Time for Catechesis

Catechesis should be of primary concern to the Roman Catholic Church when Catholics provide answers such as these when asked whether or not they regularly attend Mass, and if so, why?
‘I don’t go to Mass because it’s not a sin anymore.’
‘I think you don’t have to go.’
‘ I have to because I go to boarding school. I do it to keep my parents happy.’
‘I go every Sunday because my grandmother and my family go, but if I were on my own I would not go.’
‘I go because my parents go, but I don’t really know any other reasons for going.’
‘I’m just not interested.’
‘It’s boring. I used to go with my grandmother because it made her feel good.’
‘I don’t have to go to church to pray. I can pray at home.’

The aforementioned answers were given to Michael Voris of RealCatholicTV.com as he randomly interviewed Irish Catholics on the streets of Dublin on June 29, 2011. What makes these answers so alarming is the fact that Ireland, where 84.7% of the population is Catholic, has been a bastion of the Catholic Faith for nearly 1500 years. What has existed in Ireland for 1500 years has been nearly totally destroyed in less than 40 years. But this attitude toward Mass is not unique to Ireland!

The bottom line is that Catholics need to be informed of the reasons for attending and participating in the Mass, the most important of which is the fact that Jesus is present at Mass and longs to give himself to us in the Eucharist! For this reason alone Catholics should be knocking down the doors to churches to get in!

Priests should take every opportunity to reinforce the importance of the gift God has given us through the sacraments, especially Holy Eucharist at Mass! The importance and the reasons for participating in the Mass should be taught and reinforced at every level of catechesis.

I cannot imagine the faithful thinking that Mass is “boring” if they truly knew what happens at each Mass. It is far from boring when the Creator of all that is “seen and unseen”, humbles Himself to become truly present under the appearance of bread and wine in order to give Himself to us, so that we may experience Him through all our senses and share in His Divinity! That is exciting and AWESOME, not boring!

Let us pray that others will come to know what the Mass is all about! Let us take every opportunity to share what we know about the awesome treasure that we call Mass!