Being Christ to the un -Evangelized at Mass
I have a tough time with this. Today, at my home parish usual 9:00 Mass we had a baptism. My family was sitting in our usual spot near the front. Directly in front of us was the family of the infant being baptized. As usual several members of the family showed signs that probably aren't regular Mass attendees.
In today's case, 4 younger adults (20 somethings) were right in front of us. One young man was wearing a very tall spiked mohawk, and those 1/2 inch ear piercing holes. 2 young ladies with some sort of eastern / asian style tatoos, and anothrer young man that looked like what we in PDX call a "hipster." These 4 were whispering much of the time, snickering on occasion, 3 of them were chewing gum. They didn't show any sign of interest or participation in what was happening. They seemed to be trying to be respectful in the sense that they at least knew not to be loud - If I'd been a few pews back or on the other side, I wouldn't have notieced.
I particularly noticed that they actually payed not attention during the baptism (which was presumably the only reason they were there), and that they seemed almost to make a point of not responding to the renewal of baptismal vows (I was close enough to hear).
Now, my dilemna really doesn't have much to do with any of "what they did." I want to be judgemental, and feel a little superior. I'd like to be self-rightous. I thought of approaching them and asking them a pointed question, or lecturing them. Only by God's grace was I able to ask for Charity and to pray for them. Then I was able to see that maybe, just maybe being here today will be a small spark that brings them back to the Church (at least 3 of them probably were Catholic - the went to communion anyway). Anything I said to them was unlikely to help, and might be one more thing that pushed them (or they used as an excuse) away from the Church.
So how do we evangelize people who are Catholic and who are at Mass, but who don't seem to know about the Gospel or the Eucharist?