One common complaint I hear from many Catholics is that the Church actually expects us to attend Mass on all Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. There are legitimate reasons for missing Mass, like being too ill to attend, or being snowed in, but I suspect that most Catholics who miss Mass regularly do so because it is not high on their list of priorities, and soccer games, sleeping in, and other activities take precedent. It is even more difficult to claim there is no time for Mass these days, since the Saturday night Mass fulfills the Sunday obligation.
Now, I admit that it is not always exciting to go to Mass, and the pull of TV, running, or something else is strong. Nonetheless, I go to Mass every Sunday because not only does the Church expect it of me, but because I know that if I have time for all sorts of activities unrelated to the eternal fate of my soul, I can give a little time each week to the heavenly banquet that our Lord established. Plus, when considered objectively, the time the Church expects from us for Mass is a small percentage of the week.
I decided to figure it out. I will warn you in advance that math was not my best subject, so if I have made a mistake, please let me know.
There are 168 hours in a week. If Mass lasts about one hour, and we assume 30 minutes travel time to get there and back, Mass takes up 1.5 hours per week of time. This amounts to giving 0.9% of our week to the miracle that is the holy sacrifice of the Mass, i.e. less than one percent of our time. And this, along with a few holy days of obligation, represent the mere minimalism that is expected of us! Compare this with the time we Americans spend watching TV each week, around 5 hours of TV a day; this amounts to 35 hours in a week, or 21% of the hours in a week. So whenever getting up for Mass doesn’t excite me, I just think of the time I give joyfully to TV, exercise, and the internet, and I am reminded that I most definitely have time for the Holy Eucharist!
David Bennett
Jennifer
asimplesinner
Fr. J.
Chad Toney
Jorge Flores
Jonathan B
carmelbennett
nicenehobbit
Jason S
jaybird68
papaz
April 9, 2008 at 8:49 am
Don’t get me started on Sunday morning sports for young people. Kids playing soccer far as the eye can see…
April 9, 2008 at 10:23 am
And on moving holy days of obligation… I think the effort to make these days more available to more people has the unintended effect of removing church attendance from the Catholic conscious. Sunday ends up being ordinary or “special” as an afterthought… sort of like when you go to the cafeteria and realize it’s pizza day.
April 9, 2008 at 6:02 pm
There is an addition element of the equation: the Vigil Mass. One may agree or disagree with the practice but it is there. If Sunday morning is too hard, what about Saturday night? If not Saturday night, what about Sunday night?
The truth is there are many opportunities to fulfill ones obligation if one is serious about it! But I think you are right: you can lead the horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.
April 10, 2008 at 11:40 am
“There is an addition element of the equation: the Vigil Mass. One may agree or disagree with the practice but it is there. If Sunday morning is too hard, what about Saturday night? If not Saturday night, what about Sunday night? “
Yea, a 26+ hour window of opportunity in most cities from the first 4pm vigil Mass to the last groovy “Campus 10pm” is, for most mobile people, not the biggest challenge and hardship is it? Then again, considering how some people walk miles and miles to Mass It is hard to not be a tad bit ashamed of our lack of commitment in the West.
April 11, 2008 at 11:26 am
Maybe you don’t notice it, but people with babies are discouraged from attending Mass. There are cry rooms, which are a complete disaster (where vocations go to die), and there are nurseries, so that parents don’t ever get into the habit of bringing their kids to Mass. Then, the kids start school, and the priests lament that the kids don’t have a habit of attending Mass with their families. One of our priests actually stops Mass until they leave, which is completely humiliating. (This guy goes to the March for Life every year, too; he thinks he’s pro-life!) It’s so frustrating that we’re considered a problem to be solved! I hear the “age of reason” argument, but now that children receive First Communion at the age of reason, it seems to me that they should start attending Mass at an earlier age.
If you don’t let parents get into the habit in the first place, when do you think they’ll start, especially when they know it’s hypocritical to lip-synch ‘culture of life’ sermons while chasing inconvenient parishioners out the door?
I know there are other issues, but if there was more willingness on the part of the priests and cranky young fogeys to “suffer” the little children to come unto them, you’d easily raise the Mass attendance rates.
April 11, 2008 at 11:51 am
Jeanette,
I think you raise a good point. Personally, I have never regularly attended a parish with a cry room, or one that takes kids out of the Mass. But I agree with you that we can’t discourage parents from bringing their kids to Mass, because the result is that neither parents nor children attend.
I am not too sure about your “cranky young fogeys” reference. Are you saying that conservatives somehow believe children should be denied access to the Mass? Personally, whenever I hear babies crying, I thank God I am in a church that has many young families and kids, and is open to them, since I rarely saw children in the Episcopal churches I attended, because they were usually small, and graying. In fairness to Episcopalians, there are many more Catholics in the US than Episcopalians. Basically, I see children at Mass as a good sign…a sign of vibrancy, of a truly Catholic Church, and one that has a future. Let em cry.
April 11, 2008 at 1:16 pm
At best this might be a more localized parish-by-parish situation. Where I attend weekday Mass the choir is often the sound of crying babies as home-schooling mums bring their music makers.
If possible, I would address this with the priest, or consider finding that TRUE family-friendly pro-life parish in the area. Every major city has one.
(Little hint: they are the parish that does more baptism that funerals, that provides vocations to the Church on a regular basis and large families are made to feel -as is proper- comfortable.)
But, again, if possible, point this out to the priest…
April 11, 2008 at 3:06 pm
David,
Freshly-scrubbed, modestly dressed, right out of college (some Steubenville or Christendom) and accustomed to urban or university parishes with no children. The old fogeys are dying out.
asimplesinner,
Ironically, my parish is named after the patron saint of large families! There are several other large families but ours is the largest, I think. As far as I know, my son is the only young man considering a vocation, too. The vicar is the main problem and I think he’ll leave this year. There’s a nearby parish that fits the bill, so we’ve been shifting over there gradually. No school though. I’d brought it up with the pastor before, but right now we’re at odds about LC/RC activities in the parish-one fight at a time, or maybe it’s just time to move on.
Of course, I’m mostly venting here. Thanks for listening!