"Almost three-tenths (29%) of male Mass attenders [in Australia] aged between 15 and 29 go to Mass only on Sunday evenings, and a further 13% attend Mass on Sunday evening or at another time. For females of the same age, the corresponding figures are 25% and 16%."
….
"the [total] Mass attendance rate among young [Australian] adult Catholics was less than 10%"
I suspect that if this study was repeated in America, the results would be similar. This immediately brings a few questions to my mind.
If people, young or old, wouldn’t attend mass if evening masses were eliminated, should these "last chance" masses be kept or even made available in parishes that lack them? What are people doing during the day on Sunday? What is so important that it can’t be missed? What about the myriad of other masses offered, including vigil masses on Saturdays? Should the Church really be catering to the people this much? Is the Church just doing what she can to draw more people in or coddling people and caving in to misplaced priorities?
What are your thoughts? I’d like to hear from all of my Christian readers on this one, not just Catholics. I know most Protestant churches don’t offer as many Sunday services as Catholic parishes do, but I suspect there are similar problems with attendance, particularly among the young adults. Ditto for the Orthodox.
Ah, perhaps I misunderstood where you were going with your comment, then…
I agree with Tom on the Divine Office, but like a more extensive Mass schedule, since I sometimes need to travel, or my wife does. The 7:45 PM Mass at Shadyside can be handy that way. I prefer earlier times, but better a late Mass than none.
Jerry, all of which we (or at least the best of us) do when we receive communion. As I’m often inclined to remind my Evangelical cohorts, if communion is a mere symbol, then why were people falling dead in Corinth for receiving it improperly… To paraphrase Wallace, “It’s like no [symbol] I’ve ever tasted.” At any rate, like I said, these are the views of “my people,” not my own. Though in their defense, they take the “Eucharist” seriously. In short we believe in the magic, just a much less powerful form of the magic. It is my lot to gently work within my sacramentally-agnostic kinsmen to push for a bit higher view…
Til then…
My people, Evangelicals, take a fairly agnostic view regarding the sacraments (i.e, they don’t generally consider them sacraments at all and are inclined to use euphemisms like “ordinances” instead). They do not generally practice them at every service. They take a more purely Heb 10:25 view of church attendance and do not claim to experience the physical presence of Christ in our worship services. None of this is to say what I believe, but only my people.
I can see why Catholics, believing (as I understand it) the mass to be an unambiguous (literal, physical) source of grace (vis-a-vis the “spiritualization” or “mental application” rampant among Evang’s) ought to have a higher view of mass attendance and a corresponding higher threshold for and “excused” absence.
Then again, if there is grace bestowed, if partaking confers a true state of grace, which might save a parishoner from hell or purgatory, wouldn’t you want to offer the host to as many parishoners as possible? Even if doing so makes it a bit too convenient…
Cheers!
Personally I’d bring back the ancient practice of chanting Matins and Lauds immediately before Mass, and chanting the entire liturgy, but that’s just me. Not that it’s practical, or anything.
But seriously, I kinda like the Orthodox tradition of having only one Sunday liturgy, typically in the morning. It would be cool to do that, but the whole 6:30-8:00-9:30-11:00-12:30-6:00PM system has quite a lot of momentum, and I suspect attendance would drop rather than cause renewed interest.
In my opinion, the best way to keep the Sabbath holy is to engage in prayer throughout the day, particularly the Divine Office.
Steve: St. Paul warned us against receiving the Eucharist without discerning the body and blood of Christ. There was also–I think–a more general injunction against receiving it unworthily.
Worshipping God on Sunday used to be an all day affair, not just an hour out of the day. I think that whether they go at 9:00 on Sunday morning or 9:00 on Sunday night or 9:00 on Saturday night doesn’t really matter. What matters is the disposition of their heart. Are they there to truly worship God or just to fulfill some societal obligation. Our culture seems to be working hard to remove the notion of Sabbath, a day set apart to worship Christ. It is a shame not that the Church is having mass at 9:00 at night, but that the sabbath is being reduced to only one hour and if it runs too long, look out!
There are many levels of spiritaulity within the Catholic Church. Some people are very deep in their faith some are not. It is important for those that are not deep in their faith to be exposed to the word, eucharist and liturgy, hoping that one day their hearts will be converted. I would never advocate watering down any aspect of the Catholic faith in order to bring in more people. However, I don’t think that offering more mass times on Sunday is watering down the faith. The strength needs to come from the priest and the community of believers.