What happens when kids feel guilty because they don't go to Mass enough?

This afternoon, I fielded a question from one of our young people - she asked, "What should I do when I feel guilty because I don't go to Mass enough because of all my activities?" Well, the short, albeit, not so easy answer is to pick and choose what activities are truly important and make some decisions about what activities to continue or discontinue.

This question came out of a discussion the group of 5-8th graders were having about the Parable of the Vine and the Branches. We talked about how Jesus wants us to be connected to him, and that if we are, we will bear "good fruit" but sometimes, we need to "prune" away things that keep us from him.

The fact that she recognizes that her activities are keeping her from Church and that she is feeling a bit guilty about it is good, but hard to face when you're in middle school and facing all the pressures of school and home life. What I wished I would have thought of in the minute was to tell her to have a conversation about her feelings with her family and see if they can come up with any solutions. What I did tell her in the moment, was to talk to Fr. Craig or another priest about it (perhaps in Confession) to see if they could brainstorm an answer together. What I suspect would happen is that the priest would point her back to her family to have that conversation.

What struck me about this discussion was that it was initiated by a young person! So good for her!