Description: The goal is for young people to participate in the national Catholic trend of Mass mobs, which combine modern social media with historic appreciation to energize a longstanding faith tradition.
Get Ready
- Prep Time: Three weeks of planning would be ideal so as to publicize the Mass Mob Day Out. Make announcements, use the parish bulletin, and especially get the word out through social media.
- Volunteers Needed: A single facilitator can easily handle this event. He or she may want a volunteer to go early to the Mass Mob church in order to save seats for the group — many Mass Mobs get crowded. If you would like to involve a few key volunteers, invite two or three people to help with social media promotion and transportation logistics.
- Reserve the Space: Reserve a space at a nearby restaurant for brunch after the Mass. (If the group is larger than 10, you may want to break it up into smaller tables to make things easier for the servers AND for paying the bill.)
- Supplies: Social media is the only tool strictly needed!
- Ideal Group Size: 5 to 25.
- Who is this for? All ages turn up at Mass Mobs!
- When is a good time for this? Must be on a Sunday, when Mass Mobs are traditionally held, unless there are rogue ones out there happening at different times.
- Publicize the Program:
- Mass Mobs rely heavily on social media, so Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are great outlets.
- Of course, the traditional parish bulletin and verbal announcements are good ideas, too.
Prayer for Program Planner: Lord, while we put our hearts into our own parishes, help us to experience the challenges of another church — as well as the faith that we share — today. Amen.
Community Building:
- What is a Mass Mob, and why participate in one? Inspired by flash mobs, Mass Mobs use social media to get people to swarm a beautiful and historic but crowd-dwindling church for services on a certain day.
- So why join in, taking young people away from their own parish for a day? Just like taking a trip can bring someone back home energized, Mass Mobs have a special energy that can be inspiring. They can refresh our weekly habits. They give us the chance to experience the liturgy in a new and typically beautiful setting.
- We also develop solidarity with the parish we are visiting. Often, the donations received on a Mass Mob day give that parish a boost. The priests often speak candidly about the challenges that church experiences, too. Mass Mob participants who speak to regular parishioners after the service can build connections through their shared faith.
- Afterward, your parish’s group can share fellowship by having breakfast or brunch together.
Make It Happen
- First, look for Mass Mobs happening in your city through a simple Google search. If none are happening there yet, you might consider a “field trip” to a city not far away. Ideally, to make executing this program as simple as possible, you will be able to find out the next Mass Mob happening in your area and simply plan to attend it as a group.
- Alternatively, you could call for one using social media! For this, pick a beautiful, historic church, and consult with the pastor to make sure it is okay.
- Next, ask every friend and young person you know to help publicize it through Facebook and Twitter.
- Start posting photos of the church, perhaps through Instagram, to build excitement. You might be surprised how many people turn out!
- Set a time to meet (probably at least 45 minutes before the Mass, depending on transportation time) and carpool, perhaps from your own parish. That will help those who do not drive.
- Find out whether a church tour will precede the Mass — they sometimes do — and consider joining for that. It will increase your historic appreciation, both for the architecture and for the craftsmanship, sacrifices, and everything else that went into building the church.
- Have a volunteer go early — maybe 15-20 minutes ahead of the rest — to save space at the church so your group can sit together.
- Go out for brunch as a group afterward, discussing what you experienced and building community. Consider brunch near the Mass Mob church so you get a deeper feel for the neighborhood.
Ideas
- Having a group brunch after the Mass Mob is recommended for fellowship and community-building.
- If the neighborhood where the historic Mass Mob church is located has declined over the years, a follow-up service event (planting flowers, painting a mural, serving the hungry, etc.) could be planned there.
Help
- Two New York Times articles with background on the Mass Mob trend, here and here.
- “Mass Mobs: Crowdsourcing the Eucharist” on Busted Halo.
- “Inside a Mass Mob” on Busted Halo
- “Catholic Mass Mobs: A Hot New Trend?” on National Catholic Register.
