What is it like attending Mass as a Young Person?

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First of all I’m very happy that you’re so passionate about mass at a young age. Once you learn more about the mass, the history, symbolism and just why we do what we do at mass, you can’t help but fall more in love with it.

I’m 23 and the church I go to barely has any young people. They just don’t come to church. There are many young married couples (25-30 yr olds) but almost no teenagers. I assume they stop going to church once they receive confirmation which is pretty sad.

I knew one church where there were many youngsters but a lot of them didn’t show proper reverence for mass. Believe it or not, a lot of them stood up while the host was being consecrated. Then again when the parishners make such mistakes, the priests should correct and guide them. But this didn’t happen for whatever reason
 
I´m a 17 YO girl living in a super-secular country in Northern Europe. In my experience, people at Church, especially those who are the age of my parents and older, seem to admire my love for the Church. I have encountered a nice lady who once said she wished her daughter was more like me, especially as we worked together to arrange a prayer event where we prayed for the protection of the unborn.

I live in an area where neighboring parishes are relatively nearby, so I experience that how many kids my age are participating in the parish varies a lot. Oftentimes, parishes with great youth groups tends to attract more teenagers than others. But of course, to be honest, most people that attends daily Mass are usually age 50+. On Sundays there are a lot more people and of different ages.

At least from my experience, most people find it inspiring to see teenagers in Church being serious with their Faith. I also think it gives them hope in regards to the future of the Church.
 
quies said:
Me too.
I’m so old I’m still looking for Waldo.
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www.roman-catholic-saints.com

Blessed Waldo

Blessed Waldo. After the death of his spiritual father in 1300, Waldo resolved to withdraw altogether from the world and the association of men, in order to converse only with God and live for heaven.
www.roman-catholic-saints.com

(Sorry, I couldn’t resist. 🙃)
 
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Hello. I am 18 and go to a parish that celebrates the Ordinary Form only. I am usually one of the youngest people there. At some Masses, the vast majority of the congregation is elderly and even people in their late 50s stand out.

I do feel like I sometimes stand out, but I am there to worship our Lord so I don’t mind. My Parish does have many little children and pre-teens who are in CCD and are requires to come to Mass (in addition to the Sunday precept, the Pastor makes them hand in an attendance card). I think there are some teenage altar servers too. None of my priests know me, except for one priest who knows me and my mom by face. I only go to Mass once a week and Confession every few weeks. I really do not spend any time at my parish other than that.

In High School I would say that the vast majority of the students had no regard for religion at all. Most of them acted like God does not exist.

I get how you feel. I feel like I stand out too sometimes. Don’t worry about it.

God bless
 
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Are you fully received into the Church?

I know how you feel. When my father wasn’t at Mass a few months ago and I was on my own I felt like a real fish out of water. Everyone stared at me.
 
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lol 🤣
Tell them that the ones who aren’t at church are the ones who are really lost!
 
catholic03 said:
Are you fully received into the Church?
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No, but the Priest offered to make me fully “Catholic” early, actually like in a month. But I would still have to finish confirmation class. Partly I think it is because I’ve already had Baptism and Penance
 
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catholic03 said:
I live in a very secular country where it is assumed that young people hate religion.
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You can only hate someone if you know that someone . Satan has real hate because he knows who God is. Most people are just have lax morality but I wouldn’t call it real hate.
catholic03 said:
Most of the people at Mass are either baby boomers or younger members of immigrant communities (immigrants from the Philippines are very important to the Church here).
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Here in Sweden all ages attend Mass.
But most people seem to be 30+. Why?
I think even in society we have more people over 30 than under for obviuos reasons.
catholic03 said:
I often find that people are somewhat astonished seeing a teenager with a large hand Missal at Mass.
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That would probably be uncommon
catholic03 said:
What are your experiences?
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I am no teenager anynore but I can tell you one thing.
One stereotype is the old church lady. This is just a stereotype. Younger people like Mass.
But let me tell you…older people sang hymns at school. Young people often never sang hymns at school.
They therefore feel a bit like a stranger at Mass.
They only like weird pop music.
 
I attend Mass somewhat frequently, and I’m in my early 20s. It’s not something that draws attention where I am, anyway. Some parishes I go to are less populated than others, but even where there are less young people, I don’t think anyone sees it as something especially notable.
 
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No, I live in Scandinavia 🙂 Isn´t Luxembourg per se more like central Europe?
 
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Ja, det stemmer. Fint å se at vi er flere skandinavere her 🙂 Jeg bor i Norge. Hvor er du fra? @TheMortenBay
 
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