Almost every parish I know has a Jingle Bell Mass. It’s the one celebrated late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. It might also be referred to as the Christmas Vigil, the Family Friendly Mass, or in some places, the Children’s Mass. However, I’ve called it the Jingle Bell Mass ever since the time I walked over to the church and caught a lady (whom I had never seen before (...)
Columnists
The Jingle Bell Mass
A PASTORAL OPPORTUNITY LIKE NO OTHER
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You have a great fan in Georgia. I find your columns thoughtful, perceptive and humorous. Even if I do not always agree with your POV, you do make me think. Thank you for contributing to the general conversation. We need more pastors like you.
I think you mean "semi-annually" faithful, as in Christmas and Easter. I think you need to expand your exhortation to all masses. What does a "semi-annually" person make of "Agatha, Perpetua, Lucy, Anastasia, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damien"? The answer is: a reason not to be more frequently faithful.
Wonderful piece! Since my kid got through confirmation, I have avoided the Jingle Bell Mass like a case of Spanish influenza. Only a priest--and a really good priest--could see the opportunities for pastoral care embedded in that kind of chaos.
God bless you, Father, whoever you are!
Great piece. Expresses well all of the excesses of this very good idea gone wrong. I've sent it to all of my family to show them that Dad's rantings all these years were not without just cause.
Let me describe one of the families at one of these Masses. She is Catholic, he is not. The two little girls have been baptized but not gone beyond that. He has serious health problems and has not worked for several years. She is a teacher of children w/special needs. When she could see she would become the breadwinner of the family, she went back and got her Master's to increase her income. Within the last year she was in an auto accident. She now has on-going health problems. There has been no settlement of the court case and the proffered amount does not cover expected out of pocket.
A few months ago she posted on facebook about crying. Her husband had gone to the emergency room with a health crisis and the ER nurse had asked her if her husband had an advance directive. She lost it. Friends seeing the post came to the hospital and took care of the kids.
More recently she posted that she had to disconnect her work colleagues from facebook. There had been a student die in early elementary school “who had been showing so much progress.” She couldn't take the chatter that was going on that was likely a form of coping.
This may well be the first time they have been to church in 2011. Much of their life revolves around coping w/crises. They need healing in a way it is difficult to enable. Pray for them. Welcome them. They are part of the People of God.