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Mass on the Grass

 


On clear and even cloudy Sundays, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Long Beach, California, conducts a “Mass on the Grass” at 8:30 a.m. on the school’s playing field. Attendees bring their own collapsible seats, walkers and wheelchairs.

It is a spiritual picnic of sorts, with the pastor Msgr. Kevin Kostelnik celebrates the Mass on a makeshift altar facing east, with either of the two deacons, Tom Halliwell and Shane Cuda, and singers led by music director Vivian Doughty, chanting amplified hymns. The Mass that reenacts the Crucifiction of Christ culminates with the faithful, queuing before ministers deployed in the field with chalices of consecrated hosts, to receive a wafer that they believe embodies the risen Christ.

I first started going to the “Mass on the Grass'” during the pandemic, where it was easy to keep your distance on the lawn from others wearing masks. Ever since the mask mandate was lifted, I continued attending and came to observe my feelings about the ritual and the behavior of the participants—the whole aura of the Mass itself. What struck me recently was how women outnumbered the male attendees.

According to new research in Jama Internal Medicine published on November 13, 2023, life expectancy among U.S. men is 73.2 years, compared to 79.1 years among women. Across the world, women tend to live longer than men for a variety of reasons, some biological—such as hormonal differences—and some behavioral.

While it’s facile to conclude this longevity disparity is the reason why more women are attending mass than men, I recalled another study also published in JAMA Internal Medicine in 2016 that may offer another explanation: women who attended religious services more than once per week were more than 30% less likely to die during a 16-year-follow-up than women who never attended. Frequent attendees also had significantly lower risk from cardiovascular-and-cancer-related mortality.

“The results suggest that there may be something important about religious service attendance beyond solitary spirituality,” said Tyler VanderWeele, professor of epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School and senior author of the study. “Part of the benefit seems to be that attending religious services increases social support, discourages smoking, decreases depression, and helps people develop a more optimistic outlook on life.”

The researchers looked at data from 1992-2012 from 74,534 women who participated in the Nurses’ Health Study. (No males participated in the study.) The women answered questionnaires about their diet, lifestyle, and health every two years, and about their religious attendance every four. The researchers adjusted for a variety of factors, including diet, physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking status, body mass index, social integration, depression, race and ethnicity.

The study theorized on the importance of religious service attendance beyond solitary spirituality. Unlike attending a sports game or political rally, where your energy flows outward, attending Mass forces you to pay attention to the set prayers addressed to the Almighty, the scripture readings, and the pastor’s homily that may elaborate a gospel truth or a parable of Jesus. In effect, the Mass becomes a powerful communal prayer that unites the faithful and makes you look deep into your heart. You already have faith, perhaps you'll find hope, strength in your love for your family, and forgiveness for one who’s done you wrong.

St. Joseph’s “Mass on the Grass,” a festive event, sheds light on the social and spiritual support that the Mass provides. Families bring their children, some with babies, greeting friends and acquaintances with hugs and kisses. Many plan Sunday brunches at their favorite restaurants. Strangers greet others with a nod and, at a certain point in the Mass, turn to one another, shake hands, and say, “Peace be with you.”

What a hopeful and uplifting day to start a new week or, perhaps, a new and longer life.

oOo

Photo Credit: Fauzan Saari / Unsplash / https://tinyurl.com/56tn9vc6

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