The title of this article should be on a Big Sign in Front of Catholic Parishes.
About twice as many Catholics pray daily as go to Mass weekly. Every parish should be very happy to have twice as many people in the pews each weekend, especially people who have a relationship with God through daily prayer.
People are being invited because of a desirable characteristic, their daily prayerfulness. Implied is a strong attitudinal and behavioral consistency between daily prayer and weekly worship. Those who pray daily should look forward to prayer with others on the weekend. And those who gather on weekends should be especially happy to welcome those who pray daily.
No questions should be raised about whether or not the person is Catholic, been baptized, confirmed or raised as Catholic, or registered in the parish. Nor about the person's age, gender, marital status, race, politics, etc. Nothing about welcoming back the disaffiliated, or asking people why they have not been attending.
The Good News is that the parish is emphasizing the positive behavior of daily prayer when welcoming people to join for worship. No questions asked about how much daily prayer for how long, etc. Keep it simple; people who see themselves as praying daily are welcome at our weekend worship.
The sign should include a link to the:
Parish Website Welcoming Page.
The welcoming page should have a hymn playing, sung by the parish choir. The hymn should be changed each month or season.
The welcoming page should have a link to last week's streamed Mass. It should display the list of music that will be sung this coming weekend, with links to YouTube performances of the music, and also to the readings with encouragement for people to investigate them in preparation for coming.
Each week should also feature one of the better recent homilies; changed weekly.
The welcoming page gives the essentials that people might want to know if they want to respond to the invitation.
Everything on the welcoming page should invite people to come because of their talents and interests, especially their prayerfulness and love of music. Nothing about welcoming people back home. While some may feel they want the parish to be their home, others may feel it is not a welcoming home. Nothing about reaching out to people who are not attending Mass, or who are disaffiliated from the Church or from God. Nothing about parish self-promotion or salesmanship.
Social psychologists, myself included, know most of the behavior of most people is determined by the social situation. We also know we all have the habit of over-attributing behavior to personal characteristics such a beliefs, values, talents, and attitudes. Characterizing other people's behavior may place obstacles to their changing when a new situation gives them the opportunity.
On the Welcoming Page a large link to a second page
Come Early! Stay Late!
Choir Warm Up Before Mass
The choir will begin warming up thirty minutes before Mass. They will have already mastered the hymns at their weekly rehearsal. The director may remind members of some technical issues before each hymn and comment briefly after each hymn on their performance.
Everyone is welcome to these warmups either to simply listen or to sing along with the choir if they wish. Those with SATB skills are encouraged to come in time to join the choir during the warmup and are welcome to stay with the choir during the Mass if they know the music.
Choir Rehearsal During the Week
Everyone is welcome to the first thirty minutes of the weekly choir practice which rehearses the music for the week as well as future weeks. People are welcome even if they just want to listen. They are especially welcome if want to sing this coming weekend either in the pews or in the choir.
This second page further emphasizes the importance of worship by welcoming people who love music and love to sing.
Then it emphasizes that the parish is particularly welcoming to people who want to discover other people who share their interests.
Group Meetings in the Thirty Minutes Before and After Mass
These are a way for the people of the parish to get to know each other. Depending upon the rooms available there will be a small number of such meetings each week. Some may be only before or only after Mass, others may begin before and then resume after Mass.
Parish ministries: readers, Eucharistic ministers, servers, homebound visitation, food pantry, Saint Vincent de Paul Society, etc. These group meetings will welcome ministry members, families, and friends as well as anyone in the parish who might be interested in learning more about these ministries. These would be organized and run by people from the ministries.
It would be similar to what many Protestants do in terms of a social after the church service but targeted in its scope so that people have something to talk about. It would also be similar to what some Evangelicals do in terms of recruiting people to specific ministries, but without much of a sales pitch. People not involved in ministries will simply have an opportunity to experience for a brief time what it might be like to become a part of these groups.
Vocational, Community and Avocational Interests: parish members with similar interests should be encouraged to organize such meetings. Healthcare professionals and assistants, educators, service industries, computer interests, environment, cooking, dining out, gardening, etc. Our parishes are too inward focused. People want to experience community but in a way that allows them to pick and choose.
The main objection to all these ideas is that all this activity occurs during the Mass times where both paid staff and existing volunteers are already overwhelmed.
Essential to implementing these ideas is to invite talented people to become voluntary members of pastoral staff much as I experienced back in the eighties. We have to leave behind the notion that they are being recruited to do things that paid pastoral staff are doing, Rather they should be recruited to use their specific experiences and skills to serve both the parish and its surrounding community These new members of pastoral staff would be recruited for a specific time limited period of several years with the notion that other people will eventually take up where they have left off.
What keeps me away from Mass (apart from the parish being full of anti-vax Trump loonies) is being an obstacle to the Communion line with my damn cane. I am no longer agile or graceful, and I can no longer quickly accommodate people getting in and out of the pew. They think they're doing me a favor by trying to crawl over me instead of waiting a few seconds for me to stand up.
ReplyDeleteI'd be grateful if there were a designated section for non-Catholics, where I could stay seated or standing with others who will not need to get out of the Pew.
I like your ideas for building community. Making sure that these are covered in the parish bulletin would be good.
Jean, I was in the same boat recovering from knee surgery last year. It was six weeks before I was able to come at all, and three months before I was somewhat back to normal. I ended up sitting in the "east chapel" and was embarrassed about my cane (at first it was a crutch) getting in the way; until I looked around. That seemed to be where all the lame and the halt had gravitated. No one acted irritated about us waking slow. There are some nonegenarians who come to daily Mass. They have canes and they are slow. But that's okay, no one has anything so urgent that they can't spare a little time for courtesy.
DeleteNow I am back in the choir loft and really wish there was an elevator, but I just have to take the stairs slow.
I really like Jack's idea that people who pray have a place in the church. That's an encouraging thought, that twice as many people are daily pray-ers as are attending weekly. They are coming from a place of relationships with God.
Yah, just because people leave the Communion line doesn't mean they leave behind all the other good stuff they learned as Catholics.
DeleteGlad you have not had maneuvering probs. But you merely slow up the line if you have a cane and join the circular "flow" to and from the altar. If you do not join the line and need to get back in yr seat as people leave and come back from receiving, you become everyone's obstacle. It would absolutely be impossible with a walker, which will be the next step.
A "heretic's gallery" would be ideal!
So I will continue to pray with St Ulphia and the toad who is still hanging around my garden. Dry, dry, dry here, so have been trying to keep soil wet for him. Surprised the crows haven't snapped him up. They have been agitated.
We have a communion minister who brings communion to those who can't come forward (or feel self-conscious). The ushers help her/him identify those folks. We also set aside seats that are easy to maneuver into/out of with walkers and similar aids.
DeleteWe do that too, the EMHC takes Communion to those who can't come forward. The ones with wheelchairs or scooters tend to sit in back.
DeleteAt Saint Luke's, the front row is reserved for those with mobility problems. The priest comes over to them first for communion. As my mother's heart condition deteriorated, I ended up bringing her from the car to the pew with a wheelchair. Sometimes people eschew the deluxe seating and work their way forward but they usually sit closer to the altar. After helping my mother for those two years and being on the far side of the parabola myself, I can't complain about a few more minutes in line.
DeleteSee, you're all assuming everyone is there to receive. I don't sit up front because I don't receive and don't want to take a handicapped space. Those of us who just want to join loved ones to hear the Word and pray but can't easily get out of everyone's way at Communion time had better not bother. So I don't. Not a big deal for me, but I mention it as a minor issue that speaks to Jack's theme of evangelization. To get the disaffected and unaffiliated in, you can't assume everyone is a full communicant and can easily navigate getting out of the communion line. Fwiw, I have no trouble at churches w wider aisles, and more leg room, but kneelers are hard to get around. Cheers!
DeleteAbout navigating around people who don't go to Communion, same courtesy rules apply. There are people in our congregation who aren't communicants, it's not anyone else's business why. If they have mobility issues, all the reason more to take a few extra seconds not to bump into them or traipse on their toes. If it gets to be a free-for-all with people only looking out for themselves, it might be time for a reminder from the pulpit about kindness to others.
DeleteYes, each church building is configured with more or less leg room. Local church is not. And I don't think many Catholic churches are designed with non Catholics in mind.
DeleteThey could extend every other pew in the rear a couple of glutei maximi without kneelers. People could then sit there with enough clearance to let us holy people through to communion. Actually, we can just float overhead. Some holy people don't know that they can float or haven't gotten the hang of it yet. It's lots of fun. Or, they could have some loveseat pews in a section that would obviate that problem completely. I have experience of being set aside. My workplace used to have these outdoor employee appreciation/multi-cultural days and you could walk around with a beer and shmooze. Then they had areas cordoned off and you had to drink your beer there under the supervision of a genuine People's Republic of New Jersey cop. That did it for me. What I really hated was padding the wallet of the already well-compensated cop with overtime. I just stopped going to those things completely. I would rather work in my lab and skip the four free hours.
DeleteGentiles in the temple courtyard. The Church Ladies are watching everybody at all times, and the newer ones have put the "veil" back in surveillance!
DeleteI would have no problem sitting in a non-Catholic area in the back for Mass. I used to sit with the widowed old geezers at Saturday night Mass because they didn't hold hands at the Our Father.
I've been singing with the choir this year. Every rehearsal, I get up from my seat about halfway through and wander to the back of church to lock the doors (because the idea of leaving church doors unlocked all the time apparently belongs to an earlier era). So I get to hear the choir sing - and I must say, they're killin' it (in a good way) these days. A credit to our new-ish choir director. So I like the idea of posting a recording of the choir. There have been years in this parish where I wouldn't have supported that idea...
ReplyDeleteJim, my husband has to deal with locking the church up too, after daily Mass (three days a week), since ours is an evening one. We have perpetual adoration, but there is a keypad for people to get in for that. I don't know how secure that really is, since everyone knows the combination.
DeleteThis discussion of the mobility issues in church attendance is an excellent example of how strongly social situations affect our behavior.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got my balance problem about a decade ago, two of my physicians recommended that I get a cane or walking stick. I did my basic research and found that a walking stick which provided an extra point of information to that coming from my feet, eyes and vestibular was far more helpful than a cane for balance. My brain needed better information my body did not need support.
However, as a social psychologist I knew that helping other people help me in managing my disability was just as important as the disability itself. I found a place that sold beautiful walking sticks. I get endless complements on my walking stick whether I am using it or it just setting in my shopping cart. It gives permission to other people to not only recognize my disability but also to think positively about it.
I always use them in public even though my balance is good enough that I would not be taking much risk without them. They alert people to my disability so that people do not crowd me. They open doors for me.
Public spaces often need the cooperation of people who feel they have authority over those spaces. The issues are complex. For example, I was able to participate in choir before Covid because I had a reserved seat next to the wall so that I could lean back against the wall when I was singing. I was not able to sing in the ensembles at most of our Masses. They line up in front of stands with mikes. I wanted a stand with a mike not in a line, e.g. one several spaces back from everyone. No cooperation on that one!
When I did not sing in the choir at my local parish I would sit in a chair at the back of one of the side areas of the T that forms our church floor plan. When we went back after Covid we found that they were gone. We now set in the back pew of the same side. However, I bring enough stuff with me to take over not only the end of the back pew but the one in front of it. A clear sign to everyone that this is our space. It seems to be working. Fortunately, church attendance is down so we have not had any ushers crowding the pews around us. Perhaps the walking stick conveys a certain sense of authority.
When I worshipped at another area church which also has a T ground plan, I occupied the front pew because of the unusual communion procession they observed. Everyone came down the center aisle then spread out to four communion stations. That made for very fast communion processions, far too fast for me. However, the communion processions started with the first row of the sides of the T. We were allowed to line up in the center aisle before the ministers lined up for communion. The ushers did not hurry us when we lined up.
One of the great discoveries of using a walking stick was how irreverently quick our communion practices are. When I go to communion I approach the minister with my stick in my right hand, shift the stick so that it rests on my left shoulder while I fold my hands before me to receive the host. I try to choose communion ministers who are familiar with the slowness of the process. If done slowly and gracefully I have found it greatly enhances the communion experience. When I go to communion in my local parish, I always become the last person. That helps the communion minister relax and not worry about keeping the line going.
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DeleteA lot of parishes do try to make themselves handicapped accessible, but the problems are unique to each individual, and individual solutions are needed.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was on pastoral council, each month we stood in the narthex to received suggestions. There were frequent complaints of not enough handicapped-parking, the dimness of the church lighting, and poor sound system. I thought to myself we certainly needed Jesus to heal the lame, give sight to the blind and heal the deaf. I decided to keep my mouth shut.
The other complaint I always heard was people came late and left early. I did remind council that these were still people who came to church, and very likely prayed daily. So, it wasn’t about their relationship to God. They simply had no reason to come early or stay late. So naturally some would arrive late, and others would decide to get a head start. Once I got my walking stick, I joined the group leaving after communion rather than waiting until everyone else had cleared the church and parking lot.
For those of us interested in saints, today was the feast of St. Januarius, the 4th century martyr whose blood allegedly liquefies on certain days: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249030/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-miracle-of-liquefaction-of-the-blood-of-saint-januarius
ReplyDeleteAccording to this article from Catholic News Agency the saint's blood did liquefy today. Though we are instructed not to interpret it in a superstitious way, it is believed that if liquefaction fails it sometimes portends trouble. The last time it failed to liquefy was 2020. Hmm...
Januarius is a the patron saint of blood banks and blood donors. This is also Blood Cancer Awareness Month. I thank everyone here who has given blood or who works the blood drives, and ask St Januarius to bless them and bring their generosity before the Lord.
DeleteAs for the miracle of liquifaction and whatever that may portend, que será será.