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Can anyone tell me about the Catholic churches in the Charlotte area? We are fairly new to the area. I've attended St. Matthews in Ballantyne but it seems really big. Ideally, I'd love something a little bit smaller, with a good children's program where the kids can go to Sunday school during mass. Is there anything like that in the area? Any big difference amongst the Catholic churches in the area? Thanks!
Since Catholicism is the 2nd-largest denomination in Charlotte, you'll be hard-pressed to find a small church, but...
I loved St. Philip Neri in Fort Mill. It's a wonderful community and I was a Sunday School teacher there. I believe they have changed the schedule so kids can go to faith formation while Mass is going on. (For the record, I object strenuously to this - If you want to raise your child in the Church, children need to attend church in addition to their religious education)
We attend St. Matthews and during the 9 and 10:45 AM masses they do have a session for the K-2 kids, just during part of the Mass, for them to learn a little about the readings at their level. Faith Formation is on the weekdays. They also have a nursery during these masses, which frankly worked very well with my 2 year old last Sunday, who simply does not sit still or get anything out of the mass right now.
I don't know of many other Catholic churches in the area.
Thank you for all your responses. I will check out the different churches. I also agree that children should be part of mass, learning how to sit and listen, but on the other hand, my 2 year old is easily distracted and not quite ready to sit the whole time and I hate him disturbing others who are trying to listen!
We attend St Gabe's and really like it. They have quite a lot of Masses (Sat night, 4 Sun morning and one Sun night, plus several Spanish Masses), so if you prefer a smaller congregation you can always attend a less crowded Mass. Also, the parish is split into many "clusters" based on home address, and many of the social activities and groups are within your cluster. This encourages smaller communities within the parish, if you find the size of the parish intimidating. We aren't active within our cluster, but then again we don't have kids (you don't have to have kids; it just seems that most people do).
St Gabe's is a fairly young parish, probably due to the attached school. Lots of young families. In fact, my husband and I avoid the 9 am Mass on Sundays because there are just TOO many kids!
I also agree that children should be part of mass, learning how to sit and listen, but on the other hand, my 2 year old is easily distracted and not quite ready to sit the whole time and I hate him disturbing others who are trying to listen!
God never said a child should not attend mass. If he can be quiet and still for an hour, you have him/her better controlled than any of our kids.
God never said a child should not attend mass. If he can be quiet and still for an hour, you have him/her better controlled than any of our kids.
At our church in Ohio they had a soundproof room for parents w/ noisy children to sit in and the Mass was piped in thru a speaker. Lol.
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