At the Catholic churches in my area (the ones I am most familiar with since I have to ‘volunteer’ for said activities), kids are only expected to sit through the boring parts of Mass once they hit middle school.
Before that, they’re taken out or downstairs for the ‘Children’s Mass’ (don’t know the real name), which is more arts & crafts combined with colorful pamphlets and story telling. In summers, a lot of them attend ‘Vacation Bible School’ which is the Children’s Mass writ large and with outdoors activities. Teenagers get to go to ‘Youth Ministry’ events, which are heavy on hanging out, music, and that sort of thing (the most loyal getting to go to a big festival thing in Massachusetts or somewhere) - the events are a lot more popular than one might expect.
Judging from the videos produced by the diocese, they seem very pleased with the programs’ success with young people and retention.
At the Catholic churches in my area (the ones I am most familiar with since I have to ‘volunteer’ for said activities), kids are only expected to sit through the boring parts of Mass once they hit middle school.
Before that, they’re taken out or downstairs for the ‘Children’s Mass’ (don’t know the real name), which is more arts & crafts combined with colorful pamphlets and story telling. In summers, a lot of them attend ‘Vacation Bible School’ which is the Children’s Mass writ large and with outdoors activities. Teenagers get to go to ‘Youth Ministry’ events, which are heavy on hanging out, music, and that sort of thing (the most loyal getting to go to a big festival thing in Massachusetts or somewhere) - the events are a lot more popular than one might expect.
Judging from the videos produced by the diocese, they seem very pleased with the programs’ success with young people and retention.