Sunday, May 7, 2017

Mega-Sermon+Entrepreneurs = Clericalism+Consumerism

Sermons and Church-going: Are Non-attenders

Reacting to Clericalism and Consumerism?


Major Reasons Why People Attend Church
Protestant
Catholic
Differ
%
%
Sermons that teach about scripture
83
62
-21
Sermons that help connect religion to own life
80
67
-13
Spiritual programs for children/teens
68
63
-5
Community outreach / volunteer opportunities
61
56
-5
Dynamic religious leaders
53
47
-6
Social activities
49
48
-1
Choir or other spiritual music
44
29
-15
Based on those who attend church monthly or more often
People Who Attended Before but Not Now
Major
Minor
Not
Was the following a Factor in Non-attendance
%
%
%
You prefer to worship on your own
44
21
34
You don't like organized religion
36
25
37
You aren't very religious
33
32
33

Reactions to Gallup here, here, and here.  Music lovers were not amused!

Both Catholics and Protestants put sermons at the top of their list of reasons for attending church. Is this a good thing? Sermons emphasize the attender’s role as a consumer rather than as a doer. Especially if they are long, they emphasize the clergy’s rather than the laity’s role in worship.

According to the Pew Religious Landscape Study, while 35% of Americans attend church weekly, 55% of Americans pray daily. Among Americans who attend church once or twice monthly or even just a few times a year, 50% still pray daily. Among of those who seldom or never go to church, 25% still pray daily.  Therefore we should not be surprised that many who do not attend church weekly actually prefer to worship on their own.  Are they also reacting to the clericalism and consumerism of worship culture?    

At Commonweal Thomas Baker interviews Chris Lowney on Why We Need an EntrepreneurialChurch  The current issue of America provides a very good article on a large Catholic parish which has adopted much of the Evangelical mega-church model, Lessons on Evangelization From the Largest Parish in the United States.   Is this the Catholic future? I hope not!

Worship Service Data from National Congregations Study


Three waves (1998, 2006, 2012) of the National Congregations Study studied random samples of congregations. Data are reported by a key informant such as pastor, etc. These include extensive questions about the most recent main service. The following tables are as viewed by the number of people in the pews not by the number of parishes, i.e. responses have been weighted by size of congregation.

Length of Sermon at Most Recent Main Worship Service
RELIGIOUS TRADITION
10 minutes
or less
11 to 20
Minutes
21 to 40
Minutes
More than 40
Minutes
Roman Catholic
52%
44%
3%
1%
White Mainstream
7%
69%
22%
1%
White Evangelical
1%
13%
65%
20%
Black Protestant
<1%
12%
55%
33%

Clearly the White Evangelical Tradition (which includes Conservatives and Fundementalists) along with Black Protestants have the longest sermons, mostly they are 30 plus minutes. Roman Catholics appear to try to keep the sermon under 10 minutes while White Mainstream (including Liberal and Moderate) Protestants are in the 10-20 minute range. These differences shape the rest of the worship service.

RELIGIOUS TRADITION
Service Length
Choir
Social Minutes before/after

<60
<90
>90
1998
2012
0-10
11-20
21-30
30+
Roman Catholic
73%
27%
1%
70%
69%
27%
38%
22%
13%
White Mainstream
53%
45%
2%
61%
37%
6%
21%
29%
45%
White Evangelical
24%
56%
20%
44%
35%
6%
32%
31%
32%
Black Protestant
4%
23%
73%
76%
80%
8%
34%
28%
31%

The sermon greatly affects the length of service which averages near an hour for Roman Catholics, somewhat longer for White Mainline Protestants, close to 90 minutes for Evangelicals and over 90 minutes for Black Protestants.  

Singing (congregational and choir) averages 20 minutes across traditions. So Catholics have almost double the singing versus  listening to the sermon; White Mainstream congregations experience about equal sermons and singing/  Evangelicals experience a sermon almost double the length of singing. Very different worship experiences
.
Choirs that lead congregational singing offer a significant opportunity for the laity to shape worship services and make them truly worship by the people rather than by the clergy. Choirs, however, can become a clerical ministry substituting for the people. 


Choirs have declined in both White Conservative congregations (44% to 35%) and White Mainline congregations (61% to 37%) between 1998 and 2012.  Both Catholic parishes (70% to 69%) and Black Protestant (76% to 80%) have maintained a high level of choirs. The decline in choirs has produced only some decline in the amount of music (about 4 minutes). In other words, congregational singing remains important.


Catholic choirs should take note of what is happening among White Protestants. Emphasize the choir as leading congregational singing. Eliminate any “choir” Mass; recruit choirs for all Masses, practice in church for the 30 minutes before Mass, invite the people to come and listen. Never have more than one new song; always practice it with the people.  In one local parish this approach has produced high levels of participation by the people and membership in the choir.

Roman Catholics have a large deficit in socializing before and after services. White Mainstream Protestants are leaders in socializing. When I was on pastoral council the constant complaint we heard was that people came late to church, and left early (right after communion). My response was “give them reasons to come early and stay late!”  This is the area that we could improve the most without changing the rest of our worship service (since coming early and staying late is optional).

The Catholic Mega-Parish Example in America


The America article is very well done both on the website and in print. It recognizes that implementing the Evangelical model (30-50 minute sermon providing information for weekly small group meetings) would be a big problem for Catholics. We not only have the Eucharist, we have Scriptural readings that should be the focus of the sermon. Pope Francis model of a brief, three point, scripture based homily is all that is needed. He demands engagement with the problems of the world, but does not attempt to micromanage our thinking through small groups like the Evangelicals. Thank God!


Many diverse, small groups are essential. But avoid the implicit clericalism of top down management of the groups; and avoid the consumerism that sees some people are ministers and others are recipients. As Christians we are all here to help one another. Avoid all elitism, both the elitism that some in the church are more important than others, and the elitism that doing things with church approval is somehow better than just doing them. Christians ought to be forming small groups in their homes, their neighborhoods, communities and workplaces as well as in their parishes.

Mega-churches use all the impersonal social survey technology of the consumer market place. One might think that I, a social scientist, would approve? However, there is a far simpler more personal way. Turn the pastoral council of a dozen members into a research team. Have each member survey four persons a month. Ask five to ten open ended questions. (Open ended  responses produce more reliable and valid data than multiple choice). Give people the options of responding by e-mail, snail mail or phone (When I tested this, most responded by e-mail;  some liked to talk on the phone but appreciated having the questions beforehand).

Organize the 48 anonymous response for each question, publish them, and discuss them at open monthly Council meetings. A parish council should be able to engage about 500 members a year this way. This gives everyone in the parish a good idea of what other people of thinking, and potentially allows them to shape the parish. This survey encounter model does not depend upon the size of the parish.

If we can get rid of the clericalism and consumerism implicit in the mega-parish model, then economies of scale argue for some regional mega-parishes. Spread the chancery offices around the diocese at these mega-churches. Have the bishop and his staff spend their time traveling among them.      

Affirm All People Who Pray daily



Since many people pray daily parishes should have big signs "If you pray daily come worship with us this weekend." People who pray daily should be affirmed as religious people regardless of their weekend worship practices. Parishes should begin to see themselves as supporters of people who pray daily by providing enriched opportunities for them to develop prayer.

Within Catholicism there are many forms of prayer that could be promoted (e.g. lectio divina, meditation, examination of conscience, etc.) however very few of these are promoted at the parish level. A young priest at our mega-parish has developed Pray40Days which includes six forms of prayer, one per weekday: guided meditation, contemplative prayer, lectio divina, praying like a pirate, praying with  your senses, and scriptural relaxation. It is a beginning.

The Divine Office (Liturgy of the Hours) with its major services of Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer and the Office of Readings has been almost totally neglected since Vatican II. They do not require the presence of clergy. The rubrics allow much flexibility in adapting these services to pastoral situations (for example preaching by laity and women religious). A great deal of substitution is allowed in terms of hymns, antiphons, psalms, and readings. One can celebrate votive offices on non-feast weekdays.  The office only becomes inflexible at major feasts like Christmas, Holy Week, Easter and Pentecost.

One can construct a very standardize service in which everything can be sung from memory like Benediction once was, or one can have a varied services that change day to day and  week to week. Historically the office as celebrated by religious was very different from the parish office. So we should develop forms of the divine office that suitable for homes, small groups, neighborhoods, associations, and civic engagement groups. The office can be shaped into forms that fit well with non-Catholic Christians, e.g. using materials for the Anglican and Orthodox traditions.

The bottom line in our worship whether in the parish or in life should be to avoid clericalism, i.e. over dependence upon the clergy, and a consumerism that regards some people as producers of worship and other people as consumers of worship.

35 comments:

  1. Jack, I hope it's not the Catholic future either! We visited some Evangelical relatives in California a few years back, and went with them to their church one Sunday. It could be classified as a somewhat mega church. Looked like an auditorium inside and out. The high point of their service was the sermon. 50 minutes long! In fact it seemed like it was the only point of their service. Very nice people, though, and if that's what they want, I'm not going to say they're wrong. However tne main thing I got out of it was a case of tired butt. I very definitely think we can get into a consumer mentality with homilies and sermons. I consider it a bonus if there is a good homily at Mass, but it's not the reason I'm there. And I believe that one can always take away a good thought or two from a less-than-stellar homily.
    I'm looking forward to reading the Commonweal link on an entrepreneurial church when I get my print version. I can't access the whole article online.

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  2. I quit going to church for a number of reasons but mainly it was because there was no real reason to go anymore - I liked the sermons but sermons can easily be found online, I liked the music but that can be found online too. The biggest reason for leaving was that in the years that I attended, not one person, aside from those in my RCIA group and the priest, ever spoke to me, much less made an effort to make me feel like part of a community.

    I think for many people now, religion is easier and more satisfying if practiced personally instead of as part of an institution, especially an institution that covers up sex abuse, that steps on women and gay people. Diane Butler Bass has a book about this - Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening

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    1. You are right, the logic of consumerism is against the church. Today anyone can find a lot of the things online.

      American Grace pointed out that all the advantages of going to Church (better health, happiness, etc.) only happen to those who have an religious network, i.e. family, friends, or small group. Maybe we should all be going to the mainline churches with their coffee and donuts afterwards.

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    2. Crystal, we definitely need to do a better job with hospitality. What are some things you would like to have seen when you first joined the church? Would you have wanted to be invited to join specific ministries such as choir or EMHC? Or to be offered further classes beyond "Catholicism 101"? I do try to greet people going into church, and at least say " good morning". But that's pretty basic. I don't want anyone to feel excluded, but am sometimes at a loss as to how to engage with them.

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    3. I had only been to a few Presbyterian church services before that. The people at those churches were friendly - you had the sense that we were all disciples coming together to do good deeds for Jesus, that everyone would try their best to be kind.

      But at my church I would sit in the pew as we waited for the priest, and I could hear people talking about where different people were sitting, what they were wearing, what they were doing - it was like being in a high school at Lord of the Flies island ;)

      And I guess too the people there seemed to care more about church than about God. Even in my RCIA group, no one ever talked about prayer or spirituality or Jesus. It was all about church social stuff. It was only after I left that years later I came upon Ignatian spirituality through books and some priests.

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  3. I go to church to pray for the people in the communion line. I don't know why, exactly, but I don't receive, so I see the faces of all those people lined up, and it makes me feel how vulnerable we all are. Even the people who piss me off take on a tinge of pathos in that line.

    Our priest also has end stage COPD. My dad died of that, and I pray for him and everybody else who might be sick.

    I pray for the people who will get our food bank donation.

    I suppose I go because I see a side of people in a way I don't when I'm distracted by life in general. I'm not sure that it's much different from the way I feel in the oncology waiting room. I do a lot of praying in there, too.

    As for the music, it's awful, the homilies drearily folksy, and the liturgy uninspired.

    The only people who go to coffee hour are parents who have bribed their children to behave with a donut and farmers who are comparing the merits of their seed corn.

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    1. Your description of praying for the people going up for communion is a beautiful meditatiom, Jean.
      I am one of the EMHCs for our parish at the Sat. evening Mass during March and September. One of the things which moves me most are people's hands. The arthritic hands of the elderly, the sweet smooth hands of the children, the work worn hands of men and women. All of them are carrying a burden of some kind, and it is a privilege to place the Host in those hands and hope that the Lord will help them with the burdens.

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    2. "Carrying a burden." I am going to remember that when I pray!

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  4. PS - I did like my priest, though. He was very kind to me and we would talk. Sadly, he's dead now but here's something about him here

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  5. I like my parish (St. Lukes, Stroudsburg, PA) mostly for the makeup of the parishioners. Whites, african-americans, actual africans, asians, enough polish immigrants to have their own mass. Mixed race marriages, though I think that reflects S-burg in general. We even had a gay couple for years but I guess they had enough being told they were disordered.

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  6. My parish has a weekend attendance of something like 1,500 in the summer and 2,800 in the winter (snow birds). It seats, allegedly, 800, although since the ushers have been using counters in a recent experiment, I really doubt that it comes within 150 of allegedly. Anyhow, we don't have enough building to be mega, even for full time parishioners.

    Visitors from the frozen tundra report that they talk to other parishioners here although they would never think of doing it at home. We try. At the noon Mass on Sunday, everybody using the main doors gets a hello if not a hug from the ushers. It is not an in-group thing, either; we have hugged people we never saw before when it looked like they needed it. We still have throngs who don't reply to hellos and who look neither to the left (pancake breakfast) nor to the right (bags of free trade coffee, e.g.) as they exit the area. That seems to be a Catholic thing everywhere. "Gimme the Host, punch my card, and I'm outta here."
    But those who look to the left or right will be lassoed into a small group doing or studying something -- which is where the community, as opposed to the worship, is formed.

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  7. And what I started to say is that canon law no longer nominally forces you to the church in your parish boundaries, so if you feel unwelcome, try another parish. (I know that is no longer possible in many parts of the country.)

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  8. Hello. Unagidon here.

    I've written about this before on Commonweal. I'm a Third Order Franciscan. When we meet as a group it's right after Mass. We have a prayer session of our own, usually from the Liturgy of the Hours. And there is usually a presentation/discussion and of course there's food. I have found over time that Mass has become an adjunct to these sessions and that for me a total "Mass experience" consists of both Mass and meeting.

    Ivan Illich talks about the importance of small groups in the history of Christianity in the book Rivers North of the Future. Our little group is about fellowship, but it's also a form of worship. I think there was a time in our history when these were common (speaking about centuries ago). I feel that the modern Church has become too "industrialized" in its concepts of Church group. They seem to be centered around tasks. Sometimes the "task" is prayer, but they always seem to need a function. And this dovetails, I think, with the all too industrial idea of appealing to consumers in order to get market share.

    My little group is not task oriented. We do take on tasks, but that's not what we are about. I wonder if little groups could make a comeback. The good thing about them is that people could center themselves around their own, shall we say, personalities and still rotate around the church at the center. It's just a thought.

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    1. If the group is not task oriented, what is its purpose? I'm trying to think of a group that is NOT task oriented. For instance, if I go for coffee with my old lady friends, our task is to have conversations that we can't have around our husbands.

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    2. The formal purpose is to live (or rather, try to live) a Christian life based on Franciscan (as opposed to Jesuit, Dominican, etc) spirituality. I'm sure you are going to ask me what a "spirituality" is, so I'll say that it's a sort of method of living. So let's say that the aim is to provide a certain environment or context. Within that context one then does stuff that is charitable, intellectual, or spiritual. Hard to explain. And different Franciscan "fraternities" have different personalities. I would not at all have stayed at some of the other ones in the diocese, even though we all supposedly share the same spirituality. I don't know how I lucked out with this one. But it's been helpful. And part of our task is to have conversations that we can't have around our non-religious or even our more conservative religious neighbors.

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    3. That's very interesting. I think what you say sheds some light on RCIA. I don't expect every RCIA group has the same personality, and the leaders can't be all things to all people.

      But the tasks of RCIA--getting prior marriages sorted out, covering some basic amount of doctrinal info, explaining the liturgy, answering questions, helping people prep their kids--may push spiritual matters to the background.

      I think finding another person/people you can share spiritual insights with is valuable and rare. Think of all those saints who had intense connections with like-minded spiritual friends.

      I think the closest I've ever come to that kind of spiritual intimacy is through literature.

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  9. Thanks for joining in, Patrick. Sorely missed. I have to admit I am mostly a loyal pew sitter. I was always afraid if I got involved in parish life, I might end up bailing out. It would be nice to have the type of community you refer to.

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    1. In such an organization, you would not quite be involved in parish life. You'd really be involved in the little group. And these religious groups tend to have people go through quite a long "formation" period, where you are free to drop out any time. You also don't have to even be a member of the Order to attend the meetings. It might seem like all of this flexibility is a consumer oriented innovation. But it's always been there and I think it's more because the people in the group think of membership in the group as a sort of calling. Check out and see what kind of oblates exist in your diocese (it will probably be in a different parish) and maybe check one out. Who knows?

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  10. Hi Patrick :)

    One place I found a small spiritual community years ago was a group that met for meditation. We would snack afterwards, but the one neat moment was when those who were interested volunteered to go to Hawaii for three weeks to help build a new zen meditation building.

    I don't think there need to be tasks, though. Spirituality can be about sharing experience and knowledge.

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    1. When we still lived in my hometown, I belonged to a rosary group. We would meet every Tuesday and say the rosary. And eat snacks afterward.

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    3. "I don't think there need to be tasks, though. Spirituality can be about sharing experience and knowledge."

      This is very true. I think that we have lost a sense that the earlier Christians had that being a Christian was part of living in a Christian community. (In a way, the goal of some small groups is just to be small groups). I don't think that it's the Church's fault that this older idea of what a community really is collapsed. It has collapsed in society in general.

      The goal of consumerism is to provide pleasure without suffering. Now sometimes it is true that some people find pleasure in suffering in the sense that they both are willing to suffer (through hard work, say, or through charity) and need to actually suffer for their faith or some principle and they get pleasure from this. But those people are rare. So even the Church now wants to attract people by being entertaining or light work and stuff like that.

      But communities used to demand commitment, intimacy (which requires one to make oneself vulnerable; another thing we don't do well anymore), and active participation. When one does this, one then shares all of the problems of each person in the group. But we as Catholics used to have a way to approach this sort of thing. We can hardly do it for ourselves any more. We as a people pull back from real commitment, back from intimacy, and back from the kind of active participation where we don't control when and how we participate and have to put ourselves in the service of others.

      I think that thinking of spirituality in terms of sharing experience and knowledge is close to the spirit of this.

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  11. Kind of reminds me of what I think church services for Quakers is like. I had a Quaker friend who said they would get together but there was no priest/homily or eucharsit - it was more just being together, with the occasional person sharing what they were experiencing ... http://www.quakerinfo.org/quakerism/worship

    Maybe it all depends on what the purpose of a group would be ... make friends, be closer to God, create a social network for action, or eat cake! :)

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  12. Sometimes doing something is just an excuse to talk, especially among men. I read about one Pacific island where the men build a new boat each year. They didn't really need the boat but it gave them something to do

    I am not a golfer, but when I was young I sometimes went along with my relatives as caddy. Seemed to me it was mostly an excuse for men to take a walk and talk, all that networking stuff.

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  13. When our parish had RENEW I hosted a group called RENEW for musical lovers since I have a large liturgical music collection. The people who signed up for this were people who were not particularly thrilled about "faith sharing" but liked the idea of doing if with other music lovers.

    I suspect the parish could have gotten more people if they had all sorts of groups: RENEW for gardeners, RENEW for bakers, etc. People need to have some common interests to begin being comfortable with each other.

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  14. One of the rights of the Christ's faithful under the new code of Canon law is the right to their own form of spiritual life (i.e. spirituality) as long as it is in conformity with the teaching of the Church. (Canon 214).

    One of the advantages of a mega parish could be the economies of scale that permit various forms of spiritual life. Unfortunately a lot of pastors and pastoral staff try to limit the variety of spirituality supported in the parish.

    I think a lot of conflict between traditionalists and liberals in the Church is really about different spiritualities (e.g. pre-Vatican II and post Vatican II).

    Its not so much about theology (i.e. the reflection upon revealed truth) as about spirituality (the actual experience and practice of Christian faith). That has varied greatly over the centuries (e.g. the solitary life was greatly valued in early religious life, then community life (the Benedictines) then the active life of ministry (Jesuits, etc.)

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    1. I would add that the local parish, in my experience in a number of them, does not talk much about spirituality. And I taught Catechism for ten years or so in two places, including one that was considered very "modern" and it never entered the curriculum. So some work here to do.

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  15. I very much appreciate the various experiences of community and spiritual comradeship everyone has expressed here. I won't elaborate on points of similarity or disagreement. Just want to share one memory.

    Some years ago, when I was "between communities" and very much in need of spiritual companionship, a place to belong, I found myself at "yet one more liturgy" at a church where I couldn't "find my place". I was seated in the balcony of this large church, noting the long Communion line below and no one I knew in it, the thought came to me that it might be better to just stay home and pray there. At that moment, it seemed a shimmering, a glow, encompassed the entire place, a light I hadn't seen. Could have been my "imagination"! But, I sensed a Voice within saying, "Don't you see that something stupendous is going on here? Don't you see that the way I am present here supersedes everything else on earth, everything else in your life? Don't give up on 'this'!"

    I did not give up on church and the sacraments in that dark time, lonely time. Have since found a better sense of community and commonality in a place that's appropriate for me. But, folks, it's never perfect. There will always be shadows and incompleteness here, imperfect communion. But as we make our way Home, there is a place where we truly "touch God" supernaturally in the breaking of the bread - with the family of faith that we know and those we don't know. God is present in them and also transcending all they and we are. There is that dimension, not to be overlooked. (How poignant to see the longing for the gift of Eucharist in the divorced and remarried, about whom there has been so much discussion of late... The longing to "touch God".)

    In recent years, as well, I've been called to do something that wasn't on my "must-do" list before, which is spending significant time before the exposed Sacrament at my parish church, in intercession for a crazy world among other things. Sorry to say, this is a sparsely attended "activity" in this otherwise "on the ball" parish. It's been, it is, a profound experience for me in many ways, I've found to my surprise. "Taste and see how good the Lord is. Happy the one who takes refuge in (God)." Happy. I find myself happy now, after all the struggling and searching. Home. It's mystery!

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    1. Carolyn, our parish started doing perpetual adoration 18 years ago. At first I wasn't going to commit to a weekly hour because I was "too busy". But I realized that they weren't going to be able to make it fly if a critical mass of parishioners didn't participate. It did fly, and is still flying. And I am so glad I decided to take part. It is a weekly appointment with the Lord, to pray however I wish. Sometimes people incorporate spiritual reading into their hour also. It takes place in a side chapel. It is very peaceful. Well, that is unless the cleaning committee is running the vacuum sweeper, or the grade schoolers are practicing for something. But then we have something to offer up.

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  16. Katherine, thanks for sharing that! Perpetual Adoration is a huge commitment (and blessing!) , for sure: congratulations on 18 years! It's hard for us in my parish to be sure we have "someone there" during the few hours designated for Exposition on the weekdays. (I see that in the latest parish council notes, the pastor said he wanted to "give priority to adoration"... yay to that.) It's such a great privilege, isn't it? And, yes, "very peaceful"! I wish more people knew about this and how fulfilling and powerful it is, for ourselves and the world we pray for, as well as to honor Christ, who humbly makes himself available. There for us, to be loved, loving us.... may his Church return some of that awesome, wondrous love.

    My church, named for the Blessed Sacrament, holds a procession in the neighborhood on the feast of Corpus Christi. Of course, not everyone in the neighborhood is Catholic, but there are folks who kneel as the monstrance and canopy pass by, as in my childhood. We, as first graders, carried baskets of rose petals to strew before the priest and monstrance. Even then, it impressed me to see my relatives fall to their knees in veneration. Someday in heaven, we'll probably see the pattern of how such early impressions formed us and prompted attitudes and habits that have sustained us all our lives. Sweet memories.

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    1. The people I really admire are the ones who have done the same middle of the night hour for 18 years. I am too much of a day person for that! Our previous pastor used to say that "nothing good happened after midnight", and that the night adorers were keeping watch and praying for those who might be in desperate situations.

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    3. I agree, Katherine. My brother used to do a post-midnight shift at his parish in Illinois, with all my admiration for his fidelity to that time-slot! There's probably a special sense of solace in that quiet time - for the worshiper, and maybe for Christ himself. And who knows what blessings might be flowing to someone in a lot of pain or tempted to evil? No dearth of places to direct the prayer in our imperiled world.

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  17. "Nothing good after midnight"

    Actually the early Christian belief was that Christ would come again in the middle of the night!

    That is the reason behind "vigils" beginning at dusk and lasting even until dawn. The reading of all the lessons from the history of salvation! The original vigils in Jerusalem read the entire passion and resurrection Gospels!

    Early Christians (and monks)found a lot to do in the middle of the night.

    Of course it helped that they did not have electric lighting so they went to bed at 6pm in winter They could easily get up at 2am to keep vigil until dawn. Dawn was also an expectation of Christ the light who comes from the Orient.

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    1. Jack, thanks for those thoughts, some of which I hadn't known. Beautiful! This reminds me of the 3:15 a.m. Vigils service at the Trappist monastery where I sometimes go for a retreat. How moving it was for me to see for the first time the monks at prayer (for us all!) in the middle of the night, many of them at it for more years than I'd been alive. They're singing, reading the scriptures and meditating then before sunrise and before most of us begin the day. What a witness to faith and fidelity they are - and so generous to allow the lay folk to be present at their community devotions. I hadn't thought about "Dawn ..(as) an expectation of Christ (coming)...". Beautiful metaphor.

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