had a rather humerous example. The youth choir used “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” as recessional. Four elderly ladies jumped into the aisles and began trying to get the congregation to clap along. Nothing happened. Every one was either genuflecting and leaving or in prayer.
 
PeterT said:
At our parish the 6:45 AM Mass might be moved back to 7:30 AM to see if that Mass time appeal more to today’s Catholic workforce. Clearly our 6:45 AM Mass doesn’t. The other alternative would be to offer a 12 Noon or 12:15 PM lunchtime Mass or an after work 5:30 PM Mass that might appeal to the nearby working Catholics.
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Even though I’m on the East Coast, I’m never awake at 6:45 am. I’m 41 years old, and I just don’t wake up that early.

7:30 might work, but depends on how the rush hour commute is by your parish. Do ppl drive to work or take a train? If they take train, is the parish close to train station and is there a train time that gets them to downtown before 9am? If everyone drives, how long of a drive is it to get downtown from the parish?

Personally, think more Parishes need to try an evening daily Mass, even if just once or twice a week.

Lunchtime mass only works (in my opinion) if the parish is located where a lot of jobs are located.

God Bless
 
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