What are Catholic parishes like?

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My parish activities are primarily filled with either the elderly or parents/kids at the school. We did have a group called Midlife Social Connection for those of us who are middle aged, when I first joined the parish, but it disbanded. And even that consisted of a lot of older people.
 
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Also, don’t expect to be “greeted” or even recognized as not being part of the parish.
Protestant churches tend to be small and close knit and cross geographical boundaries. Also a lot of 5em have only one worship time, so everybody gets to know each other.
Parishes tend to serve the Catholics in the immediate area, and if there are a lot of Masses, people choose the Mass time that works for them, and there might be some regulars, but most people come and go according to their need.
So please don’t take it personally if you blend in.
 
For a Catholic, Eucharistic Adoration is when the Eucharist, or Holy Communion, is placed on the altar for all to view and spend time with presence of Jesus in prayer. People can go to the church when the Holy Eucharist isn’t exposed as well, but this is generally what Catholics mean when talking about Adoration. To see what this might look like, try searching images of Eucharistic Adoration.
 
Each parish is different.

Some are very social and some have little going on outside of worship.

I think a lot of it depends on the demographics. For example:
  • If the parish is make up of people from the community and most of them have lived their whole lives there, then the parish MIGHT not many social activities because most of the people know each other outside of Church.
  • However, if the parish is in a community where lots of people are transplants (like in South Florida), then the parish will have a lot of social activities since people don’t really know each other outside of Church.
  • Also, some suburban sprawl parishes may or many not have a lot of activities depending on how spread out the parish population is.
Furthermore, Catholics TEND to not like to hang out after mass on Sunday. This is because Catholics have historically made Sunday a day of family & worship. So after mass, many Catholics are off to spend time with their grandchildren, children, parents, grandparents, etc. So if the area if filled with people who have lived there their whole lives, many are not going to be interested in Sunday activities. However, if you live in an area where there are lots of transplants and/or snowbirds, then there will be. However, some smaller parishes (for example regional Latin Mass parishes) often will have food after select or even every Sunday mass during the year.

In general, perhaps, the BEST place to meet Catholics at Church is during adult faith formation events, and after daily mass (unless someone is running to work). Catholics tend to stick around after adult faith formation events to chat with people and socialize a little. And the retirees often stick around after daily mass to socialize too. After my Bible Study, there are always a few people who chat for a few minutes after.

Also, many Catholic parishes sometimes have banquets or dinner socials a few times a year. Some have bingo, some don’t. Some have elementary & middle school dances, some don’t. Some have Christmas plays, some don’t, etc.

Finally, I will say this. Catholics also have regional and diocesan level Catholic groups. Not all Catholic groups (whether social or spiritual) are parish based. Often people will attend an event sponsored by another parish, by the diocese, by a religious order, or by even by a National or Regional ministry. Many dioceses (not all) will have on their website a calendar of events open to all Catholics. A great example of this are annual men’s & women’s conferences, as individual parishes typically do not sponsor them, because people can attend large ones sponsored by their diocese. And if you are lucky to live close to a good Catholic Retreat Center, they often have many programs you can attend (whether they are just for a day or a whole weekend).

I pray this helps.

God Bless and Godspeed.
 
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My current church is like this too. Plenty of groups for older people and families with children but maybe one group for post-college singles and they are a small group that vary in age from 25-50.
 
Thanks! The last bit was especially helpful with the conferences. I had no idea.
 
Some parishes have so many activities that they have run out of meeting spaces!

The thing is, you are part of a parish based on your geography. As a Catholic, support for that parish is important. You are also free to visit any other parish, attend study groups, social events, etc at any other parish. We are one, giant, worldwide family!!!
 
Augustinian said:
But the information is available confidentially.
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???

Even the smallest parish has a bulletin of some sort. They are free and available to anyone. Many parishes no have a website &/or social media presence that is public.

All Diocese in the US have websites with information about each parish, mass times, confession times, phone number, email and links to websites.

If your parish keeps their life confidential, I would be very concerned!!
 
@TC3003 has experienced some very rune, unChristian behavior and it breaks my heart.

Please know that this sort of action is very much out off the chart. There are some things that only a practicing Catholic may do (serve as Reader/Lector or as Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion). Outside of that, when it comes to helping we require two things: background check and a pulse. For attending study groups or social groups, there is not even need for a background check.
 
There was an earlier post that also reminded me that sometimes, the activities or even “feel” of a parish vary by day or season. Don’t presume your first visit is the norm; give them all a few tries before you settle on what they’re typically like.

For instance, I’ve seen Father have an off-day with his preaching, which is normally very good; non-Catholics would probably use that as a measurement of him. The musicians can have an off-week, I’ve seen packed weekday Masses followed by nearly empty ones, and some activity calendars erupt during the school year while they’re essentially bare in the summer.
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
For instance, I’ve seen Father have an off-day with his preaching, which is normally very good; non-Catholics would probably use that as a measurement of him.
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I’d even suggest that the priest is not the primary way one “judges” a parish. Priests come and go.
 
Kellypat18 said:
From what I have learned, Mass is about the Eucarist and worshipping God. Catholics go to Mass for that, not for the community and how it makes them feel or how involved they should be.
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A Catholic can spend her whole entire life going to Mass on Sunday and without ever once going to a bible study, a retreat, a women’s group, or engage in any other parish activity, and she will still be considered a devout, practicing Catholic.
 
Of course; I’m simply trying to use the standards by which many protestants evaluate a church to frame the discussion. If you’re not Catholic, you’re first impression may not be based on the same things a Catholic would notice.
 
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