Why do you think Catholics don't attend mass?

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I am part of a baptism prep and marriage prep team. The most common reason we get from people, is they work…and it is inconvenient…but when we press further, usually it’s because they have been poorly catechized and their parents were not a great influence on getting them to go to Catholic church. Parents may have enrolled them in Catholic schools, but they did bring them to church themselves…so the kids do not come…and when they grow up, they do not bring their own children. It’s a cycle of ignorance/

More often we will tell the couples or single parent, they can stop the cycle of indifference, today! By exploring the greatest gift they can give their children…and its not an education, a trust fund, a roof over the heads, even a loving safe family…its their faith…because that’s what lasts and that’s what will save them…faith and works. St.Paul told us that…and I believe it. faith without works is nothing, and likewise works alone will not save you. Now it’s their responsibility…did they bring their child closer to God or did they lead him/her away?
Pray always for those who have fallen away…particularly in your own family.
 
Genesis315 said:
Those are very Protestant reasons articulated in the OP–a Protestant service is centered on the sermon and the people are concerned with what they get out of it.

Mass is all about the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ being offered to God for petition, adoration, reparation, and thanksgiving and it’s about uniting ourselves to Him in Holy Communion when we give our whole beings to Him. It’s not about what we get out of it, Mass is about what we give to God–Sacrifice, prayer, and self.

People don’t go to Mass for one reason. They do not believe. If they truly believed Jesus Christ was present in the Eucharist only the most mailicious laziness or repulsion of God would keep them away. They’ve simply abandoned the faith and gone the way of the world…
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I think you are on to something. I has nothing to do with wishy-washy homilies, female altar servers, Communion in the hand, etc. It is right in the persons heart. They will find all kinds of excuses to blame it on, but the only really problem is the person. If you REALLY believed that Christ was present in Holy Communion, wild horses couldn’t keep you away from Mass. Quit using the blame game.
 
davy39 said:
I think you are on to something. I has nothing to do with wishy-washy homilies, female altar servers, Communion in the hand, etc. It is right in the persons heart. They will find all kinds of excuses to blame it on, but the only really problem is the person. If you REALLY believed that Christ was present in Holy Communion, wild horses couldn’t keep you away from Mass. Quit using the blame game.
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O.K., if we can all agree that the reason Catholics do not attend Mass is that they simply do not believe, the more important question is what can be done about this?

Do you really think that going back to a pre-Vatican II Mass, male only alter boys and conservative priests will bring everyone back? I would contend that the RCC has successfully lost nearly two generations of Catholics and nothing will get them back. Going back to the way things were will make the chuch so unfamiliar that people will leave at an even greater rate.

Nohome
 
I think its a mixture of things; a viscious cycle. Many of the “changes” in the last 40 years have had the affect of allowing people to easily “forget” what really happens at Mass. Now that 2 generations have gone by, many have never been properly taught about the Eucharist and reverance and, indeed, that Catholics are *obliged *to go to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days.

I think the media, starting with Vatican II, has played a huge role in “re-educating” Catholics to the point where many who are of the “cafeteria” variety, truly don’t know any better any more.

I also think there is much more overlap between Protestant church goers and Catholics than there was 40 years ago. Many CatholicsI know have had personal experience with Protestant services of one kind or another. Suddenly, expecations of what is supposed to happen, and what actually does happen at Mass begin to change. “Where is the sermon? Where is the fellowship?”. These undercatecized Catholics no longer believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ and no longer believe that attending Mass is necessary. It all begins to center around them.
 
the Mass is about us. Jesus didn’t sacrifice himeself for himself. He sacrificed himeself for us. We are supposed to go to Mass to be with the family of God. not to pray by yourself, which is what you do at home.
 
We go to Mass to recieve Jesus’ Body and Blood. The Mass is Jesus’ way of keeping His promise, “Lo, I am with you always, until the end of the world.” In that sense, it is about us, but in general, the Mass is not “about us.”
 
4HisChurch said:
We go to Mass to recieve Jesus’ Body and Blood. The Mass is Jesus’ way of keeping His promise, “Lo, I am with you always, until the end of the world.” In that sense, it is about us, but in general, the Mass is not “about us.”
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I think that he makes himself available to all of us. it is a celebration of life in christ. The mass is not a solo event. I am positive that this is wrong
 
santaro75 said:
the Mass is about us. Jesus didn’t sacrifice himeself for himself. He sacrificed himeself for us. We are supposed to go to Mass to be with the family of God. not to pray by yourself, which is what you do at home.
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smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_6_4.gif that is probably what keeps most people away from Mass

It is not about us. It is all about Him. More of Him, and less of us. When we make it about us, we will never be “satisfied” and will continue meddling in the liturgy as the laity have done for the last forty years.

.

%between%
 
IMO, spending 20 yrs working with Catholics who do and who do not attend Mass, is that there is only one reason. They have never been taught, or have been taught but do not believe, that Jesus Christ gave us the Mass, that it is participation in the sacrifice of Calvary and the resurrection, that we partake of Christ’s glorified Body in the Eucharist and in so doing he forms us into community charged with the mission to evangelize the world.

If they believed this, none of those other lame excuses would carry any weight, and nothing could keep them away from Mass.
 
santaro75 said:
So you are saying that Christ did not think that fellowship was important?
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Sorry, spins don’t work here…

You said “the Mass is about us. Jesus didn’t sacrifice himeself for himself. He sacrificed himeself for us. We are supposed to go to Mass to be with the family of God. not to pray by yourself, which is what you do at home.”

And I attempted to address that point… by saying you are wrong.

.
 
The Eucharist serves many purposes. For one thing it binds us all together with eacthother into one body with Christ and with eachother

1cor10:17 "Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. "
If you go to mass, pray by yourself, eat the eucharist and leave how are you a part of one body?

**1cor12:12-26 "As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. **
Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If (one) part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy."
Using Pauls analogy how can you say that the Mass it is an individual worhsip event? In the Catholic church often times the different parts of the Body have nothing to do with eachother. We don’t act as one body at all. It is “ME AND JESUS” instead of “US and JESUS”. I am pretty sure Christ intended the latter
**John17-20"I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. "
As brothers and Sisters in christ and through the Eucharist You, whoever you may be, are me, I am you, you are christ, I am christ We are ALL ONE. How can I not fellowship and care for you when you are the same as me. If I sin against you, I sin against my self, the entire church and Christ because We are ALL ONE.
**
 
MrS said:
Sorry, spins don’t work here…

You said “the Mass is about us. Jesus didn’t sacrifice himeself for himself. He sacrificed himeself for us. We are supposed to go to Mass to be with the family of God. not to pray by yourself, which is what you do at home.”

And I attempted to address that point… by saying you are wrong.

.
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I am not wrong. How can you say that the Mass is not offered for us? Did God need to be saved? It was offered for our salvation. Christ made the Mass for our unity with him and also with eachother.

John15:13 "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."
 
“…as often as you do this, do it in memory of Me…”

do you have a translation that says

“…as often as you do this, do it for yourselves so you can experience fellowship with each other… oh yeh, and with Me…”
 
MrS said:
“…as often as you do this, do it in memory of Me…”

do you have a translation that says

“…as often as you do this, do it for yourselves so you can experience fellowship with each other… oh yeh, and with Me…”
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when he said “you” who was he referring to? My bet is the whole church in union (which requires fellowship)
 
santaro75 said:
"But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you."

I think that Mass is about group prayer, and FELLOWSHIP. Praising with our Brothers and Sisters. Our Holy Family. Why do so many want Mass to be as if you are by yourself. pretending like it is just you and God. Like nobody else is there? Your time for personal devotion is in your inner room, your time for building the bond with your church family and group devotion is Mass.
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Fellowship? NO. It is about the offering of Christ on the Holy Cross, and is entirely and equally important if only a priest celebrated it alone or with the assistance of another Catholic. A priest offers the Holy Sacrifice on behalf of the poeple, but not all of the laity in the world w/o a single priest has any authority at all to offer the Holy Sacrifice.

After Mass, then you go enjoy fellowship at coffee hour, or pancake breakfast, or whatever your parish offers.
 
prv said:
Fellowship? NO. It is about the offering of Christ on the Holy Cross, and is entirely and equally important if only a priest celebrated it alone or with the assistance of another Catholic.
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The vertical member of the cross is longer than the horizontal. We have forgotten the “Holy Sacrifice of the Mass”.
 
prv said:
Fellowship? NO. It is about the offering of Christ on the Holy Cross, and is entirely and equally important if only a priest celebrated it alone or with the assistance of another Catholic. A priest offers the Holy Sacrifice on behalf of the poeple, but not all of the laity in the world w/o a single priest has any authority at all to offer the Holy Sacrifice.

After Mass, then you go enjoy fellowship at coffee hour, or pancake breakfast, or whatever your parish offers.
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This is crazy. i have been a member of Many parishes due to my moving alot. I have been to the one I currently attend for a year. I can tell you now that if I died tommorrow, nobody would even notice that I wasn’t in Mass. The mass there is beautiful but there is NO fellowship. not even coffee donuts…nothing.

Tell me where the unity is? A quick “peace be with you” without any eye contact is not fellowship or unity.

If there isn’t any element of bonding or fellowshiping in the mass it isn’t going to happen.

Do you say that Communion has not implications of fellowship? It is purely a individual event?
 
santaro75 said:
This is crazy. i have been a member of Many parishes due to my moving alot. I have been to the one I currently attend for a year. I can tell you now that if I died tommorrow, nobody would even notice that I wasn’t in Mass. The mass there is beautiful but there is NO fellowship. not even coffee donuts…nothing.

Tell me where the unity is? A quick “peace be with you” without any eye contact is not fellowship or unity.

If there isn’t any element of bonding or fellowshiping in the mass it isn’t going to happen.

And
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The whole Church sacrificing at the same time is fellowhip.
 
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