Why was daily Mass for Catholic school children eliminated?

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My parents told me that when they were in Catholic school, daily Mass was a requirement for all the school children before classes started. Nowadays, most children in Catholic schools only attend Mass once a week with their class. In my parish, the school children have Mass on Fridays. Why was daily Mass for Catholic school children eliminated?
 
I don’t know but will get on this thread to find out.

We were just talking about this at our breakfast after mass today.

What we were talking about was when we were young the fast was from midnight so when we were kids and no breakfast and sitting in church you couldn’t receive if you had breakfast. My friend said she was always embarrassed because her grandmother made her eat breakfast so she could never recieve communion and the nuns would write on the board who came to mass and who took communion so she was embarrased. And she sat through two masses in the morning because her parents had to drop them off at 7 am so maybe that is why they lifted the midnight fast and changed it to one hour.
Does anyone else know?
D.
 
dessert said:
I don’t know but will get on this thread to find out.

We were just talking about this at our breakfast after mass today.

What we were talking about was when we were young the fast was from midnight so when we were kids and no breakfast and sitting in church you couldn’t receive if you had breakfast. My friend said she was always embarrassed because her grandmother made her eat breakfast so she could never recieve communion and the nuns would write on the board who came to mass and who took communion so she was embarrased. And she sat through two masses in the morning because her parents had to drop them off at 7 am so maybe that is why they lifted the midnight fast and changed it to one hour.
Does anyone else know?
D.
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Actually, the fast was changed from midnight to 3 hours and then 1 hour. I don’t remember where the thread is, but there was a discussion about the fast, and several posters did provide the relevant information about when the changes were made.
 
We used to carry an extra peanut butter and jelly sandwich on toast for breakfast after Mass. I expect that the fast had nothing to do with the change away from daily Mass.r

One is that in rural small town areas many of the children are bussed to school and the day is shortened enough that it is difficult to work Mass into the daily schedule. Our Catholic school still has a Mass on Friday mornings, but the rest of the days scheduled events have to be shortened on that day.

A Second reason is that with a single priest available and sometimes only a fraction of one there is no way to have Mass for the school and Mass at the Church on the same morning. We have no Mass at the Church on Friday morning. The school and the Church are almost two miles distant from each other so the teachers cannot lead the lines of children across the playground or street and into the Church for Mass. School Mass is in the School Gymnasium.

My feeling in this matter is that it is sad that that daily Mass is no longer possible in most places. I can’t remember how I felt about being required at daily Mass as a child, but some of my warmest memories are of those times and events. As altar boys some of us would get out of class to serve at funerals. Church and School were adjacent to each other. At that time in my home state, country kids who went to Catholic schools could not be bussed. My mother had to learn to drive so that we could attend the Parochial school. No small sacrifice on her part to drop us off and pick us up five days a week. I think the states finally realized that every child bussed to a Catholic school actually saved the school district money. Money/Taxes always trumps separation of church and state.
 
rwoehmke said:
We used to carry an extra peanut butter and jelly sandwich on toast for breakfast after Mass. I expect that the fast had nothing to do with the change away from daily Mass.r

One is that in rural small town areas many of the children are bussed to school and the day is shortened enough that it is difficult to work Mass into the daily schedule. Our Catholic school still has a Mass on Friday mornings, but the rest of the days scheduled events have to be shortened on that day.

A Second reason is that with a single priest available and sometimes only a fraction of one there is no way to have Mass for the school and Mass at the Church on the same morning. We have no Mass at the Church on Friday morning. The school and the Church are almost two miles distant from each other so the teachers cannot lead the lines of children across the playground or street and into the Church for Mass. School Mass is in the School Gymnasium.

My feeling in this matter is that it is sad that that daily Mass is no longer possible in most places. I can’t remember how I felt about being required at daily Mass as a child, but some of my warmest memories are of those times and events. As altar boys some of us would get out of class to serve at funerals. Church and School were adjacent to each other. At that time in my home state, country kids who went to Catholic schools could not be bussed. My mother had to learn to drive so that we could attend the Parochial school. No small sacrifice on her part to drop us off and pick us up five days a week. I think the states finally realized that every child bussed to a Catholic school actually saved the school district money. Money/Taxes always trumps separation of church and state.
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I can understand what you are saying about rural areas and the time issues/bussing issues. However, I live in the city. The school and church are on the same property. The priest says Mass every morning anyway, but the children only go to Mass once a week. My parents also went to their parish schools, which were next door to the church. If a priest is saying Mass every morning anyway, why are the children in the Catholic school at that parish not required to attend Mass every morning?
 
I grew up in a small Kansas Town, and We attended Mass every day I went to Catholic school from K-7th Grade and my first day of Kindergarden was in 1990

Removing daily mass is one of the Newest Issues that have come up
 
ChristopherM said:
I grew up in a small Kansas Town, and We attended Mass every day I went to Catholic school from K-7th Grade and my first day of Kindergarden was in 1990

Removing daily mass is one of the Newest Issues that have come up
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I am happy to hear that your parish did not eliminate daily Mass for the school children.
 
The children at our parish’s school attend the 8:30 am Mass every day, so this is new to me!
 
lak611 said:
I am happy to hear that your parish did not eliminate daily Mass for the school children.
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Well I think I got the Last of it, but it seems as if that parish now only has mass 3x a week for the children, I dont live there anymore but the School that my Little sister gos to she only attends mass 1x a week
 
We attended once a week in grade school and only on Holy Days of Obligation in High School 😦 I think daily Mass, especially for students, would be a WONDERFUL thing. I’m not sure why they did away with it but IMO they should definitely bring it back!!
 
I attended Catholic grade and high school from 1955 through 1969. The school Mass was on Fridays. We didn’t have daily Mass unless we made a class retreat. I don’t know of any other schools in my area that did this.
 
the hours for the school day are set by the state, and esp. in districts where kids are bussed to parochial school, the bus determines the schedule, so there is usually not enough time for daily Mass. by the way, the time for religious instruction does not count for the academic hours required by the state, so usually Catholic school begins earlier and/or ends later. Many Catholic schools are not located on a campus with a church anymore, but are independent, like my grandchildren’s school, so daily Mass is an option if parents want to bring them early at their nearest parish, but not for the whole school population.

Our parish school starts at 8, and parents are free to bring their children to 7 am Mass, but few or none do so. There is an 8:15 Mass on Friday am for schoolchildren and parents, but folks on this forum would hate it since it uses the revised children’s lectionary, children form the choir, do the readings etc. Each class takes turns for these roles and it is a learning experience, so these kids really do know and understand the Mass, the Eucharist, the Real Presence etc.

Catholic schools in many districts, esp. in urban areas, have extended day programs and open early for govt. funded breakfast to be distributed to those who qualifiy, another chunk of time taken up.

Also, many schools dropped daily Mass since too many parents think it is a substitute for Sunday Mass, and administrators are trying to drive home the importance of Sunday Mass for the families. Sad but true. There is also the whole issue of REQUIRED Mass attendance, as opposed to teaching the children the importance, centrality and reality of the Mass so they attend because they want to (and get their parents to attend) rather than because they hafta.
 
puzzleannie’s post is right-on.

There is also a money issue. If the children are in school for an extra hour, the tuition would be higher. Many parents already struggle to pay tuition bills.

Our Catholic school starts at around 9, and there are two early weekday Masses that they can attend with their parents if they so wish.
 
krissy343 said:
We attended once a week in grade school and only on Holy Days of Obligation in High School 😦 I think daily Mass, especially for students, would be a WONDERFUL thing. I’m not sure why they did away with it but IMO they should definitely bring it back!!
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I started at Catholic primary school in 1979, again the Church was on school grounds. But its daily mass at noon or 1pm, I don’t think there was a regular morning Mass. I think weekly as well there would be confession times scheduled that coincided with our lunch break, so some of us would go on our own. And we’d regularly do a second rite of confession (some group liturgy followed by individual confession time) as a class group.

We never had daily Mass. We did have Mass weekly or so and on Holy Days - we also had Exposition and Benediction (I think fortnightly or monthly?).
 
In Texas, even though the state has no jurisdiction over Catholic schools, many have chosen to follow the state’s rules on class times and subjects. The diocisan schools here do just that.

The school my children attend therefore, already adds three days to the calendar to “make up” for the time the kids spend in religion class. Daily Mass would either add more days or extend the school day.

But I think the real reason is practical. The pastor is the only clergyman in the parish. He says one daily Mass at 7 in order to accomodate people who go to work. This is a suburban “bedroom” community where most people go into the city to work. He has a huge territory to cover with sick and hosptial visits, diocisan and deanery meetings, parishioner emergencies etc. There is a school Mass once a week and on Holy Days of Obligation and he is fortunate to have many other priests who come and help with that.

At other nearby Catholic schools, there are other issues. At my neices school there are more students than can fit in the Church so they split up and go to Mass on different days. Other schools are diocisan or independant schools and do not have a parish affilitated with them. They rely entirely on the generosity of other priests to say Mass when they are able.
 
I think everyone my age:o remembers Mass EVERY day. It started our school day. My mom used to pack us an extra sandwich every day and Sister would allow about 15 minutes for us to eat something before starting school. We used to LOVE 1st Fridays as we would go into the Church Hall and they would have hot chocolate and donuts for us. “Woe be” to any of the girls who would forget to wear their beanies though, as we would get a plunk on the head with an extra one that they would carry around. (not only was that embarrassing, but it’s a wonder none of us suffered a concussion:D )

It truly is sad that my grandkids now only go to Mass once a week. They do study catechism, but I’m not sure to the extent that we did.😦 When I was in school we were taught by almost ALL nuns. There are absolutely no nuns in the Catholic School they are in now. The teachers are wonderful but the nuns were
“THE NUNS!” (if you know where I’m coming from ) You could hear them coming down the hall by the clanking of their Rosary Beads. (sorry for the rambling but I couldn’t resist some of the memories)
 
Teelynn said:
We used to LOVE 1st Fridays as we would go into the Church Hall and they would have hot chocolate and donuts for us.
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My mom said that she got the hot chocolate and donuts after First Friday Mass when she was in school.
 
Very probably the Mass for schoolchildren, or the absence of it, can be the traced to the archbishop.

This is a good petition to send to your archbishop.
 
lak611 said:
My parents told me that when they were in Catholic school, daily Mass was a requirement for all the school children before classes started. Nowadays, most children in Catholic schools only attend Mass once a week with their class. In my parish, the school children have Mass on Fridays. Why was daily Mass for Catholic school children eliminated?
Click to expand...
I attended a Catholic school for most of my primary and secondary education (1976-1988) and we never had daily Mass. We had a class Mass once a year in primary school, when Mass was said in our classroom, and a school mass once a year too. In secondary school we also had a 3 day retreat but this is all. Was daily Mass common?

Gearoidin
 
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