As deadlines and midterms start to pile up, many Fairfield students may be saying their prayers.
How about Monday Night Mass, a service that is aimed directly at students and seems to be leaving those that attend with a little more hope than they may have had.
For 15 years now, Rev. Paul E. Carrier, S.J. has been running a Monday night mass aimed at Fairfield students. A mass that started out with a handful of people has become the most popular student mass offered on campus.
“Monday night mass is the perfect mass for students,” said Sarah LeBlanc ’04. “It’s a shorter mass, which caters toward a student’s busy schedule. It’s at a good time and can be a good study break and the homily always relates well to students.”
“I love the Monday night mass. It’s a great experience.” said Malena Boyle ’04. “I think the Catholic Church could learn a lesson from the way Father Carrier runs his masses. It’s always relatable to our lives. It is perfect for the young people of the church, and I think that’s what the church needs if it wants to bring the young people in.”
It is not just students on campus that have an appreciation for the approach the Jesuits here at Fairfield use. Many families that live here in Fairfield opt to come to campus for mass, as opposed to other local churches.
“I have had parents tell me that instead of dragging their kids to mass, their kids are running out of the house to come. What parent wouldn’t want that?” Carrier said.
Perhaps it’s the lit candles, or maybe the contemporary music that is played; music that is often heard on the radio, not in your local church. Success could also be attributed to the social aspect of the mass, a chance to catch up with those you may not have seen over the weekend, Carrier said.
But overall it seems to be the message of the mass that draws in students.
“It’s because people feel comfortable and people feel that something meaningful is being said. If you have to go, you want to go where it makes your life more meaningful,” said Carrier.
At a time when mass attendance on a weekly basis is much lower than in the past, student attendance here at Fairfield remains steady. Only 30 percent of all Catholics attend church on a weekly basis, according to Carrier. This number is drastically lower than it was in the sixties, when attendance on a weekly basis was around 70 percent.
Carrier believes that the lowering number in Catholic attendance could be because people act like their neighbors. They start sleeping in on Sundays, missing mass.
“Father Carrier says in every mass, ‘if God is for us, who could ever be against us?’,” said Courtney Cleary ’04. “It’s comforting to know that there are other people on our campus who want to reach out to other people, and at mass you realize that just by saying hi you can make someone’s day. It gives me a real sense of community. “
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