Everyday Catholicism

[tir_synni]

All right, in my story, the main character is a lapsed Catholic trying to get back into it in his new hometown. It's in a West Virginia, USA town, relatively small population, and as I don't have much of a Catholic background, I was hoping for some details: What are the typical hours for a Catholic Church, like, access-wise? Are there typical hours

Comments

Confession

[shanghai_jim]

In most parishes I've been to, Confession is on Saturdays around 3 PM to maybe a half hour before the "anticipated" Mass (the following Sunday's Mass done on Saturday evening), and, if well-staffed with priests, before the Sunday Masses.

By "member of the church" would you mean how he gets himself officially in that particular parish's list of parishioners, not as in "how to become a Catholic" (which wouldn't all apply since as a lapsed Catholic he's already baptized ...)? The one time I did it "officially" was just notifying the parish that I wanted to become a member and putting my name in their directory. It entitled me, IIRC, to aid in times of trouble and to have weddings and baptisms in that parish.

But I only did that once. I don't know how others do it but I just go to whichever parish church is closest/is the one with the people I want to see.

[miafeliz]

What are the typical hours for a Catholic Church, like, access-wise?

I think it depends on the area and where the church is located. Where I live, my parish church is usually open during working hours. It's a big church but it's far from town. The churches in town are open pretty much all day and one that has 24-hour adoration, has special codes to get into the chapel in the off-work hours. It used to be that most Catholic churches were open all the time, but that's changed a lot. Normal business hours, evenings when Mass is held during the week, and when people are there for meetings, classes and practices.

Are there typical hours for confession? Yes, usually Saturday afternoons before the Mass. Often by appointment, sometimes on Sundays and other times during the week. Best bet would be a Saturday around 4:00.

How easy-access is the priest? It depends on the priest, how large his parish is and if he is the only one. My pastor is super busy. He gets one day off. There are two retired priests who help him out, but between

[ravenofroses]

others seem to have covered a lot, so i will keep this short.

best bet would be to find a church website, preferably one located in the area you are setting your story in. every church is different, but every church is eager to increase its flock.

my family's church has a mass every day, with the building open from dawn to dusk and offices open normal office hours. priests live nearby in a large house, and at least one of them seems to be available whenever.

i grew up catholic, and if you want a lapsed-catholic viewpoint on anything specific, you are more than welcome to send a note along to me. but otherwise, finding a church website and poking around on it would be a good place to get basic information.

[generationlol]

Since your church is in a small town, it's likely to be rather small itself, and the priest or priests would probably be pretty easy to see and speak to. I know my mother used to make appointments to speak with our pastor when she had something specific to discuss with him, and we went to a pretty big church and he stayed fairly busy. Also, these days, your MC may be able to email the priest with inquiries or asking for a meeting. I know my pastor's email address is on our website

[dustthouart]

Oh boy. It's INCREDIBLY varied from place to place. Is the "small West Virginia town" you have in mind an actual place? Google that sucker. Find the parish website. There should be confessions and mass times listed, and if the parish has a welcoming committee, that might be there too. Of course, some parishes have not yet really entered the internet age, lol, so you might also consider calling the diocese. AFAIK the entirety of West Virginia is a single diocese, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. Here is the diocese's evangelization website; it probably has good information on the diocese's welcoming initiatives.

I'm a Catholic convert and I've traveled a fair bit within North America and Asia, and at individual parishes I've seen everything from confession 15 minutes before every Mass (Toronto, ON) to half hour daily confession plus longer blocks of confession time on Saturday (Pittsburgh, PA) to confession three times a week in hour blocks (Taipei, Taiwan) to a truly pathetic IMHO single hour on Saturday for two parishes (

part the second

[dustthouart]

Re: acceptance... Catholics tend to flee after Mass as if they are escaping a burning building, especially after daily Mass. Socializing within the sanctuary is, in any good Church (LOL my sticklerness is showing), considered disrespectful to the presence of Christ within the reserved Eucharist and to the people trying to pray. This leaves the lobby, and in my experience socializing there is mostly limited to saying hello to friends. The priest usually stands near the door and shakes hands with people as they leave ("Lovely sermon, father" "Why thank you, have a blessed day") and if you are new he may comment on it in a friendly fashion or he may not. Some parishes have coffee and baked goods after one of the Sunday morning masses. But, in general, no, you won't get the same kind of "New person! Let me help you and love you and call you George!" that I got from many evangelical places when I was church shopping, lol

Re: part the second

[dustthouart]

Erm, and I just realized that I'm assuming that your character is relatively young. Sorry about that. No matter what his age, I think he's likely to get encouragement, not a cold shoulder, from any internal group. But attending Mass in and of itself is pretty anonymous, which I kind of appreciate.

Re: part the second

[shadefell]

OH MY GOD, I am RC and my husband is Eastern Orthodox and they HANG AROUND AFTER SERVICES. It blows my mind! Seriously! I had no idea how hidebound I was. So much is similar about their services (even thought they are in a different language) that the little differences like that really threw me. Your description of fleeing is very, very apt.