Your Top 3 Reasons for Drop in Mass Attendance?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ElToro
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Balian said:
I think the thread might have been more aptly titled by replacing the word “Reasons” with “Rationalizations.” In my own humble opinion the drop in Mass attendance as well as the declining attendance in most churches has to do with one simple causative factor, man’s propensity to sin. Rather than repenting and turning away from sin it is just easier to rationalize living a sinful life rather than seeking holiness. Excuses like the liturgy doesn’t suit me or address my needs or that the music is horrid or that the sermons are boring speak to the concept, “I’m not be entertained.” I don’t think that is what worship is intended to do.

I’m just beginning RCIA with the intent of converting to the Catholic Church so I’m no expert of course. Yet even in these first steps of my journey I have already learned that for Catholics, weekly Mass attendance is not optional. Staying away for any selfish excuse is the Church teaches a mortal sin. How could someone intentionally skip Mass, justify it with some personal rationalization and then consider himself or herself a Catholic? If you don’t embrace the teachings of the Church that makes no sense. I’ve read a great deal about the fact that there is no such thing as “cafeteria” Catholics. One doesn’t get to pick and choose among what is offered. Either one accepts Church teachings or they do not.

If one does not get anything out of attending Mass I believe it is because they choose not to. They should simply be honest and admit that they do not care about trying to live a life of holiness rather than making excuses or looking to blame others for their own personal sin and failures.

God bless you.
Click to expand...
Yes, I agree with this. Personal sin is the reason people stay away from Mass.

I disagree with the theory that people stay away from Mass because they don’t believe in Real Presence. I suppose that’s true in some cases, but many people would continue to attend Mass even if they didn’t believe any of it just because “it feels good to follow family traditions” or for some other “feel-good” reason involving traditions and family loyalty.

I know several people who don’t believe anything about the Christian Gospel–instead, they believe that all religions are “truth” and that Jesus Christ was just a good man. But these people continue to attend their Christian church because “it seems like a good thing to do” or “because I like hearing the music” or “I have a lot of friends there” or most often, “I was born and raised there.”

**I think that a lot of people stay away from Mass because they DO believe in the True Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, and they KNOW that they are guilty of living a sinful life, and they don’t want to repent, and they don’t want to face the Lord God, Truly Present in an unrepentant state of soul. **

John 3: 19-21–“The Light is come into the World, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
 
Swiss_Guy said:
What I mean is that I don’t understand Latin (until this year I didn’t know what in excelsis Deo meant - and we sing those words at Christmas each year). BUT, please keep in mind that I’ve never been to a non-English Mass, so I don’t know what that’s like. And I’ve only been to one Mass in my life that I can remember. 😦
Click to expand...
Fair enough, now please see post 140

Also, that is another thing. I’d venture to guess that over 90% of those arguing against a Latin liturgy and the EF have never experienced either 🤷
 
ProVobis said:
Well, you have all of it in English, and how did this make better the understanding of the Mass? How is transubstantiation recognized? And how is this different from the Mass as it’s said by Protestants?
Click to expand...
In all honesty, I’ve been to one Mass in my life, and that was a while ago. so I’ll just try my best.
  1. Well, in English, people know what is being said.
  2. I don’t understand your question. What do you mean by how is transubstantiation recognized?
  3. The Mass I went to was much more reverent than a Protestant service (but as I thought then a lot more boring, back when I didn’t care a ton about God - less singing, more praying, and we kneeled).
 
ProVobis said:
Well, you have all of it in English, and how did this make better the understanding of the Mass? How is transubstantiation recognized? And how is this different from the Mass as it’s said by Protestants?
Click to expand...
now we are getting somewhere 👍
 
At_Trent said:
here is the continuation of my post 135

Does “understand the mass” mean understanding the words in your opinion ? Or does it mean understanding what the priest is doing on the altar ?

You see, I don’t buy this reasoning of not speaking Latin being an impediment to understanding the Mass. Understanding it means understanding what is happening on the Altar.

When the new Roman Missal is put into use, will there not be people in the pews reading from missalettes ? How is that any different than reading the English translation in a EF missal ?

The only honest excuse for not being able to follow along and pray the EF with the priest is an unwillingness to exert the effort to handle and read a missal. And that’s fine, if people would just be honest and say it. "It seems like too much trouble, therefore, I’d rather attend a vernacular OF " Again, that’s fine. The Church says it’s ok.

But please, stop with the myths and falsehoods of the EF being too difficult to understand because of the Latin.
Click to expand...
Ok, fair enough. I’ll probably have to decide which I like better when I become Catholic. But in addition to understanding what is happening at the Alter, I would like to understand what is being read from Scripture and what is being prayed without a missal. So if that’s what you mean by too much trouble, than yes, I think it seems like too much trouble at the moment.
 
ProVobis said:
Well, you have all of it in English, and how did this make better the understanding of the Mass? How is transubstantiation recognized? And how is this different from the Mass as it’s said by Protestants?
Click to expand...
How does the Tridentine Mass make transubstantiation recognized, while the Ordinary Form doesn’t? From the outside looking in the OF seems very reverent also. 🤷
 
And I also don’t agree that people stay away because of music, or noise, etc.

This doesn’t make any sense at all.

If people believe in Jesus, surely they would not allow another human being to keep them away from their Lord for years at a stretch!

Are some of you honestly saying that there are Catholics who are willing to stay away from Mass and not receive Eucharist because someone is playing a guitar instead of a pipe organ? Or because the women wear tank tops? Or because a priest says, “Sisters and brothers” instead of whatever he’s supposed to say?

That’s terrible! Those are really terrible reasons to stay away from Jesus! We should never allow the failings of other human beings to keep us away from Jesus! And even though it would be wonderful if all the priests and all the parishes followed the rubrics of the Church to the letter, and every Mass was reverent and liturgically-correct, we shouldn’t use this as an excuse to stop attending Mass!

I’ve read quite a few stories of saints who were told to give up Jesus or give up their heads! They didn’t let that threat of execution keep them away from Jesus!

The early Christians attended Mass in spite of great personal risk . They didn’t let other people keep them away from Jesus.

Think about it–why would a true Christian let ANYTHING, especially human failings and foibles, keep them away from Jesus?!!

To me, if Jesus were standing a distance away from me with arms outstretched, but I had to push my way through a crowd of rude people, all playing obnoxious music, all wearing indecent outfits, and all making fun of me and Jesus–I would just keep pushing until I got to Him, and I would ignore all those people. I wouldn’t let them stop me!

Think of the woman with the issue of blood who pushed her way through the crowd to touch the hem of Jesus’ robe so that she could be healed. (Mark 5: 24-34). She didn’t let the crowd stop her.
 
Swiss_Guy said:
Ok, fair enough. I’ll probably have to decide which I like better when I become Catholic. But in addition to understanding what is happening at the Alter, I would like to understand what is being read from Scripture and what is being prayed without a missal. So if that’s what you mean by too much trouble, than yes, I think it seems like too much trouble at the moment.
Click to expand...
Hey Swissguy,

Have you seen any of the EF masses on Youtube? Like this one?
 
Hey, everyone, can we please not turn this thread into a debate about Latin Mass vs. vernacular Mass?

It’s a really good thread and there is a lot of good discussion, and thoughtful reasons for why people are not attending Mass. I for one would like to see this discussion continue. There are plenty of threads about Latin Mass vs. vernacular already.

Thanks! 🙂
 
Swiss_Guy said:
How does the Tridentine Mass make transubstantiation recognized, while the Ordinary Form doesn’t?
Click to expand...
I didn’t say that. The Latin in the Ordinary Form (as well as in the EF) makes clear that Hoc (neuter, singular) refers to the “corpus” (Body of Christ) which no longer is the panem (“bread.”) Since you say you started learning Latin, I think you can see that at least. There are other uses of the English “this” in the text where it keeps things unclear. And there are other examples where the English distorts the precision of the Latin.
 
Swiss_Guy said:
Ok, fair enough. I’ll probably have to decide which I like better when I become Catholic. But in addition to understanding what is happening at the Alter, I would like to understand what is being read from Scripture and what is being prayed without a missal. So if that’s what you mean by too much trouble, than yes, I think it seems like too much trouble at the moment.
Click to expand...
Well, all I can say is thank you. You are the first member on this forum that I know of who has ever come clean on this issue. And that’s fine you prefer the OF. I respect you for being honest about it.

Finally, someone who doesn’t desire or prefer the EF at least understands a missal makes the EF accessible.
 
  1. People not wanting to “follow rules.” I mean that the Church tells us that we should live a certain way and, many times, that is uncomfortable. It is much easier to just say “I don’t want to be part of that anymore.”
  2. Misunderstanding. I mean that many people think that Catholics believe things that we do not and worship in a way that we do not (we have all heard it before… blah blah blah).
  3. Laziness. People just don’t want to take the time to do it. And they don’t really think that it is that important.
Very sad reasons, really. 😦
 
I would like to add another possible reason why there has been a drop in Mass Attendance, and in church attendance in general.

“Spectator Culture.”

The U.S. has become a nation of spectators rather than participants.

We used to play sports. Men and women joined softball leagues or organized neighborhood games, bowled, shot hoops at the park, took walks, ice skated on a frozen pond, surfed down at the beach, swam in the creek, played pick-up hockey, etc.

Now we watch sports (and we pay a lot of money to watch).

We used to make music and dance. We invited people over for dinner and then sang and danced while someone played the piano, guitar, or fiddle. We joined lodges that had huge choirs and went with these choirs to conventions and competed against dozens of other choirs. We sang company and school songs. We sang riding in the car, and around the campfire.

Now we watch other people sing and dance (and we pay a lot of money to watch).

We don’t “do” much anymore. We are spectators. And heck, we don’t even watch sports, music, dance, etc. LIVE anymore–we just watch it on TV or in films or more than likely, on Youtube on our iPhones.

And…we used to be members of a church or parish and we had a place and a purpose there, and we knew people and considered them our friends, brothers, and sisters in the Lord. We belonged. People missed us if we weren’t there.

Now we aren’t members, we’re "spectators. We “watch” church. We have no idea how to “participate” in church. Even on this forum, Catholics argue about exactly what it means to “participate” in Mass. We’re so used to just watching that we don’t know how to do things ourselves anymore.

And church can’t begin to compete with all the other things that we spend time (and money) “spectating.”

So we stop going to church.
 
ProVobis said:
Well, you have all of it in English, and how did this make better the understanding of the Mass? How is transubstantiation recognized? And how is this different from the Mass as it’s said by Protestants?
Click to expand...
Protestants do not celebrate Mass, so the comparison is false; unless, of course, your suggestion is that the OF is “protestantized.”
 

  1. *]An increase in Secularism.
    *]Poor Catechesis.
    *]Lack of respect for authority.
 
Cat said:
I would like to add another possible reason why there has been a drop in Mass Attendance, and in church attendance in general.

“Spectator Culture.”

The U.S. has become a nation of spectators rather than participants.

We used to play sports. Men and women joined softball leagues or organized neighborhood games, bowled, shot hoops at the park, took walks, ice skated on a frozen pond, surfed down at the beach, swam in the creek, played pick-up hockey, etc.

Now we watch sports (and we pay a lot of money to watch).

We used to make music and dance. We invited people over for dinner and then sang and danced while someone played the piano, guitar, or fiddle. We joined lodges that had huge choirs and went with these choirs to conventions and competed against dozens of other choirs. We sang company and school songs. We sang riding in the car, and around the campfire.

Now we watch other people sing and dance (and we pay a lot of money to watch).

We don’t “do” much anymore. We are spectators. And heck, we don’t even watch sports, music, dance, etc. LIVE anymore–we just watch it on TV or in films or more than likely, on Youtube on our iPhones.

And…we used to be members of a church or parish and we had a place and a purpose there, and we knew people and considered them our friends, brothers, and sisters in the Lord. We belonged. People missed us if we weren’t there.

Now we aren’t members, we’re "spectators. We “watch” church. We have no idea how to “participate” in church. Even on this forum, Catholics argue about exactly what it means to “participate” in Mass. We’re so used to just watching that we don’t know how to do things ourselves anymore.

And church can’t begin to compete with all the other things that we spend time (and money) “spectating.”

So we stop going to church.
Click to expand...
Cat - I completely agree with this comment. I talk like this to my religion classes. I tell them that they should approach Mass like they are going to the gym, not like they are going to a movie. Who would sit around a gym, doing nothing, and complain that “this doesn’t do anything for me?” To get anything out of Mass you must participate. To get anything out of your parish life you must participate.
I also like the fact that people need to be missed if they don’t show up. We need to be friends with the people in our parish.
 
Swiss_Guy said:
Ok, fair enough. I’ll probably have to decide which I like better when I become Catholic. But in addition to understanding what is happening at the Alter, I would like to understand what is being read from Scripture and what is being prayed without a missal. So if that’s what you mean by too much trouble, than yes, I think it seems like too much trouble at the moment.
Click to expand...
I much prefer the OF too. I especially love watching the Papal Masses on EWTN. I will attend the EF without a problem if that’s what is available.
 
Timothysis said:
Protestants do not celebrate Mass, so the comparison is false; unless, of course, your suggestion is that the OF is “protestantized.”
Click to expand...
There are of course liturgical Protestants, like the Lutherans. Who are the original Protestants.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top