M
MichelleTherese
Guest
I belong to the Lost Generation of Catholics.
There are so many complaints about the number of Catholics attending Mass decreasing. Did anyone ever think that maybe this happens when you ignore an entire generation of Catholics??
There’s nothing wrong with various generations being reached through their own particular style and context. But what happens when you’ve been skipped over and you don’t have anything that reaches out and hits a chord within you? What happens if all you have to choose from is the Kumbaya Style of the 1960’s or the “Let’s deal with being a teenager!” style?? Yes, the Mass is all about the Eucharist - but what if you can’t go to Mass without being constantly distracted, led into wishy-washy theology and having your space invaded by pushy people who demand that you hold their hand?
I’ve caught a wee glimmer of my generation shining through - in the music of bands such as “Crispin”, “Critical Mass” and some of Father Stan Fortuna’s songs. (He is geared more towards young Catholics but some of his songs reflect the funky jazzy style of my generation. **All **of his music is absolutely fantastic!!)
But…even with these glimmers peeping through I still feel as if my generation is invisible and we’ve been totally skipped over, as well as largely un-educated, by the Church. My generation has had to basically educate ourselves about the Faith and “raise ourselves” without much support or encouragement. When will we start to exist?
From the gatherings I have attended where many of my generation have been present I have seen a great love of Eucharistic Adoration, public recitation of the Rosary, classic hymns, Marian devotion and many of the other practices you don’t often see in post 1960’s parishes. Why is this? Why can’t we have both the fresh freedom style of the 1960’s **and **the sacred devotions and practices? It all seems a bit greedy to expect that only one type of Catholic is allowed to be supported within the Church. The rest get ignored.
From what I’ve observed my generation seems to want to focus on Jesus at Mass and community **after **Mass. So things like having a coffee/tea social hour after Mass is right up our alley. But listening to someone discuss their day on a cell phone three pews down is not.
We also seem to enjoy churches that are decorated - we don’t seem to be into the bare empty church thing. We don’t necessarily need to have only the old fashioned style of art. The modern art deffinately has it’s place. But having an empty church removes that sense of the sacred that we seem to crave. It feels more like a meeting hall then a Catholic church. .
The problem with being the Generation That Never Was is that there are very few parishes where we feel as if we are a part of the Church.
The 1960’s generation have had their fun for the past 47 years. Can it move over now and make some room for us late 20 through early 40-somethings??
Can we have the crucifix back? And the decorations? The high altar? And the confessional where we can indulge in anomnimity? Can we save the band for after Mass - and have the organ returned to its place in the choir loft? (with a choir as well?) And the kneelers - I really enjoy kneeling when I pray and I don’t feel that my self-esteem has been damaged by such a humble posture - If anything it’s kept me from getting too full of my own liberated self importance!
Can we save the socializing for after Mass? Mass is a sacred time - and the half hour before Mass should be a quiet time to reflect and pray and prepare ourselves. Visiting is great fun - after Mass.
I think that there are more then enough Catholic parishes dedicated to teenagers and the folks from the 1960’s. Isn’t it time to move over, make some room for us…and share?
I am tired of being invisible.
There are so many complaints about the number of Catholics attending Mass decreasing. Did anyone ever think that maybe this happens when you ignore an entire generation of Catholics??
There’s nothing wrong with various generations being reached through their own particular style and context. But what happens when you’ve been skipped over and you don’t have anything that reaches out and hits a chord within you? What happens if all you have to choose from is the Kumbaya Style of the 1960’s or the “Let’s deal with being a teenager!” style?? Yes, the Mass is all about the Eucharist - but what if you can’t go to Mass without being constantly distracted, led into wishy-washy theology and having your space invaded by pushy people who demand that you hold their hand?
I’ve caught a wee glimmer of my generation shining through - in the music of bands such as “Crispin”, “Critical Mass” and some of Father Stan Fortuna’s songs. (He is geared more towards young Catholics but some of his songs reflect the funky jazzy style of my generation. **All **of his music is absolutely fantastic!!)
But…even with these glimmers peeping through I still feel as if my generation is invisible and we’ve been totally skipped over, as well as largely un-educated, by the Church. My generation has had to basically educate ourselves about the Faith and “raise ourselves” without much support or encouragement. When will we start to exist?
From the gatherings I have attended where many of my generation have been present I have seen a great love of Eucharistic Adoration, public recitation of the Rosary, classic hymns, Marian devotion and many of the other practices you don’t often see in post 1960’s parishes. Why is this? Why can’t we have both the fresh freedom style of the 1960’s **and **the sacred devotions and practices? It all seems a bit greedy to expect that only one type of Catholic is allowed to be supported within the Church. The rest get ignored.
From what I’ve observed my generation seems to want to focus on Jesus at Mass and community **after **Mass. So things like having a coffee/tea social hour after Mass is right up our alley. But listening to someone discuss their day on a cell phone three pews down is not.
We also seem to enjoy churches that are decorated - we don’t seem to be into the bare empty church thing. We don’t necessarily need to have only the old fashioned style of art. The modern art deffinately has it’s place. But having an empty church removes that sense of the sacred that we seem to crave. It feels more like a meeting hall then a Catholic church. .
The problem with being the Generation That Never Was is that there are very few parishes where we feel as if we are a part of the Church.
The 1960’s generation have had their fun for the past 47 years. Can it move over now and make some room for us late 20 through early 40-somethings??
Can we have the crucifix back? And the decorations? The high altar? And the confessional where we can indulge in anomnimity? Can we save the band for after Mass - and have the organ returned to its place in the choir loft? (with a choir as well?) And the kneelers - I really enjoy kneeling when I pray and I don’t feel that my self-esteem has been damaged by such a humble posture - If anything it’s kept me from getting too full of my own liberated self importance!
Can we save the socializing for after Mass? Mass is a sacred time - and the half hour before Mass should be a quiet time to reflect and pray and prepare ourselves. Visiting is great fun - after Mass.
I think that there are more then enough Catholic parishes dedicated to teenagers and the folks from the 1960’s. Isn’t it time to move over, make some room for us…and share?
I am tired of being invisible.
but you can never take out the what I feel has made the Church better and more welcoming for people who would never stepped foot into a Catholic Church. I agree that many priest have become somewhat lack luster in the faith, and I’d love to see more of the older traditional devotions being brought back. I actually think I’ve got my own priest talked into bringing back incense into our parish…but it took months of needling him, now it’s joke between us. He just recently told me I can use the patens when training altar servers, yea! If I can work to bring back some of the older ways then for heavens sake anyone can.
) instead of giving one mass per Vicariate to accomodate them, is akin to that.