STORY - "Are There Too Many Masses in our Churches?"

As I write the football finals are upon us. I am reminded of a team I used to follow regularly while on sabbatical at St John’s Collegeville. I can’t remember how many make up an American football team – maybe 15 or 18? But I do know that up to 200 young men dressed in the special pants and all the padding and shiny protective helmets ran out week after week as St John’s football team. These athletes train hard three or four times a week throughout their college life. While they know that most will never leave the sideline, strange as it may seem to the onlooker, this in no way deters their spirit. To be able to put on the red and white is what counts and is reward enough. The uniform signals that they belong to the team and can proudly consider themselves to be Johnnies.

There is something in this image that reminds me of the challenge of all of us who considers ourselves Christian. A strong sense of identity and belonging calls us Sunday after Sunday to gather together to form the church. We belong to St Kevin’s, St Mary’s, St Therese’s, St Joseph’s or Sacred Heart. While the Eucharist celebrates our belonging, it is as we endure the challenges and struggles of the fragility of suffering and death, the joy of celebrations and achievements and the boredom of the daily grind that we hold onto hope. We are sustained by the reminder that we belong to a faith community.

Over the years as Mass numbers decrease, the number of Masses that are available in any one parish is proving to be problematic. As our churches become emptier it follows that the quality of our celebrations are poorer. We rely on the same ministers to serve the assembly. Our musicians are stretched and we are unable to sing with the volume required as our voices echo in a large space. Today Catholics who have a choice tend to regard the Mass in the way they do a supermarket. They can shop around for the Mass that best suits. Sometimes our decisions are determined by the style of the priest or his preaching. Or we choose a Mass that fits our weekend activities or at a time that is most convenient. But this consumer mentality when applied to our Mass choices has grave ramifications. It seriously weakens our relationship to the faith community that we identify with and belong to. We may tend to become more focused on what we get rather than what we have to give.

At the time of Paul and the evangelists the churches were much smaller than they are today. Each Christian community made the effort to gather on Sunday to be fed not only by Christ but by each other. They came with gifts that included bread and wine that they presented to the deacons for the Eucharist and for the needy. They also brought the story of their week – their struggles and celebrations to become one gift of love united to Christ’s sacrifice in the Eucharistic memorial. The body of Christ that formed each Sunday became most clearly the Body of Christ as they gathered at the table of unity and love. This was their nourishment for the week ahead.

In those early days it was exceptional that you travelled to another community for Eucharist. And when you did you were identified immediately and welcomed as a visitor. More than likely you would be asked for news about your own community. Churches then were more like extended families than they are today.

Recently I was asked to preach at a church that is to reduce Mass celebrations from two to one each Sunday. It is always difficult to vary a long established practice and usually pain and struggle accompany change of any sort. No doubt this community will struggle with the decision to suspend its vigil Mass. Some will see this as yet more evidence of the decline of our church, but hopefully in time the community can view this change as a blessing.

At our Sunday Eucharist we gain strength from each other by sharing Christ’s Word and Eucharist. The Mass is less about spending my personal hour with Jesus and more about committing my life to Christ and the community with whom I worship. It is about gathering with others to focus on the life of our faith community in relation to Christ’s sacrifice. The Mass is the clearest sign of unity and love, and there is no room for division or anger. We can only truly get to know each other and become one body if we gather regularly with the same community.

Recently as we gathered for Mass I heard one woman commiserate with a friend whose brother died suddenly during the week. How much more consoling would it have been if that same friend would have felt a freedom and even a responsibility to go to the microphone and invite the whole assembly to offer their Sunday worship for this grieving family?

Our current worshipping church will no doubt continue to decrease. We can either continue as we are with half empty churches or we can carefully rationalise our Masses and form new faith communities. To the extent that we throw in our lot with each other will we truly become the Church of St Kevin’s, St Joseph’s, St Therese’s or St Bede’s – the living sign of Christ in our town or neighbourhood.

Carmel Pilcher RSJ
Diocesan Liturgy Consultant

Back to Aurora Homepage