What would it take for catholics to Attend Mass Weekly?

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AndyP2010:
Because, I think, you might be surprised by exactly who you find on the board. My experience thus far suggests a considerable population of renewed Catholics or converts…EXACTLY the type of people from whom we might gain valuable insight.
 
Better inculturation of the entire faith. What I found here in Canada since I moved is that the Latin Rite is rather bland in terms of its expression here. Outside of Mass there’s really not much going on in parishes which involves entire communities.

In the Philippines for example, if its the town fiesta which is the feast day of the Patron Saint of the local parish, the whole community is involved in the celebrations which range from religious (such as processions around town) to secular (food, food, food, and lots more food).
 
MartyrForJesus said:
Traditional Latin Masses.
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That would definitely help, but there’s more too it than that in my opinion.

On the one hand, one thing that needs to be done in the Church is the reform of the reform that the Holy Father is proposing. We need to, in my opinion, make the TLM more visible on the Catholic stage. We need to increase in the O.F. Mass gregorian chant, the use of incense, and the use of Latin. We especially need to cut down on liturgical abuses, guitars, and sappy, meaningless music.

It would make the Mass look and feel more like the Mass.

On the other hand, I think the reform of the reform will be useless when it comes to bringing Catholics back unless there is an improvement in catechesis alongside it.
 
MartyrForJesus said:
Traditional Latin Masses.
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Offering it, yes. Making it standard again, no.

I think you’re just as likely to turn off large numbers of people by only holding mass in a language most people can’t understand as you are to attract people [back] to the church.

Even as a largely (though not entirely) Conservative Catholic myself, I don’t think its the simplification of the liturgy that turned people off. Most Evangelical Protestant churches, after all, are far less “traditional” than the Catholic church, yet they routinely pack the pews - often multiple times per day, and not just for Sunday Services.

If you want to know what Catholics need to do to return people to the faith, start by looking at those churches which are already filled with the devout - and figure out how to apply, if not copy, the lessons. I would start with two key areas:
  1. Evangelicalism in the West: Pentecostals frequently knock on my door. Baptists preach on television. Non-denoms have successfully found a way to “market” the faith. and I see commercials for the Methodists. Yet, until the recent “Catholics Come Home” campaign, I was hard pressed to see any clear evidence that the RCC was attempting to attract new sheep. How about starting by touting our position as Christ’s own church - the only christian denomination which can make a clear, scriptural argument about being ordained directly by God?
  2. Better catering to the needs of the faithful: I’m not just talking mass times and confession here. One of the things that Protestant churches appear to do extremely well (And I can vouch for this from my experiences visiting the churches of my friends) is that they help people to deal with the issues facing them at various points in their lives. So there is a teen worship service, and a support group for couples, and daycare during service. Sure, Catholic churches often offer Catechism - but reaching beyond that, I’m not going to say we aren’t well behind our Protestant brethren.
 
ConstantineTG said:
Better inculturation of the entire faith. What I found here in Canada since I moved is that the Latin Rite is rather bland in terms of its expression here. Outside of Mass there’s really not much going on in parishes which involves entire communities.

In the Philippines for example, if its the town fiesta which is the feast day of the Patron Saint of the local parish, the whole community is involved in the celebrations which range from religious (such as processions around town) to secular (food, food, food, and lots more food).
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I agree. These were more common in America until ethnic communities broke up, but you can still find them here in California (my parish had a big celebration for Our Lady of Guadalupe), and back east where there are still some Little Italy’s.
 
mburn16 said:
Offering it, yes. Making it standard again, no.

I think you’re just as likely to turn off large numbers of people by only holding mass in a language most people can’t understand as you are to attract people [back] to the church.

Even as a largely (though not entirely) Conservative Catholic myself, I don’t think its the simplification of the liturgy that turned people off. Most Evangelical Protestant churches, after all, are far less “traditional” than the Catholic church, yet they routinely pack the pews - often multiple times per day, and not just for Sunday Services.

If you want to know what Catholics need to do to return people to the faith, start by looking at those churches which are already filled with the devout - and figure out how to apply, if not copy, the lessons. I would start with two key areas:
  1. Evangelicalism in the West: Pentecostals frequently knock on my door. Baptists preach on television. Non-denoms have successfully found a way to “market” the faith. and I see commercials for the Methodists. Yet, until the recent “Catholics Come Home” campaign, I was hard pressed to see any clear evidence that the RCC was attempting to attract new sheep. How about starting by touting our position as Christ’s own church - the only christian denomination which can make a clear, scriptural argument about being ordained directly by God?
  2. Better catering to the needs of the faithful: I’m not just talking mass times and confession here. One of the things that Protestant churches appear to do extremely well (And I can vouch for this from my experiences visiting the churches of my friends) is that they help people to deal with the issues facing them at various points in their lives. So there is a teen worship service, and a support group for couples, and daycare during service. Sure, Catholic churches often offer Catechism - but reaching beyond that, I’m not going to say we aren’t well behind our Protestant brethren.
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As a former Evangelical, I totally agree with these points. Actually, I sometimes long for those days because of these points.
 
Paxvobis said:
I agree. These were more common in America until ethnic communities broke up, but you can still find them here in California (my parish had a big celebration for Our Lady of Guadalupe), and back east where there are still some Little Italy’s.
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Do you think its the melting pot of cultures that is killing this kind of cultural religious expression? Like most main stream parishes tend to be a mix of people from different ethnic backgrounds. If you become to Mexican, you alienate the others. If you become too Italian, you alienate the others, etc. So what happens is people just have the Mass and ethnic-neutral events which aren’t very inspiring to people.

A lot of Filipinos go to Mass because they see it as the Filipino thing to do. And when I moved to a Ukrainian Catholic parish, I’ve noticed the same thing that people see it as a Ukrainian thing to go to a Divine Liturgy. I mean, most of these people are nominal Catholics, but they go to church whenever everyone else goes to church because this is part of their cultural identity. And I believe just being present there, they will eventually build up the grace to grow in the faith.
 
ConstantineTG said:
Do you think its the melting pot of cultures that is killing this kind of cultural religious expression?
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Yes.
ConstantineTG said:
Like most main stream parishes tend to be a mix of people from different ethnic backgrounds. If you become to Mexican, you alienate the others. If you become too Italian, you alienate the others, etc. So what happens is people just have the Mass and ethnic-neutral events which aren’t very inspiring to people.

A lot of Filipinos go to Mass because they see it as the Filipino thing to do. And when I moved to a Ukrainian Catholic parish, I’ve noticed the same thing that people see it as a Ukrainian thing to go to a Divine Liturgy. I mean, most of these people are nominal Catholics, but they go to church whenever everyone else goes to church because this is part of their cultural identity. And I believe just being present there, they will eventually build up the grace to grow in the faith.
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I totally agree. The reason why I was baptized and had First Communion in the first place wasn’t because my parents are devout Catholics, but because we’re Italian and that’s what Italians do.
 
Paxvobis said:
Yes.

I totally agree. The reason why I was baptized and had First Communion in the first place wasn’t because my parents are devout Catholics, but because we’re Italian and that’s what Italians do.
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Exactly! I know! Like Filipinos get married in church and have their kids baptized because its the Filipino way. I never watched “My big, fat Greek wedding” but someone told me of a scene where they guy was eventually baptized Orthodox and instead of saying, “I’m finally Christian,” he said, “I’m finally Greek!”
 
I believe more people aren’t going to start coming to mass, even the bare minimum, until they are catechized on what mass actually is.

I also believe you can’t have more catechesis without more reverent and sacred experiences at mass. They go hand in hand. What is the point in having more solid catechesis if the poorly performed liturgies aren’t fixed, and what is the point in having better liturgies if catechesis stays in the toilet? You can’t have one without the other. We can be taught all these things, but if they aren’t all mystically applied in our liturgies, then what good has that done? Empty facts are just that, empty.

Both catechesis and liturgies have to get immensely better.

I also agree with whoever said we need to “meet people where they’re at.” I believe we do need to have resources and people available for those suffering trauma, emotional abuse, anything really, but at the same time, this, “We love you, let’s help you,” thing doesn’t need to and cannot turn in to “Now let’s dumb our masses down to make you feel ‘accepted’,” or whatever. We need those resources for helping people, but our liturgies must not be infringed upon. That will only make things ultimately worse. As I said, learning empty facts doesn’t mean anything if our liturgies are poorly performed, even if we are helping those in need. Helping people and meeting them where they’re at doesn’t mean tailoring mass to fit every imaginable scenario. They are two different things. If we start erroneously blending the two, then what’s stopping us from having the “I suffered child abuse mass” or the “Recovering alcoholic mass?”
 
We have around 1,300 people who attend Mass at the weekend - 1,500 if the weather’s fine. At Christmas and Easter, we get around 4,000. The total Parish population who expect to go to the grave with the blessings of the Holy Church is around 10,000. So we know that those who don’t turn up each week will be delivered to us eventually - and the timing is in God’s hands.
 
YoungTradCath said:
I believe more people aren’t going to start coming to mass, even the bare minimum, until they are catechized on what mass actually is.

I also believe you can’t have more catechesis without more reverent and sacred experiences at mass. They go hand in hand. What is the point in having more solid catechesis if the poorly performed liturgies aren’t fixed, and what is the point in having better liturgies if catechesis stays in the toilet? You can’t have one without the other. We can be taught all these things, but if they aren’t all mystically applied in our liturgies, then what good has that done? Empty facts are just that, empty.

Both catechesis and liturgies have to get immensely better.

I also agree with whoever said we need to “meet people where they’re at.” I believe we do need to have resources and people available for those suffering trauma, emotional abuse, anything really, but at the same time, this, “We love you, let’s help you,” thing doesn’t need to and cannot turn in to “Now let’s dumb our masses down to make you feel ‘accepted’,” or whatever. We need those resources for helping people, but our liturgies must not be infringed upon. That will only make things ultimately worse. As I said, learning empty facts doesn’t mean anything if our liturgies are poorly performed, even if we are helping those in need. Helping people and meeting them where they’re at doesn’t mean tailoring mass to fit every imaginable scenario. They are two different things. If we start erroneously blending the two, then what’s stopping us from having the “I suffered child abuse mass” or the “Recovering alcoholic mass?”
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Wonderful post!

Catechesis is one place we should start. People who don’t know their faith are unlikely to practice it.

When I go to Mass on Christmas and to a lesser extent on Easter, I see throngs packing in who will not be there for months. We have to ask ourselves why so many see no value in going any other time.

Some of it begins with parents. If they don’t teach the importance of the Mass, the children are not going to pick it up. It’s terrible that I notice, but I can’t help this one. I see families every week doing the same thing, pretty anything but participating in the Mass while distracting people around them. Children who get that on Sunday aren’t very likely to learn reverence for the Mass.
 
TheMc said:
Reverent liturgy, and solid music. Not just music that people like, because tastes change, and if they are there for the music they like, guess what happens when they stop liking that type of music. Sing music that speaks to the soul. Chant, polyphony, classic pipe organ, sacred choral music. They may not “like” it, but before long, they will be longing for it. But a healthy sense of community is also good. Now that doesn’t mean holding hands during the Our Father, or having a meet and greet when there should be silent prayer before Mass. I’m talking about a real sense of community.
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:clapping:
Paxvobis said:
I think in large part it boils down to better catechesis. I am the only one in my family under 70 who still goes to Mass, and often times when I’m talking religion with other Catholics, I feel like I’m the only one who understands what the Mass truly is - the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary for the salvation of man. People find Mass boring because they don’t understand what it is and how you should pray the Mass.
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:extrahappy:
MartyrForJesus said:
Traditional Latin Masses.
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:yup:

I’d also like to add the return of the Liturgical Calendar that accompanies the TLM. There’s something to be said for the simplification of the Liturgical Calendar and Lectionary. While the new Lectionary increases (significantly) the amount of scripture being heard I think for most people it causes them to be inundated and lose the meaning. Simplification of the Calendar and Lectionary could also help with better catechesis.

For people that want to go the extra mile and read more scripture there are plenty of resources available to the extra mile. For the people that don’t wish to go the extra mile because they don’t want to, or it’s not their thing, they will at least have a solid understanding of the basics.
 
ConstantineTG said:
If this is true, shouldn’t parishes that offer the TLM today should be overflowing with people?
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Most of them are. The traditionalist movements are very popular to young people, and traditionalists seminaries are packed full of seminarians. Just look at the amount of seminarians in the SSPX, FSSP and ICKSP for example.
 
maplebug55 said:
I think it is important to remember that not everyone lives close to a church that offers teh TLM. I myself live about one hour away from a church that has TLM twice a month.
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I meant that more Traditional Latin Masses be available, and hopefully eventually replace the Novus Ordo.
 
Paxvobis said:
Yes.

I totally agree. The reason why I was baptized and had First Communion in the first place wasn’t because my parents are devout Catholics, but because we’re Italian and that’s what Italians do.
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These are good points and, IMO, the reason to reclaim our Catholic Culture. What is the stereotype of a Catholic?
  • Eat fish on Fridays
  • Rosary
  • Latin
  • Ashes on Ash Wednesday
  • Chant
  • Sunday Mass
Etc. We’ve blended in with the rest of the cultures and the results are the similar as described in this post. We need to reclaim our Catholic culture.
 
mburn16 said:
Offering it, yes. Making it standard again, no.
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Many people hope that it will eventually become the norm Liturgy again.
mburn16 said:
I think you’re just as likely to turn off large numbers of people by only holding mass in a language most people can’t understand as you are to attract people [back] to the church.
Click to expand...
Are faithful Catholics really going to leave the Holy Mother Church simply because they don’t like the traditional liturgy that sustained the Latin Church for centuries?
mburn16 said:
Even as a largely (though not entirely) Conservative Catholic myself, I don’t think its the simplification of the liturgy that turned people off. Most Evangelical Protestant churches, after all, are far less “traditional” than the Catholic church, yet they routinely pack the pews - often multiple times per day, and not just for Sunday Services.
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Please remember, we are not necessarily talking about having the most people in the pews, we are talking about having more faithful Catholics. Evangelical Protestant ecclesiastical communities base their services on sermons - if they started preaching feel-good Christianity (eg. Joel Osteen), they may have many people in the pews, but does their faith have any substance?

Good suggestions concerning evangelization and caring for the faithful,

God Bless.
 
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