What is it like attending Mass as a Young Person?

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

catholic03

Well-known member
Hello

As a teenager who attends Mass weekly, I am interested in the experiences of other people my age.

I live in a very secular country where it is assumed that young people hate religion. 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).

I often find that people are somewhat astonished seeing a teenager with a large hand Missal at Mass. What are your experiences? Are there many young people, or are you on your own?

God Bless.
 
Last edited:
At the EF I attend here are several people around my age (16-24) and they are mostly altar servers, so it is not strange. The OF I attend it is about the same, and they are usually with their families. Catholicism seems pretty big in this particular city.
 
As someone who is probably younger than the average, no one was surprised at me being in mass.

One quick thing, seeing a teenager at mass is not surprising since, “Your parents brought you their”, but seeing a 20-something in mass is surprising.
 
catholic03 said:
What are your experiences? Are there many young people, or are you on your own?
Click to expand...
When I attend Sunday Mass at my local OF parish, I’m generally “on [my] own”, yes. Doubly so for daily (Mon-Fri) Mass. The Saturday Vigil Mass, which I’m rarely able to attend, has the occasional 20-something parishioner, and Christmas/Easter sees an uptick of 20-year-old parishioners. Otherwise, Catholics in their 20s are quite rare at my OF parish, so the older Catholics I meet are generally intrigued to meet a man in his early 20s who converted to the faith.

The EF Mass near me is a whole different story though. There are tons of young adults in their 20s… About 4 out of 5 of them are women. I feel as if I stand out far less there.
 
Okay, I wouldn’t consider myself to be one of those now, but I started going to Mass regularly when I was about 20. It’s interesting, because after you’re there for a few years when you’re in your twenties, and you’re not married, people start asking you if you are going to be a priest. I’m 31, I’m still not going to be a priest.
 
I attend Mass alone as a 20 something year old but I don’t know if anyone is surprised by me being there.

It’s not rare to see young people in Mass, but they’re usually together as a group or with their families. So if anyone is surprised it’s probably because I’m alone rather than them being surprised that I’m there.
 
Just out of interest, does anyone recommend LifeTeen? They seem very much like a charismatic Catholic group. I have no problem with them, but I am quite reserved and not someone who easily laughs or waves his hands in the air, so it may not be for me.

Any suggestions?
 
What about those of us like me who have small hands and have to hold huge 3,500 page missals each Sunday…maybe I should have just asked my parents for a Sunday Missal!
 
Bad joke, I know.

I think I am turning into an American (in my opinion they can’t tell good jokes). But they are certainly good at many other things.
 
I don’t know, unfortunately. It links to many other images on pinterest so I cannot seem to trace it. It may be St Mark?
 
HvonB said:
Im 58 so not qualified to say what it’s like for young people…
Click to expand...
Me too.
I’m so old I’m still looking for Waldo.

Speaking of St. Manus 😬 …

…while reading his hagiography, I discovered that after having been handcuffed and beaten to death by an angry pagan mob, he became known as Manacled Mucho Magnus Manus the Maniacally Murdered Martyr. 😐

Sorry
 
The letters on the lower left say “Bogoslov”. So I did some search on the internet, and St. John the Theologian is called Sveti Jovan Bogoslov in Slavish countries. So it’s St. John the Theologian.
 
I love attending the Latin mass I normally go on Saturday but I go to Sunday novus ordo and that is sometimes nice and sometimes lacking it depends on the priest.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top