R
Reds29
Guest
Is it enough for a parish to celebrate Holy Mass on sunday and throughout the week and not have chances for formation outside of that.
Last edited:
- Status
Tis_Bearself
Patron
Mass isn’t really for “formation”.
Formation would be done through RCIA for new converts, Bible Study/ lectures/ retreats/ lay movement groups etc. for Catholic adults, LifeTeen for teens and prep classes for children and young teens preparing for sacraments.
Sometimes parishes are not able to support these types of activities because the parish is small, or it’s mostly elderly people whose main need is for a place to go to Mass and receive sacraments near their homes, or the surrounding area is poor so the first priority is trying to help with food, housing etc and not so much with a lot of parish programs.
I rarely see a parish where there aren’t some “formation” activities going on outside of Mass. Maybe in the case of really small parishes, or parishes that are kind of on their last legs before the bishop shuts them down.
Formation would be done through RCIA for new converts, Bible Study/ lectures/ retreats/ lay movement groups etc. for Catholic adults, LifeTeen for teens and prep classes for children and young teens preparing for sacraments.
Sometimes parishes are not able to support these types of activities because the parish is small, or it’s mostly elderly people whose main need is for a place to go to Mass and receive sacraments near their homes, or the surrounding area is poor so the first priority is trying to help with food, housing etc and not so much with a lot of parish programs.
I rarely see a parish where there aren’t some “formation” activities going on outside of Mass. Maybe in the case of really small parishes, or parishes that are kind of on their last legs before the bishop shuts them down.
R
Reds29
Guest
We have offered our help but were met with “the parish isnt ready for that” .
I respect our pastor, i am concerned with low Mass attendance rates in our schools and fear that not recognizing younger generations is not good.
I respect our pastor, i am concerned with low Mass attendance rates in our schools and fear that not recognizing younger generations is not good.
Tis_Bearself
Patron
So, maybe your particular parish has no interest. I’m presuming there aren’t a lot of families with kids there or pastor would probably be getting complaints about a lack of family activities already.
As I mentioned on the other thread, is there any other parish you can attend? Are there activities at the diocesan level that would provide what you need? Where do the kids go for their religious instruction for the sacraments (another parish, a school etc) and might that offer something?
As I mentioned on the other thread, is there any other parish you can attend? Are there activities at the diocesan level that would provide what you need? Where do the kids go for their religious instruction for the sacraments (another parish, a school etc) and might that offer something?
J
Joe_5859
Guest
In an ideal world, I think the Catholic parish should be the light on the lamp-stand and the city on a hill amidst the wider community. Everyone’s first impulse (including the non-Catholics) should be to look to Catholic parish as the one who will lead the charge for ministering to those in need.
Not all parishes live up to the ideal. We are all works in progress.
Not all parishes live up to the ideal. We are all works in progress.
R
Reds29
Guest
We live in an area where a couple separate parishes are grouped together as a family of parishes run by the same parish staff. There are families, i guess what i am getting at is how do we produce a thriving catholic community?
I moved from a parish where we didnt have a catholic school affiliated with the church yet had a decent turn out for sacrements. It doesn’t take much to enrich families i just wasn’t expecting this amount of push back i guess.
That being said when things have been done a certain way for decades i know change or movement in another direction can be hard.
Thank you for your responces and (name removed by moderator)ut tis_beaeself
I moved from a parish where we didnt have a catholic school affiliated with the church yet had a decent turn out for sacrements. It doesn’t take much to enrich families i just wasn’t expecting this amount of push back i guess.
That being said when things have been done a certain way for decades i know change or movement in another direction can be hard.
Thank you for your responces and (name removed by moderator)ut tis_beaeself
R
Reds29
Guest
I agree. Have any ideas on how to move in thay direction as a parishioner while wanting to respect the authority of the pastor?
J
Joe_5859
Guest
Of course every pastor is going to be a little different, but I find that most priests are amenable to a great many things so long as it doesn’t require them to do extra work.
Going up to a priest and saying “You should start a Bible study” is going to signal to them one more thing that they have to add to their plate. Most priests have pretty full schedules, so their immediate reaction to being asked to add something else to their schedule is “no.”
It would be better to go up to him and say, “I have this great Bible study on DVD and I would like to put something in the parish bulletin to invite others to participate.” Basically, you want to make it clear that the priest doesn’t have to do anything extra—that you (or others) will do the brunt of the leg work. Of course, you don’t want to come across as trying to do an end run around him or circumvent his authority. But that’s why you approach him and ask for his blessing on the initiative.
Of course, having your priest lead a Bible study is a great and wonderful thing. But if he just doesn’t have the time or inclination to do such a thing right now, there are a great number of wonderful video-based Bible studies that come pre-packaged and make it easy for anyone to facilitate.
That’s where I would start.
Tis_Bearself
Patron
Aside from the “extra work” thing, the OP mentioned this parish is a consolidation of several parishes into one.
Was this a recent development, like last couple years? If so, people may still just be getting used to the idea that they are forming one parish and not be ready to throw themselves into a lot of new activities.
Also, OP, you don’t mention exactly what you wanted to start for the parish, so perhaps the priest was correct in his judgment that whatever you proposed wasn’t a great fit.
Have you considered asking him for his (name removed by moderator)ut on what he thinks would be useful to get more families strongly engaged with the church? And then offer to help with things that the priest is on board with, in such a way that he won’t have extra work to do?
Have you considered getting together with other families in your parish to have a whole group of people solidly wanting to do whatever you are proposing? The priest can’t very well say “It won’t work” if you have 15 families already enthusiastic about signing on.
Finally, have you considered that maybe what you’re thinking about really is not what your parish needs and maybe you should consider helping in another way that the priest thinks is the most pressing need for the parish?
Just stuff to consider.
Was this a recent development, like last couple years? If so, people may still just be getting used to the idea that they are forming one parish and not be ready to throw themselves into a lot of new activities.
Also, OP, you don’t mention exactly what you wanted to start for the parish, so perhaps the priest was correct in his judgment that whatever you proposed wasn’t a great fit.
Have you considered asking him for his (name removed by moderator)ut on what he thinks would be useful to get more families strongly engaged with the church? And then offer to help with things that the priest is on board with, in such a way that he won’t have extra work to do?
Have you considered getting together with other families in your parish to have a whole group of people solidly wanting to do whatever you are proposing? The priest can’t very well say “It won’t work” if you have 15 families already enthusiastic about signing on.
Finally, have you considered that maybe what you’re thinking about really is not what your parish needs and maybe you should consider helping in another way that the priest thinks is the most pressing need for the parish?
Just stuff to consider.
J
Joe_5859
Guest
These are very good things to consider.
R
Reds29
Guest
We ave told the priest that we would do everything.
R
Reds29
Guest
Thanks for that. The route we are going is focusing on connecting with as many families as we can. And grow from there.
The direction of the parish is developing the individual’s relationship with Jesus. Ehich i support that and i support the pastor. I was listening to the podcast “Catholic Stuff you should Know” and a quote resonated with me. The quote is " community is how we connect with Christs humanity" so while that individuals relationship is important so is the connection to the church and the community.
At Mass i see other families and i have connected with them, I want to help grow that so the parish is somewhere where families want to be. Not having been in a parish that has schools connected to it, the low weekly Mass attendance rate shocks me and gets me thinking what can be done to increase that. I live in a city where %70 of people call themselves christian so the Mass attendance rate is something that i didnt expect.
Thanks for the feedback
The direction of the parish is developing the individual’s relationship with Jesus. Ehich i support that and i support the pastor. I was listening to the podcast “Catholic Stuff you should Know” and a quote resonated with me. The quote is " community is how we connect with Christs humanity" so while that individuals relationship is important so is the connection to the church and the community.
At Mass i see other families and i have connected with them, I want to help grow that so the parish is somewhere where families want to be. Not having been in a parish that has schools connected to it, the low weekly Mass attendance rate shocks me and gets me thinking what can be done to increase that. I live in a city where %70 of people call themselves christian so the Mass attendance rate is something that i didnt expect.
Thanks for the feedback
- Status