De La Salle senior Anthony Schena teams up with cathedral staff to organize Teen Summer Mass Series, featuring monthly themed Masses

DETROIT — Anthony Schena was attending Mass with his family at Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish in Grosse Pointe Woods when he noticed something odd.

There weren’t a lot of people his age at Mass.

So Schena, who just finished his junior year at De La Salle Collegiate in Warren, set out to do something about it — organize a Summer Mass Series for teens.

Schena hopes the Teen Summer Mass Series at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament will encourage teens from all over the Archdiocese of Detroit to gather, pray and socialize as they rediscover — or in some cases discover — their faith coming out of the pandemic.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed the parish I go to doesn’t have many kids who I went to school with at Star, or really kids in general, go to Mass,” Schena told Detroit Catholic. “I’m 16 years old, and it’s nice to get to know kids like me who have a good faith.”

The 11 a.m. Masses on June 27, July 18 and Aug. 29 will feature specific themes: Aloha, Christmas in July and Detroit sports, with accompanying readings and musical selections. Each Mass will be followed by food and fellowship in the cathedral plaza.

“Teens like having fun and having food,” Schena said. “There will be a snow cone truck and fellowship for one night, and we’ll have games and fun get-togethers for a brief amount of time after each of the Masses. The first one will be a Hawaiian theme, and for that, (participants) can wear Hawaiian shirts or a different form of attire to have fun and celebrate.”

Schena approached Fr. J.J. Mech, the cathedral’s rector, and the cathedral team about hosting the series, tapping into the Woodward Avenue parish’s role as “everybody’s second church” in the archdiocese.

“Anthony picked the themes,” said Christine Broses, pastoral associate at the cathedral. “For the Mass in July, which is centered around ‘Christmas in July,’ the Mass readings coincide with the shepherds and their journey to the manger. So we’ll be having Christmas music at the Mass. 

“We’re trying to have some fun, to make it something interesting for teens to bring them back to church. With COVID, we noticed a lot of young people have not returned to church as fast as the older crown has.”

After a contentious 2020, when public Masses, in-person school and various CYO summer programs were cancelled, Schena said many teens feel a sense of isolation and disconnection from their usual communities, so Masses geared toward young people can go a long way to restoring community.

“A lot of people in different ways were affected by the whole coronavirus pandemic, and a lot of people kind of lost their faith,” Schena said. “This can help those people get back to something more normal, something that is more entertaining. Maybe a kid who went to a CYO school missed out on a school event or a fun field trip because of the pandemic. Maybe at one of these Masses they can meet a kid their age who shares their faith.”

Schena testifies his family’s faith and connection to the Mass when public Masses resumed helped him get through the pandemic, and he wants to share that bedrock with others.

“Going to Mass definitely benefited me in giving me that quiet time to sit with God and reflect on what’s going on in my life with Jesus,” Schena said. “Sometimes I struggled with my faith in the pandemic. So getting back to Mass has really helped me; hopefully that will do the same for others.”

Broses sees the series as a way the cathedral can fulfill its role as being a central touchpoint for Catholics across the archdiocese, especially for young people.

“We are supposed to ‘Unleash the Gospel,’ reaching out and meeting people where they are,” Broses said. “We’re thinking if a teenager is looking at getting involved and taking the lead on something, we want to support that. Who would know better what teens want then a fellow teen? So we want to give him a chance try out this idea.”