In the five years that he’s been pastor of St. Anselm Parish in Marin County, Father Jose Shaji, like many Catholic pastors, has looked out from the altar at a progressively shrinking congregation.
“I’ve seen it especially at the 10 a.m. Sunday Mass, that’s the family Mass,” Father Shaji told Catholic San Francisco in a Feb. 27 interview at the parish in Ross.
After a survey of Mass-goers last fall, he and other leaders have a clearer picture of what brings local Catholics in the door and what keeps them or family members away – and what they can and cannot do about either….
In a nutshell, survey respondents said they appreciated St. Anselm parish and school communities, the beautiful church buildings and for many, the long history of receiving the sacraments there.
The pastor’s openness to lay leadership and candid dialogue within the community earned high marks from survey respondents, said Maureen Dear, chairperson of the parish’s Spiritual Life Committee.
“I was at every town hall meeting and people stood up and thanked Father Jose,” Dear said. The committee is a unique parish ministry that allows laity to “have a say about what speaks to our spiritual needs.”
Liturgy with greater appeal to younger people was repeatedly mentioned in survey results, with “lively, upbeat” music requested as an alternative at least on occasion, to “slow, somber and uninspiring” organ music.
“Music is important to young people,” wrote one respondent. “The current music feels old and from the past — like the church is dying.”
A true minority called for change backward, however, not forward.
“The traditional Tridentine Latin Mass is the way the Mass should be celebrated,” said one respondent. “Vatican II was a big mistake and Satan was definitely present and manipulating the proceedings.”
When it came to the future of St. Anselm and the universal church, an overwhelming majority envisioned a diverse, multi-generational parish community where women, youth, the divorced, singles and LGBTQ community are acknowledged and active.
Some spoke directly to the latter.
A respondent who said her parents raised her in the Catholic Church and whose family attended Sunday Mass at St. Anselm had stopped going to church the previous year.
“I am gay, and I do not feel St. Anselm had the right community for me,” she wrote.
Another called it “embarrassing to be Catholic” as a woman who is excluded from the liturgy and has a gay sibling.
“How do I rationalize being part of something that silences my voice and condemns my family members?” she said.
The perception that the church had not yet “come clean” on the abuse crisis pervaded the survey results, said Dear, with many saying they felt they “couldn’t move forward” unless that happens….
For now the parish is wasting no time making some of the changes reflected in the survey at the parish level. As one example, the parish has started a twice-monthly Sunday night youth Mass with contemporary music that Dear reported is “packed” by young and old.
“The young people have really taken ownership of the Mass and have been very responsible with it,” she said….
The above comes from a March 6 story in Catholic San Francisco.
It seems the parish might want to offer the Traditional Latin Mass and a Mass with (good) contemporary music. It’s more concerning that it seems several influential parishioners want a parish that is no longer Catholic. What is an “active” LGBTQ “community?” All are welcome in the Catholic Church. We don’t segregate ourselves by our struggles or issues. Should we have a Mass for those in recovery from addiction (or maybe even still addicted) and another one for those struggling with anger issues? Or, might the angry Catholics share a Mass with the greedy Marin County Catholics? What about Catholics who feel marginalized, like NRA members and Trump supporters? A Catholic parish is for all. And, all of us are called to, by the grace of God, leave our sin behind and pursue holiness and heaven. Lent is an especially good time to reflect on such.
“I want a church that teaches me nothing, rather one that learns from my experience of what makes me happy: a faith without suffering, with no transformation, a community that gets its grace from me and not from the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.” It is time for clear catechesis at Mass and at other adult education for all of us Catholics.
I was asked to give an advent talk at a local Maui parish on Advent and Jesus. I did. Their previous Lenten talk was given on the border wall! Maui has the pacific ocean as a natural barrier. What a wasted opportunity to bring Jesus to the people and the people to Jesus.
It seems that this Marin parish either has not heard the message or listened to it if it was delivered. I wonder if the conclusions were written BEFORE the end of the townhall.
It is gratifying to read this report of a parish that is actually listening to the parishioners and taking positive steps to move forward. IMHO it will take centuries or perhaps eons before the Catholic celebrates LGBTQ weddings/marriages so if one is LGBTQ and a Christian it is advisable to worship in another more accepting Christian ecclesial community.
There will never be lesbian and gay marriages. A bisexual could get married in the church as long as they were marrying a person of the opposite sex.. I am not sure about transgender. I know a gay man who married a trans man so could they could have married in the Church? They didn’t. I think they had already changed to the Episcopal Church by then. If someone who identifies as queer would want a Catholic marriage, maybe…as long as they were marrying someone of what the Church sees as the opposite gender and could honestly take the vow of forsaking all others.
For the parishioners and clergy of St. Anselm’s and all of us:
“Let us cleanse ourselves by fasting and by prayer, and serve God through acts of mercy to the poor. Let us lament and groan with fervent tears, while we still have time for conversion, that we may be delivered from everlasting lamentation in the flames of hell. And let us give glory to Christ who has ordained repentance for all mortal men, calling them to turn back in righteousness.
O Virgin Mother, blessed of God, cure the sickness of my soul, for I am held prisoner by my sins; and sighing from my heart I cry to thee: All-blameless Theotokos, I have greatly sinned; accept me, that with boldness I may call upon thee: Hail, dwelling-place of God.”
(from Byzantine Catholic Matins, this morning, Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent)
You are supposed to go to Mass to give glory to God, to thank Him for His blessings, to tell Him you are sorry for your sins, and to beg for His help in your needs, the needs of your family and others in your community and country and the needs of the Church and the world. You receive Jesus Christ in Holy Communion if you are old enough and in a state of grace. Hence it is not a community, it is a communion. You are a member of the Mystical Body of Christ. You attend Mass to stay on the Vine.
You also please the Lord by attending and assisting at Mass. It is not optional. If you miss Mass, due to your own fault, you are guilty of grave sin. (We are currently being asked to stay home from Mass if we are sick. It is not a sin to miss Mass if you are sick or if you need to care for the sick or infants or elderly.)
Is this a Catholic Church or a community center? It sure sounds like the later. Organ music is boring? Maybe the young parishioners should open their minds to other forms of music besides rock or rap. Just maybe the parishioners should think about why they are attending Mass and not what the Mass should be doing to entertain them. Perhaps reading and contemplating on The Catechism of the Catholic Church would be of benefit. After reading this article, I am glad that I do not live in that parish.
I agree with Xavier! Parish renewal has to start with teaching the Catechism to all, young and old, and showing every parishioner how to be a good, practicing Catholic, on the pathway to Heaven!
It seems to me that Vatican II was supposed to change all that “boring” Latin, kneeling, Gregorian chant, altar boys, organ, incense, confession, proper attire, communion on the tongue?? If i wanted to listen to Jennifer Lopez or Pearl Jam I would go to their concert to hear them, this is CHURCH and hence you have Catholic music not secular music duh!! And also young people are attracted to the Traditional Latin Mass NOT Life Teen Mass which once out of their teens they leave the Church because they grow up and have no need for Rock music and hand holding during the so called Life Teen Mass, which brings me to the point of WHY do we need teen, gay, Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Tagalog, Korean, Masses that only divides the Church even more! 50 years ago you could have been in Seoul South Korea and attended a Mass there as an American and feel right at home why you ask? Because it was in LATIN the universal language of the the Roman Catholic Church!! As a person from Germany when I came to the states prior to Vatican II I spoke little English but attended Mass in the Traditional Latin Rite and of course I understood EVERYTHING the priest was saying except during the homily which was of course in English. So after 50 or so years this mess we are in is still going on with people asking what do we do??? Easy – bring back the TLM and you will fill the pews like they were prior to Vatican II, remember Mass attendance in 1963 was at 75% now it is roughly at 5 to 10% so much for the New Springtime getting rid of that BORING LATIN MASS.
Several years ago I was a parishioner at St. Anselm’s. Responding to B XVI’ Summorum, some of us put a question in the vestibule asking if anyone was interested in a TLM. More than 30 signatures were obtained, with one man seeking us out and offering to pay for investment, altar cards —- “whatever was necessary to make that happen”. The pastor saw the list and confiscated it and that was the end of it. Obviously, only voices of some of the people are heard.
I had a short stint on the parish council and the libs were asking for “music that the teens liked so they would come to Mass”. When I suggested introducing them to beautiful sacred music I was scoffed at. They thought we should be more welcoming by greeting those around us prior to Mass starting. When I suggested the time be spent turning our focus to Christ and the sacrifice about to happen, it was as if I was the potted plant in the room.
This so makes me weep. Thank you for sharing another view point. If we are going to ask for opinions,It’s sad to leave out the opinions that made so many saints in our beloved Church. They should offer both, and Christ will call who he calls.
They who want Catholicism can drive just a few short miles up Highway 101 to Holy Rosary Chapel at St. Vincent’s School for Boys in Marinwood. We have a Traditional Latin Mass there every Sunday and Holy Day at 12:15 PM. We have Gregorian chant, a Thomist celebrant, reverent altar servers, and plenty of convenient parking. Come on up!
Our website is tlmsf.org.
It is all so depressing. The Catholic church I grew up in is gone.
Thanks for the alert Larry God bless! Long live the Traditional Latin Mass!
I know that the Catholic Church is very specific about what it believes and teaches. But… If I was the pastor of a church that was once large and is now dwindling, I would want to know why. Perhaps one approach is to ask the people why they come and/or why they don’t come to Mass on a regular basis.
The future of the church is the young people, we need to bring them in and keep them. If they don’t want to come, we need to find ways to attract them. If doing the same old thing isn’t working, we need to find new ways. We can’t teach them the faith if they aren’t there. Too many of us octogenarians think that the only good church is the one in which we grew up. We were steeped in the catechism, Latin, ceremony, etc. But the parish had basketball teams, hockey teams, picnic, bazaars, etc. to keep us coming back on a regular basis. The TLM, as much as I love it, will only attract a few souls, not the millions and millions that we need.
Religion, governed by “democracy,” devolves into nonsense.
Have they even tried Gregorian Chant? Benediction and adoration with Confession one night a week? Maybe break out the thurible once in a while just because? They have nothing to lose. They’re on a main line Protestant trajectory, which is straight into the ground.
Introduce something that is mysterious, sacred and holy that isn’t a knock off of the rest of the world. Oh, and find some orthodox college kids to come, likely some FOCUS missionaries.
And you don’t have to abandon the Novus Ordo….I get a kick out of these folks that say “just start doing the Tridentine Mass” as if it’s just as easy as setting up coffee and doughnuts…