Monthly Youth Mass lifts parish attendance

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by ROWENA OREJANA
Holy Family parish in Wanaka is trying to come up with ways to entice young people back into the Church.
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Youth coordinator Christine Schafer said they had been noticing a downward trend in the number of children and young people attending Mass.
“We just sort of noticed we get less and less younger audience in Sunday Mass and noted, too, that one of the many reasons is that there are a lot of family activities on a Sunday,” said Mrs Schafer.
Last year they started having a once a month Saturday Youth Mass aimed at children aged 10 years onwards. This replaced the children’s liturgy on Sundays, which was cancelled because of dwindling attendance.
“It turned out to be a good thing for the family to have. We started at 5.30, which is quite a good time for the families. We also have a little gathering afterwards with pizza. That sort of takes the pressure off parents to rush home to provide a meal,” she said.
The Youth and Family Mass is growing steadily, said Mrs Schafer.
“We got several families who would usually not come on a Sunday. We have quite a few regulars and often have new visitors, which are good to see. It’s growing really. It started with about 30 people going there, but now we have about 50,” she said.
“It’s great to see families coming, which wouldn’t usually come to Mass and that’s really what our goal was and is — to have these families attending Mass.”
It hasn’t changed the numbers for the Sunday Masses, she said. “So it’s not a shift, but additional attendance.”
She said younger children are also made welcome. “They are very much a part of it because it’s got things like a corner where they can do some drawings and have some books there during Mass
as well. But the target group is more for the older children and the youth and, of course, the parents,” she said.
Mrs Schafer is gauging parishioners’ interest in expanding this to include an after-Mass activity for children aged 13 to 18. She said the formation of a youth group is the next step to encourage and deepen children’s faith.
“At this stage, it’s still sort of treated as a one-off Mass sort of thing, amongst the parishioners. But I really want to have it known to everyone that it’s there to stay,” she said.

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