I think that in our zeal to correct the OP and inform him/her that Mass is not about fellowship, we need to be careful not to overstate and say falsely that “the Church is not about fellowship.”
Oh, yes, it is!. The CHURCH is all about fellowship. We are part of a Body when we are in the Church, and the Body is supposed to work and play together, not separately.
Several people on this thread, as I expected they would, have reminded me that Jesus changed water into wine at a wedding.
**Alcohol aside, the point is that Jesus was a sociable human being who had friends and did fun things with them often. **
Yes, Mass is time to peek into heaven. We do this for at least one hour each week, and some are fortunate enough to get that peek every day.
But the REST of the week is for the Church to have fellowship in various activities with the goal of building up Christ’s Kingdom on this earth.
I don’t think the OP was talking about Mass as a “fellowship time.” As a Protestant, I know exactly what the OP was talking about. For a Protestant, especially an evangelical Protestant, all of life revolves around the church and the various activities. At least five days/nights a week, we were involved with an activity, either spiritual or social, with our church friends. It was so much fun.
Catholics who became Protestant and joined our Protestant churches would often give testimony about the warmth, the love, the fellowship, the friendships that they had found in our Protestant churches.
It wasn’t all about “entertainment” at all. That’s not what the OP is talking about. One of the best examples of “fellowship” that I remember happened in my Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in North Carolina. A young woman had lost both her parents within a week (Mom died of a heart attack, and a few days later, Dad died of a heart attack, probably from grief). It was devastating. A group of women got together–this wasn’t organized by the church, BTW, it was impromptu–and went over to her house and cleaned from top to bottom. That was pure fellowship, certainly not “entertaining,” and lots of tears were shed.
THIS was the kind of thing that happened all the time, every day, in our evangelical churches. People LOVED each other and they demonstrated it through practical actions. I think that’s what the OP misses, and I miss it, too. I worry that if my husband were killed, would anyone from my parish come over and sit with me? I KNOW that within minutes, my evangelical friends would have come, but I’m not so sure if the same thing would happen in the Catholic Church. I hope they would come.
Another example of “fellowship” in Protestant churches. When my babies were born, 17 other young couples also had babies within a few months of each other. We had so many friends, so many playdates, so much fun together just meeting at the park to watch our children play. And we all did things at the church to help our children grow up loving Jesus–some of us were regular nursery workers, some taught Sunday school (yes, we had Sunday school for two-year-olds, and YES, this is my younger daughter’s only memory of a “good” church).
I would describe Protestant fellowship as “rich” and “deep.” It was what I hope heaven will be like. I hope that heaven is NOT chanting and organ music and people rolling their eyes up and floating along.
I agree with the poster who said that in the past, parishes were actually “neighborhoods,” and everyone knew each other and had associations with each other throughout the week. I think that nowadays, except in the ethnic parishes, this kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore. IMO, the best way to find friends in the Catholic Church is to have children that attend the Catholic school attached to the church building. You meet lots of people your own age with simliar interests (raising their kids!) and simliar incomes, and you remain friends for a long time while the kids are growing up. Then when the kids leave home, you still have these people as your friends.
When you don’t have kids in the Catholic school, it’s harder to find people. I agree with many of the suggestions already made on this board–join a group in the church (not necessarily your own parish) that interests you. Bible study, prayer group, nurses group, gardening and church beautification, music, or whatever…just find someplace to start meeting people outside of Mass.
BTW, I think that there is a different kind of fellowship at Mass. It’s not about talking or playing or doing a project together. It’s about sharing in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ and becoming one body, members of His Body. There’s joy in this Mass fellowship, and there’s sorrow, too, and there’s a lot of love for people that you don’t know, but who are related to you throug His Blood. It’s quite supernatural and thrilling. I urge the OP to ask the Lord to help him/her experience this “different” kind of fellowship during Mass.
