This past Friday, the State of Illinois entered Phase 5 of its COVID plan. Essentially, Phase 5 means all restrictions are lifted, although those who are not vaccinated (nearly half the residents in the state still are not fully vaccinated) are encouraged to continue to exercise caution and take the same precautions we've been taking for the past 15 months.
In conjunction with the state reaching this milestone, the Chicago Archdiocese also lifted most restrictions for the celebration of mass. As I mentioned in a comment to Jack's recent post on vaccinated and unvaccinated persons worshiping together, we were back to normal in many ways. The hymnals were back in the pews and everyone was encouraged to sing along. We no longer have to register for mass. The church no longer is being disinfected after every service. Social distancing isn't required for those who are vaccinated. We've set aside a couple of sections of pews in the back for those who want to continue to social distance, but it seemed to me that people were "mixed" throughout the church today, with some in all sections wearing masks and some not.
The sense of joy was palpable today. People were in a festive mood. They really raised the roof with their congregational singing. I spoke with a number of people who hadn't been attending mass but now are back - they all said they were so happy to be there. The sense of joy was like Christmas or Easter.
In a way, it is like Christmas or Easter. It felt like a resurrection event today - like being back from the dead. And it feels like a new birth - a new beginning. In a worship commission meeting on Saturday, I urged the team to think of this as a chance for the parish to start fresh. Many things may change: some people may not come back. But some others may come who never have come before. It's an opportunity for the parish to re-evaluate old habits and ways of doing things.
It's hard for parishioners to think about new opportunities and change. Stability is intrinsic to parish life. Change is necessarily destabilizing. And of course, there is a powerful psychological urge to make things like they were before. But whatever those things are which will change, for today at least, it was a joyful homecoming and celebration.
That's great, Jim! Sounds like it was a happy event yesterday. It's been a long time coming, after a rough year. We also are more or less back to normal here. How were your crowd numbers, compared with pre-Covid? I would say ours are "getting there", but not quite what they were previously.
ReplyDeleteThere is a psychological component to re-joining the world, even for people who are vaccinated and not in a particularly vulnerable group. I was talking with a family member yesterday. She said she wanted to go back to church, had even planned to go back Saturday evening. But just couldn't do it when the time arrived. She's going to try daily Mass. I think it made it harder that she was in an area of the state which hadn't been particularly good about precautions during the bad time, and still wasn't fully vaccinated (even though she and her family were). There is a trust issue, getting back among people, some of whom had acted like it was an imposition on their freedom to observe some basic health precautions and courtesy to others. You would like to feel that your neighbors had your back, and Covid kind of exposed another side.
Our crowd numbers were up slightly from recent mass counts when we were under COVID attendance restrictions. So we definitely haven't snapped back to pre-COVID normal. The statewide and archdiocesan restrictions weren't lifted until Friday, so it had only been 1-2 days between that event and this first weekend.
DeleteThere are two profiles of parishioners who have been staying away: families with children, and elderly parishioners who are not comfortable being in crowds. Saw a few of those yesterday but not many.
Everything back to normal except singing. One designated choir member sings the hymns. Will be nice when we can all join in.
ReplyDeleteThe parish down the block to which I belong to has come back on YouTube after a period in which they were on Facebook where you had to log in for Masses. I never logged in since I don’t want to be part of Facebook.
ReplyDeleteThey have a new camera which is high up and pivots from the entrance to the choir to the sanctuary. Very well placed and very well operated, e.g. rather than have a close up of just the priest at the altar a significant part of the sanctuary and even a few side pews are shown. Gives a good sense of community. They had a little problem with the sound the first Sunday but that has been ironed out.
Ohio and the Diocese (except for no cup) have lifted almost all restrictions. There were not as many people there as pre-pandemic, but since I did not watch much nor have the panoramic view, I don’t know how many were there in recent months.
Another complication is that the parish is slowing doing first communions a few children at a time, so obviously some of the people were there probably only for them.
This past Sunday was the first Mass of a new Parochial Vicar. He has been a priest for four years, a young guy. The deacon gave the homily explaining that he understood he would get comments afterwards of “we really wanted to hear the new guy” however the parish tradition is to let the new priests get comfortable with all the mechanics before giving a homily.
Both the deacon and the new priest in his closing remarks expressed great joy and satisfaction for being able to celebrate normally.
I agree with Jim that parishes should see this as an opportunity to start anew. I suspect that many people when they come back for the first time will have a positive experience. The parish should try everything possible to continue those positive experiences.
Parishes really need to be very supportive of families with children who may have become very comfortable with Mass at home. Find ways to make the Mass attractive so that kids we say “I want to go” rather than “can’t we just watch TV”
Forget about all the obligation stuff and the catechesis about in person worship being better. Make in person worship more attractive while being very supportive of those who choose to worship virtually. Don’t make them into second class citizens. Episcopal churches regularly acknowledge their virtual congregation in their greetings at the beginning of the service
Jack, easy to tell that you do not have children. It is highly unlikely that the parishes can do anything to induce kids to prefer mass to TV. Maybe those clown masses weren’t such a bad idea....:)
DeleteDecades ago when I lived in Toledo and got Canadian TV they had a Sunday worship service that visited various churches. They obviously chose places with excellent even unique services.
DeleteOne Catholic Church had a great idea for kids. At the invitation for the Lord's prayer all the kids were invited to come up and gather around the altar for the saying of the Lord's prayer. Then at the kiss of peace they were all sent back to the pews to give the kiss to their families.
(Not a very good practice at this time when kids are unvaccinated.)
At another parish where hockey was obviously a big thing all the hockey players where in the entry procession.
So it is not beyond possibility to attract kids even though very unlikely. These were the things that were in the back of my mind when I made my comment. I think kids who watched other kids having fun at Mass would want to be there.
Obviously most of our parishes have Masses where kids are very constrained. That is not true at our local Orthodox Church at least at the weekday feasts when I usually go. They have a congregation of about thirty adults. Usually there would be about five or six young children. They get to move about. Sometimes they visit other people whom they know (relatives?) If they head for the sanctuary they are headed off by other adults in very child friendly ways. I always find it amazing how accepting they are of the humanity of children while at the same time conducting a very beautiful ritual service. But then the East was shaped around the Christological controversies in which they affirmed both the humanity and divinity of Christ. It shows up in their worship. When I worship at our local orthodox church I always feel that I am at home in a temple.
We didn't take the kids to church much before the age of 4 or so, since we were lucky at that time to live where family members would sit with them. After that they went with us and it was just something they did, like going to school. They never really gave us trouble about it. We let them take a book or a stuffed animal with them if they wanted to. We always said grace before meals and had bedtime prayers with the kids.
DeleteWhen I was a kid it was the same, my parents didn't take us much as preschoolers. Mom used a little psychology with me, she said if I was very good, she'd let me go to church with her. It didn't work as well with my brothers, LOL.
If people are going to let their kids take toys to church, they should be soft toys. Some of them bring little cars that make a racket and scratch the pews.
FWIW, in the Rebuilt series of books, the authors recommend Sunday School rather than mass for young children. Children come with their parents to church, but go off to the Sunday School part of the building rather than into the worship area. That is part of their "secret sauce": they invest a lot in having a series of grades which provide age-appropriate spiritual experiences and learning. They make sure the school environments are visually attractive, extremely clean, and are run by enthusiastic volunteers who have been rigorously screened.
DeletePart of that investment is in parish staff - they will not hire someone who is not enthusiastic about working on Sundays. The parish philosophy is that Sunday is the day around which the rest of the week revolves. All staff are expected to be present and working throughout the Sunday worship times. That means that the staff members responsible for religious education need to be on-site and actively working in the Sunday Schools on Sundays. This is a big culture change for many parish staffs. Lots of parish staff members won't agree to Sunday work - they want traditional M-F 9-5 jobs. The parish won't hire or retain employees who aren't on board with the Sunday commitment. The authors' view, culled from long, hard experience, is that it's better to hire volunteers who already have shown enthusiasm and commitment to the Sunday ministry than it is to try to persuade a veteran parish ministry professional to change a lifetime of weekday work habits.
The authors mention a number of benefits to the Sunday School program. One of the main ones is that kids look forward to coming to church. Another is that it gives the parents a break from parenting, which, according to the feedback they receive, is extremely welcome. Still another is it allows the parish to put the parents to work: another part of their secret recipe is that they set the expectation for membership that, if you belong to the parish, you *will* be involved in at least one volunteer activity. It could be during Sunday worship services, or it could be something else during the week. It could be something like bathroom cleaning crew (this program is very big on cleanliness), or parking lot greeters - at that parish, you get greeted as you're getting out of your car. Volunteers are given brightly colored T shirts with their ministry emblazoned on them, and are encouraged to wear them on Sundays.
Sounds like the might be an Evangelical recipe? Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, we can learn from the successes and failures of others, not to mention our own. That is a lot of weekend/Sunday responsibility, especially if they have full time jobs during the week.
DeleteWhen we were living in Colorado, they did have a preschool nursery class during the late morning Sunday Mass. Our younger boy went a few times, but said he'd rather be upstairs with us. I think it was soon after we moved from Nebraska, and he had a bit of separation anxiety.
I agree re: borrowing ideas from successful Evangelical churches. Some of those Evangelical superstars like Rick Warren conduct seminars which Catholic pastors (and deacons!) can sign up for. I think the Rebuilt authors have learned from Warren and others.
DeleteWe used to have a nursery, too. It was popular. But we struggled to get volunteers. And it was viewed as babysitting. The Rebuilt authors don't want babysitters, they want a real Sunday school. Getting something like that organized, staffed and off the ground may require some charismatic and inspirational leadership on the part of the parish religious ed director. If that is a requirement for the job, it might eliminate a lot of prospective candidates who are more task-oriented persons.
Both of my parishes have a Liturgy of the Word for children, I think ages 5-10. They gather before the altar and are sent forth with a catechist right before the readings They come back individually near the end of the preparation rites. Often they seem to have coloring books or other materials.
DeleteUnrelated, it turns out (contra EWTN news) that Pope Francis didn't cancel a meeting with Joe Biden on his European trip, for the reason that one was never scheduled: https://www.ncronline.org/news/politics/no-pope...
ReplyDeleteIt was supposedly to have been on his way to Geneva, but Rome is not on the way to anywhere on Biden's itinerary. Seems some people were rooting for a papal smackdown of the prez.
Essentially, all of these comments are suggesting ways that kids can be entertained at mass or at an alternative site in the church while the parents are at mass. The TV is usually better at accomplishing this. Few kids go to mass out of love for it. They go because their parents make them go.
ReplyDeleteFew adults whom I have known go to mass because they love it. They go because they have been taught from early childhood that it is an obligation that is punishable as a mortal sin if they fail to meet the obligation. The punishment for mortal sin is an eternity in “ hell”. This is still the official teaching in the catechism even though a lot of priests etc try to downplay it. It is quite clear that few Catholics believe that teaching because such a small percentage go to mass every Sunday and Holy Day of OBLIGATION. The lack of participation not only shows that most Catholics don’t believe the official teachings, they don’t find mass attendance to be much of a support in their spiritual journeys. So celebrate those that you do have because they may actually be there for positive reasons instead of negative reasons.
"...celebrate those that you do have because they may actually be there for positive reasons instead of negative reasons."
ReplyDeleteAnne, thanks, that's actually something we need to think about. I find it hard to reconcile "going to hell for missing Mass" with the idea of a just God, and I think most of us would feel the same way. I go because I want to, not because I fear going to hell if I don't.
I guess attendance statistics are a glass half empty, or half full kind of thing. I think evangelisation works better when people are drawn to a relationship with God. So many of these programs seem to concentrate either on keeping people busy and entertained, or they depend on very charismatic leaders to keep things going. Then when those people move on, things fall apart.