AND EVERYONE FACES GOD...TOGETHER

Why Do I Have to Go To Mass?

A few years ago, an article appeared in a national Catholic publication entitled “Busy Altars, Empty Pews”. As the title suggests, while an increasing number of the laity have been recruited into service for a variety of liturgy-related ministries, an increasing number of the laity have been simultaneously absenting themselves from the liturgy altogether.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. The whole idea of an increased “active participation” of the laity was supposed to give the laity a greater stake in their Church, engendering increased enthusiasm and more robust liturgical participation. However, the numbers and empty pews don’t lie. A 2011 Georgetown CARA poll shows that only 22% of Americans who identify themselves as Catholics attend Mass weekly. What happened?

We’ve seen no shortage of attempts to staunch the bleeding from the pew: more relevant music, greeting ministries, friendlier homilies, more convenient Mass times, modernizations and updating of every sort, and even an altered architecture which is pushing the sanctuary ever closer to the congregation (which seems to have had the effect of pushing the people right out the back door). We even get a good lecture now and then on the importance of attending Mass and the occasional reminder that to deliberately skip Sunday Mass is a serious sin. But the numbers don’t lie. The people are leaving.

Of course there are the exceptions - certain parishes which seem to be teeming with life. But even those seem to depend on a particularly charismatic minister or two who is the engine of the whole deal. And when that person departs, the parish slumps, and we hear such things as “When Father so and so was here”, or “When Mr. what’s-his-name was around...”

On Guam, our numbers probably have not yet sunk as low as the rest of the U.S. because of what we could call “residual faith”:  we are still benefitting from the deep piety and belief that saw “the greatest generation” through the ravages of World War II and the ensuing poverty and struggle.

And, so long as “grandma” is alive, we will probably still see a remnant practice of the faith. But no one has to do a poll to show that Mass attendance amongst the young is declining as rapidly as the elders are passing. So what can we do?

I suspect that many of those who no longer attend Mass no longer attend because they have never heard a convincing reason to attend. A generation or two ago, such a reason was not necessary. Today it is.

We try of course. We speak of the desirability of giving at least one hour a week to God, keeping holy the Lord’s day, praying, showing God respect, and all that. But all of those things can be done elsewhere and on one’s own. There is still no reason to go to Mass.

Sometimes we even get up the courage to remind our Mass-defecting friends and relatives that to miss Mass is a sin, a serious sin, a mortal sin - something some of us are old enough to remember hearing. But they rightly guess that we are just repeating a phrase and are not prepared to give any evidence for it. So they shrug their shoulders and walk away, and we write it off as “people nowadays”.

So what should we say? You may not find my personal reason for faithful Sunday Mass attendance in any catechism, but it is what I’ve taught my own children, so I thought I’d share. Here goes.

As we know, on the night before he died, Jesus instructed his apostles to DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. This is not a recommendation. This is a command. THIS is how Christ desires to be commemorated, memorialized, acknowledged, recognized, worshipped, made present, and received.

We also know that he intended this act to be repeated weekly on the day of his Resurrection because this is what we see the first Christians doing in Acts 20:7. “On the first day of the week we gathered together to break bread...”

This short phrase tells us a lot. It tells us that worship was weekly, it was on Sunday, it was corporate (“gathered”), and it was not just a prayer meeting, but the celebration of the Eucharist (“break bread”).

This is why we can not fulfill our duty to God on our own, when we feel like it, or in someplace other than the Catholic Mass. First, we must be present where the DO THIS is actually done. Second, it must be done weekly. Third, it must be done on Sunday. Fourth, it must be done in community. And the only “place” all four of these things happen is at the Catholic Mass.

But, so what if this is true? Why should I care? In Matthew 10:32, Christ tells us why we had better care, when he warns: “He who acknowledges me, I will acknowledge before my Father. He who denies me, I will deny before my Father.”

“Acknowledgement” here does not mean some casual recognition of an historical figure. It means publicly acknowledging that Jesus Christ is God. And we do that by participating in the DO THIS, by being where Christ, in the person of the priest, turns bread and wine into his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity: the Catholic Mass.

To not DO THIS, to ignore his command, to not attend Mass, is to deny him. And this is why the Church has always taught that to deliberately and consciously not DO THIS, to not worship him as instructed, to not attend Mass, is a mortal sin. And to die in a state of unrepentant mortal sin means an eternity in Hell.

And while we can all hope that one day our attendance at Mass will be motivated by something greater than the fear of Hell, we can at least start there. See you on Sunday.

WHY I AM CATHOLIC - PART 6: DO THIS

Last Supper by Pascal Adolphe Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929)

In our last installment we made the case for the historical authenticity of the Gospels. In short, when compared with any other ancient document, there is more evidence for the historical reliability of the Gospels than there is for the writings of Socrates, Plato, or even Shakespeare - unquestioned intellecutal pillars of classical western civilization.  So let us look at what those Gospels record.

They record, of course, the birth, life, passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. They also record his teachings, miracles, and directives. For our purpose - which is to evince and expound upon the reason to be Catholic - let us examine one of those teachings, his most important: DO THIS.

In fact it is more than a teaching, it is a directive, an order. And it is most important because worship is man’s fundamental duty to God, and Christ’s instruction at the Last Supper is an instruction on how he is to be worshipped, commemorated, acknowledged, remembered, and recognized. There is, for man, nothing more important.

Scripture records: on the night before he died, Jesus took the bread and said THIS IS MY BODY, EAT THIS..., and the wine and said THIS IS MY BLOOD, DRINK THIS... And then he commands: DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.

Many Christian church services have great singing, sermons, and fellowship, but only one Church fully worships God as Christ Himself instructed. Only one Church obeys, and has obeyed from the beginning, despite the fallibility and failings of its ministers, the command of Jesus Christ to DO THIS.

To be sure, many Christian communities have communion services, but the presider normally does not hold up the bread and wine and say THIS IS MY BODY...THIS IS MY BLOOD. And while it is true that some Anglican and even some Lutheran churches have liturgies in which at least the words and actions of Christ at the Last Supper are re-presented, neither religion accepts that the bread and wine REALLY are the true body and blood of Jesus Christ.

For our purposes, we need not engage the debate over whether or not the bread and wine become the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ upon the words of the minister. We are simply looking at whether or not non-Catholic Christian churches actually do what Christ instructed on the night before he died.  Do they DO THIS?

Only the Catholic Church obeys this command and obeys Christ's command to DO THIS fully. What’s more, the Catholic Church obeys Christ’s instruction as the first Christians obeyed it: weekly and on Sunday. Acts 20:7 says “On the first day of the week they gathered together to break bread...” We know that the "break bread" is not a reference to some first century picnic because “breaking bread”, as demonstrated elsewhere in the New Testament, references the Eucharistic celebration.

So here, right in the heart of the New Testament, we see the first Christians commemorating Christ as he instructed, commemorating him weekly, and commemorating him on the first day of the week. And where is the only place on Earth where we will find that command obeyed, obeyed weekly, and on Sunday? Answer: The Catholic Mass.

Jesus did not say to sing, lecture, dance, drum, shout, shake, or read your bible in memory of me. He said DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. And the Catholic Mass is simply the only place where the DO THIS is done and Christ is worshipped as he taught us to worship.

Ite Missa Est

The following is my article which was printed in the June 26, 2011 issue of the "Umatuna", the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Agana. It can be read in entirety here. "Ite Missa Est" will be the title of a weekly column I will write regarding living the Faith beyond the church doors.

“Sunday Catholics.” It’s a common accusation leveled at some who seem to pay little heed to their faith outside of Sunday Mass. Certainly, only God can judge the heart, but the allegation still resonates. 

There are many reasons why one might neglect his or her faith during the week, but perhaps one reason could be simply a translation problem.  At the end of the Mass, we are told  “The Mass is ended, go in peace.” There’s something about that word “ended”, you know, like, “We’re done for this Sunday...out a here...let’s go to brunch””, and so on. 


Sometimes we hear “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” That’s perhaps a little more of an encouragement to continue one’s faith life beyond the church doors (“serve the Lord”), but it still feels like “Have a good week and see you next Sunday”. 

The Latin text from which these dismissal phrases derive is “Ite, missa est”, which literally translates: “Go, sent is.” Hmmm. “Go, sent is”. What to make of this? The Catholic Dictionary tells us that “Ite, missa est” is “one of the most ancient Roman formulae, as can be seen by its archaic and difficult expression”, and notes that even medieval commentators were “much exercised to explain the meaning of the strange expression.”