That’s a great question and I’d love to know the answer.
I know I’d have the tendency to sleep in, veg out and maybe play with the dog. I’m sure parents spend more time with their kids (I hope) and maybe they teach them a bit about what it means to be a human person of integrity.
Paul Snatchko took up this question the other day on Patheos and had some insightful things to say including this panacea for the problem:
But, for the Church to thrive everywhere in coming years, a case should be made to Catholics who have stopped practicing their faith. Regular Mass-goers need tell their family members and friends about the power of prayer and the sacraments. Church leaders need to regain the credibility that has been lost.
We must let the Holy Spirit work through us — to be, as one homilist said, “fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium.”
We must show the world that Sundays can be about more than sleeping in.
I would agree. However, I would also say that the performance of ritual might also play a role here. Do we give care to the mass? Are our lectors story-tellers who make the word come alive (Including our Gospel-readers, priests and deacons…)? Do we really offer something of ourselves at the offertory (maybe taking 10% of our collections each week for a particular cause and then also committing 10% of our time to it as a community)? Do we stand together as one body after communion–not just adoring the Eucharist individually but showing our collective belief in Jesus together?
Are our homilies interesting and engaging as well as theologically sound, revealing timeless wisdom? Do we give our feedback to our priests and deacons about how they are and are not speaking to our experience?
If we can’t think about how we are giving people the best experience for the one hour a week that they might think about interacting with us–then we shouldn’t have any expectations about the other 2/3 showing up at all and perhaps we shouldn’t have expectations about the 1/3 that presently comes by staying for a bit longer to get more involved.