By Rosie Reynolds, Diocesan Stewardship Council Member
My husband and I live in a tiny town with a tiny mission church averaging Saturday Mass attendance from 25-45. We all find it easy to fall into our patterns of comfort. We attend Mass faithfully but perhaps didn’t feel particularly moved by the service. Here’s a stewardship idea that is just as usable in a tiny mission as it is in a large parish.
One of the priorities I’ve learned is that every parish member must feel that they are needed, and that their opinions matter. Yes, each person is valuable and would be missed if they weren’t there.
The basic messages of a shared celebration include gathering, sharing, singing and praying together as a church community. These concepts are highlighted in the song “Gather Together” which our religious education students have learned. The children have taken several sessions to brainstorm the ideas in this song and have shared their ideas with the parish. For example, the students have talked about various ways that you can share with each other… introducing yourself to someone who you’ve seen or never seen, telling that person how nice it was to have them at Mass today, telling a person at Mass about something that has happened to you, asking the person about themselves, sharing a concern or difficulty, sharing a smile, sharing with the poor in terms of clothing, food, sharing money during the offertory and money for the poor, sitting by someone you don’t know well at Mass or at after Mass coffee. The list went on and on as the children excitedly threw out their ideas.
I think we all fall into comfortable patterns as Catholics. We like to sit by people we know and enjoy. We like to sit in the same pew or worse yet, in the same seat. New comers couldn’t possibly know that that is YOUR pew and might get the “look” for sitting in your seat unintentionally. These patterns of routine also extend to the way we celebrate the Eucharist. We Catholics often feel that our faith is a private matter and we don’t extend ourselves to be an active part of our community’s celebration. It’s hard to push ourselves to grow.
I tried an activity with our religious education students last Sunday that was received very well. In our parish we have a monthly children’s Mass; once the children held out a basket of stewardship goals achieved through their brainstorming session with the song “Gather Together.” Each person who attended Mass was asked to take a slip from a child’s basket and follow through. For example, a lady new to our parish got a slip that said “Find someone who wasn’t at Mass last week and check on them or say you missed seeing them.” She approached me after Mass and said, “I don’t know many people here yet but I noticed that you were not here last Saturday and I missed you.” At that point, I had the opportunity to tell her that I had just had a knee replacement surgery and I was happy to be back.
As a member of the Stewardship Council, I know that I’ve offered stewardship/ hospitality ideas from the altar on many occasions, but who do you think adults are more apt to change behavior for… me or from a beautiful smiling child? Before Mass, during and after, it was exhilarating to see how much more visiting and welcoming the parishioners were with each other even
Please help us continue
