{"id":2545,"date":"2014-12-23T19:47:26","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T00:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?p=2545"},"modified":"2014-12-23T19:47:26","modified_gmt":"2014-12-24T00:47:26","slug":"10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Reasons It’s Safe to Come to Mass this Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

You\u2019ve no doubt seen\u00a0Saturday Night Live\u2019s chillingly (hilariously) accurate tour of what you can expect at Mass this Christmas<\/a>, but you might still be thinking,\u00a0Hmmn. \u00a0Is it really a good idea for someone like me to go to place like that? \u00a0With Jesus in it and stuff?<\/em><\/p>\n

The answer is yes. \u00a0Here are my top ten reasons why:<\/p>\n

10. It really is the Church for anybody at all. \u00a0<\/strong>There might be other religions where you\u2019re expected to have your act together from day one. \u00a0Catholics, on the other hand, have not just one but\u00a0three<\/em>\u00a0sacraments ordered towards the fact that we\u2019re all total screw ups, and four others that certainly hint hard in that direction.<\/p>\n

9. Those in the know will be grateful and appreciative if you just do the respectful-visitor thing.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0If you\u2019re just visiting, no problem. \u00a0Come in, find a seat where you can see, and participate as much or as little as you like. \u00a0(Don\u2019t go up for communion; if you need to let others out of the pew, just step out of the pew, wait for them to pass, then sit back down.)<\/p>\n

8. It\u2019s safer than going to the grocery store. \u00a0<\/strong>People who are sick should stay home. \u00a0Friends don\u2019t let friends kill each other at Mass<\/a>.<\/p>\n

7. If you\u2019re out sick for Christmas, there\u2019s an endless supply of make-up days.<\/strong>\u00a0Even through the holidays, there will be a Mass nearly every day of the week. \u00a0Jan 1 is a feast day, so look for services both New Year\u2019s Eve and New Year\u2019s day. \u00a0You can check\u00a0Masstimes.org<\/a>\u00a0for contact info, but phone and listen to the recording to find out the Mass schedule through the holidays.<\/p>\n

6. You\u2019ll be reminded that no one\u2019s doing this for entertainment. \u00a0<\/strong>Okay, so there\u2019s a chance that you\u2019ll show up someplace that\u2019s got movingly beautiful music and an amazing sermon to boot. \u00a0More likely you\u2019ll end up at one of the bazillions of parishes run by people who must really love God, because they sure aren\u2019t there for the show. \u00a0 Wherever the parish you attend falls on the spectrum, it\u2019s a good way to spend an hour of your life.<\/p>\n

5. If you have to read along with the prayer card in the pews, it\u2019ll make you look like a pro. \u00a0<\/strong>A few years ago the English translation of the Roman Catholic Mass was updated. \u00a0What this means is that all the old-timers, the ones who go to Mass whenever they possibly can and have been doing so for decades, still don\u2019t know the new words. \u00a0So you\u2019ll see all these people pick up their cheat sheets when it\u2019s time for this or that prayer. \u00a0You can too, and you\u2019ll blend right in.<\/p>\n

4. Real live Catholics goof up the Mass too. \u00a0<\/strong>Some people worry that when they visit a Catholic Church they\u2019ll look funny, because they don\u2019t know when to sit-stand-kneel-shake-rollover. \u00a0The truth is that many regular Mass-goers still don\u2019t have it all down straight, to the point that some priests give hand signals to the congregation with such clarity and firmness it\u00a0impresses the Dog Whisperer. \u00a0And then there\u2019s a whole contingent that get so lost in prayer, or something, that the autopilot picks up the wrong cues. \u00a0Plus there\u2019s the people with bad knees who couldn\u2019t do the up-down-over routine even if they wanted to. \u00a0Sit in the second row or beyond, follow along as best you can, and don\u2019t sweat it.<\/p>\n

3. God will be happy you came, and no one else\u2019s opinion matters that much, does it?\u00a0<\/strong>Just come. \u00a0When you can and how you are. \u00a0People who have a problem with that can take it up with the Almighty.<\/p>\n

2. You\u2019ll be helping the pastor conduct a massive experiment on his congregation.\u00a0<\/strong>All year long, the people who attend Mass every Sunday do this routine where they pass themselves off as holy, pious people. \u00a0And then, twice a year, the Church runs a test. \u00a0All these visitors show up, and the regulars lose their regular parking space and their favorite pew, and they have to see these people they don\u2019t even know! \u00a0And then the pastor looks out and sees who remains\u00a0smiling and prayerful, and who is maybe not so holy after all. \u00a0 Since repeatable results are\u00a0the gold\u00a0standard\u00a0of scientific proof, you\u2019ll want to inflict your presence on the regulars as often as you can.<\/p>\n

1. You\u2019ve got a God-given right to come check it out. \u00a0<\/strong>The Catholic Church isn\u2019t just for people\u00a0like<\/em>\u00a0you, it\u2019s for\u00a0you<\/em>. \u00a0Come to Mass.<\/p>\n

\"File:Anbetung<\/a>
\nPieter Brueghel the Elder (1526\/1530\u20131569) [Public domain],<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve no doubt seen\u00a0Saturday Night Live\u2019s chillingly (hilariously) accurate tour of what you can expect at Mass this Christmas, but you might still be thinking,\u00a0Hmmn. \u00a0Is it really a good idea for someone like me to go to place like that? \u00a0With Jesus in it and stuff? The answer is yes. \u00a0Here are my top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,44,7,12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-qa","category-church-craziness","category-evangelization","category-liturgical-living","category-stick-that-corner"],"yoast_head":"\n10 Reasons It's Safe to Come to Mass this Christmas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You've no doubt seen\u00a0Saturday Night Live's chillingly (hilariously) accurate tour of what you can expect at Mass this Christmas, but you might still be\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"10 Reasons It's Safe to Come to Mass this Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You've no doubt seen\u00a0Saturday Night Live's chillingly (hilariously) accurate tour of what you can expect at Mass this Christmas, but you might still be\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sticking the Corners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-24T00:47:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/1\/14\/Anbetung_der_K%C3%B6nige_im_Schnee.jpg\/800px-Anbetung_der_K%C3%B6nige_im_Schnee.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Fitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Jennifer_Fitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Fitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/\",\"name\":\"10 Reasons It's Safe to Come to Mass this Christmas\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-12-24T00:47:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-24T00:47:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3\"},\"description\":\"You've no doubt seen\u00a0Saturday Night Live's chillingly (hilariously) accurate tour of what you can expect at Mass this Christmas, but you might still be\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"10 Reasons It’s Safe to Come to Mass this Christmas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\",\"name\":\"Sticking the Corners\",\"description\":\"Live it like you mean it.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Fitz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Fitz\"},\"description\":\"Jennifer Fitz is the mother of four fantabulous children, and author of Classroom Management for Catechists. She writes online for Patheos and for the Catholic Conspiracy. When she isn't blogging, teaching, or complaining about something, she likes to play outside.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jennifer_Fitz\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/author\/jenniferfitz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"10 Reasons It's Safe to Come to Mass this Christmas","description":"You've no doubt seen\u00a0Saturday Night Live's chillingly (hilariously) accurate tour of what you can expect at Mass this Christmas, but you might still be","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"10 Reasons It's Safe to Come to Mass this Christmas","og_description":"You've no doubt seen\u00a0Saturday Night Live's chillingly (hilariously) accurate tour of what you can expect at Mass this Christmas, but you might still be","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/","og_site_name":"Sticking the Corners","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/","article_published_time":"2014-12-24T00:47:26+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/1\/14\/Anbetung_der_K%C3%B6nige_im_Schnee.jpg\/800px-Anbetung_der_K%C3%B6nige_im_Schnee.jpg"}],"author":"Jennifer Fitz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Jennifer_Fitz","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Fitz","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/","name":"10 Reasons It's Safe to Come to Mass this Christmas","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-24T00:47:26+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-24T00:47:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3"},"description":"You've no doubt seen\u00a0Saturday Night Live's chillingly (hilariously) accurate tour of what you can expect at Mass this Christmas, but you might still be","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/2014\/12\/10-reasons-its-safe-to-come-to-mass-this-christmas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"10 Reasons It’s Safe to Come to Mass this Christmas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/","name":"Sticking the Corners","description":"Live it like you mean it.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3","name":"Jennifer Fitz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Fitz"},"description":"Jennifer Fitz is the mother of four fantabulous children, and author of Classroom Management for Catechists. She writes online for Patheos and for the Catholic Conspiracy. When she isn't blogging, teaching, or complaining about something, she likes to play outside.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jennifer_Fitz"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/author\/jenniferfitz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}