Marist High School is a Catholic school, and it should be a place that shows love towards God.
However, student participation at mass is at an all-time low.

“It is supposed to be a time where we all come together as a school and worship God, but it gets
a little boring sometimes. It is hard for students to pay attention for that long,” said freshman
Eddie Dougherty.

Father Tom Hurley has voiced that the problem may be that Marist doesn’t have enough school
masses.

“Many of our students don’t attend mass with much regularity so that makes participation at our
school liturgies even more challenging,” said Hurley. “If we want great teams, we require the student-athletes to attend practice. Likewise, if we want a good solid Church, then we need to practice more.”

Hurley also says music might be why the masses seem boring to some students. Also, the lack of
faculty response does not help the students either.

“I also believe the faculty needs to help us by encouraging students to participate. If the adults
don’t respond, neither will the students,” said Hurley.

“Ideally, I would like to see students become more involved in the mass or even just see them
participate in prayer. I would like to see them focus on mass, not just staying quiet, so they don’t
get yelled at by teachers,” said Mr. Brennan.

Hurley says there could be a couple of solutions to helping students focus more on mass.

“I think we need to continue improving our choir and song selections. We need to have more
young men in the choir so that the entire student body sees the mix of girls and boys singing in
the choir,” said Hurley.

Dougherty also believes that the school masses are too long.

“I feel like it should be a little bit shorter, and people agree, saying that they think it should be shorter, too,” said Dougherty.

Finding a way to encourage more active participation could be a key to help students grow in faith.