But that is why you go to Mass as a family…the liturgy and the homily are part of the teaching of the Faith. The kids get religious education at the parochial school which includes attending school Mass…teaching about the Sacraments being prepared for the receipt of them.
Would the Sunday school aspect then impinge upon the obligation to attend Mass
No, the family would attend their various classes AND also attend Mass together. That’s how it’s done in Protestant churches–Sunday school and worship service, often with a coffee and donut fellowship in-between, and sometimes with a fellowship luncheon after worship service.
For many Protestants, Sunday morning is a 3-6 hour commitment (depending on how long the typical worship service lasts–in the churches that I attended, it was at least an hour and a half long, with a forty-five minute sermon and a twenty-minute praise and worship time). For Sunday school teachers (or children’s church teachers), it’s an even longer commitment because you have to arrive early to set up for your class and you have to clean up your class afterward.
And then until fairly recently, many Protestant churches also held Sunday evening services! (Some churches still do this, and some do it occasionally.)
You can see why my husband and I weren’t daunted at all by the idea of an “obligation” to attend just one 1-hour long Mass each week. We were used to spending most of Sunday in church! Woo hoo–only one hour a week! Gravy train!
As for the OPs query, a few years our parish tried doing some classes (apologetics, church history) on Sunday morning, but they were poorly attended, mainly because the families with small children had no where to keep their small children during the classes. Sometimes one spouse would come, but then the other spouse was left to care for the entire family. And many of the people already had a “routine” that they have been doing for many years; e.g., Mass followed by going out to breakfast with family or friends. So it didn’t last.
There was also a parking issue. Our Masses are pretty crowded, and it’s a real circus getting one set of Mass goers out of the parking lot and the next group of Mass goers in to the parking lot. Adding a class of people just takes up parking spaces. (Parking in the neighborhood is not an option, as our parish is on a busy intersection.)
IMO, whether it will work at your parish depends on how old the parish is. If it is older, then I think you will probably find that many families already have a Sunday morning “routine,” and they are not going to be open to changing that routine unless the class is absolutely phenomenal.
I do believe that if Scott Hahn himself were teaching a short-term class at our parish, it would be packed (when he has spoken at our parish, it is packed!). But I’m not sure that people would attend a “Bible study” unless it were taught by a priest or religious with an excellent reputation for teaching, and on Sunday morning, many of these are busy saying Masses. If you have a spiritual gift of teaching, you might be successful.
But keep in mind that you have to have approval by the priest to run this Bible study on Sunday morning if you conduct it in the church building, and if you choose to run it out of your home or at another location (local coffee shop, etc.), I think you should still seek the approval of your priest. It would be wiser to make sure that everything is done with priest approval and support.
When my daughter was going through RCIA, she wasn’t able to attend the classes at any parish with evening classes, as she is a stage manager and works almost every evening. But the diocese where she was living directed her to a parish that held RCIA on Sunday mornings–this worked out perfectly for her. Many others in the class were performing artists and also had conflicts with evening RCIA, so she fit right in with them. The class would attend RCIA together, then go to Mass together, and then often go out together.
So perhaps if you have a “niche group” of people like this in your community, you might be able to work out some sort of classes on Sunday morning.
But I’ll be honest–I think you’re probably going to be disappointed with a Sunday morning “class.”
HOWEVER–try doing a Monday evening fellowship/study, and use a film series that is approved by the Catholic Church. Using a film series keeps things a lot simpler for you–you don’t really have to prepare anything, and the series is totally approved by the bishops, so there will be no “questions.”
I’ve been attending a Monday evening Catholic Bible study for several years. We started out as a “Why Catholic?” class (a national diocescan effort to catechize Catholics). After we completed the entire series of Why Catholic books, we stuck together and started watching a film series of the History of the Catholic Church, and doing the discussion questions. It’s really fun and friendly. Very small—about 16 people of various ages and life situations are in the group, with occasional visitors. My Protestant parents-in-law have attended some of the sessions and enjoy the study materials and the friendships. We do a fellowship potluck a few times a year, but for the most part, the focus is on study and friendship.
The other thing you could try is just fellowshipping by asking people in your parish over for dinner or coffee, or out to a show, etc. One thing my husband and I learned as Catholics is that we don’t need to be doing something “Christian” like a Bible study to have fellowship. Yes, that was a truly surprising concept for us after so many years in evangelical Protestant churches!
