Easter at the Catholic Church across the Street - Current Events

[MineralMan]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the General Discussion forum).

Today was a good day to stay home. Predictably, the large Catholic Church across the street from our townhome was extraordinarily busy today. They added a 6 AM sunrise mass to the schedule, along with their normal 8:30 AM and 10:30 AM masses. Unlike most Sundays, the parking lot was full to overflowing for all three services and traffic on the big arterial street next to our house got very backed up.

I guess the folks in the congregation wanted to make sure Jesus and their priest saw them going to church on Easter Sunday or something. It's never that crowded on any other Sunday. Go figure.

I'm sure similar things happened at the hundreds of other churches in the Twin Cities area. People come out of the woodwork to attend services on that particular Sunday. I've always found that odd in some way, really.

[WarGamer]

1. Ummm yeah, Easter Sunday and Christmas Eve mass tend to be the most attended.

[AllaN01Bear]

6. our bylaws state twice a year makes u a member in good standing.

[captain queeg]

2. Grew up catholic. Easter and Christmas you always get a big turnout.

[Ocelot II]

3. Christmas and Easter are when the churches are busy,

which I guess makes sense, since theologically those are the major events for the Christian churches. There is a big Lutheran church in my neighborhood, and when I went for my usual walk this morning I saw that the parking lot was full and cars were parked all along the surrounding streets. I expected that, but what was more interesting was that the church's lawn was strewn with dozens of colored eggs. I suppose they were going to have an egg hunt after the last service - even though the weather is windy and cold and decidedly un-Easter-ish.

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. I grew up Episcopalian

We call people like that "Keasters".

[keep_left]

7. Yep. Catholics call them "C&E Christians". Probably that's true...

...for other denominations as well, but I hear it most from Catholics.

[Sympthsical]

5. I don't see how it's odd.

Just as I have Jewish friends who only bother about Hannukah or Passover or Muslim friends who take Ramadan about as seriously as Catholics take Lent. "No chocolate for me! The sacrifice, hahahaha!"

Some people are more devout than others.

Not much odd in it. As a former Catholic, it has always been thus. Maybe people work or are busy with family or what have you. But they make that extra effort on the major days because it's important to them.

I know people who talk politics all day everyday and barely leave the house. It's important to them, but apparently only so important.

People make their choices.

As a former Catholic, I celebrated by making waffles. Usually it's just protein shake or maybe scrambled eggs. But, it's a holiday. So, 15 minute effort with the waffle maker. See? Special day.

[marie999]

9. Our synagogue when I was growing up had over 500 people for Rosh Hashanah

and Yom Kippur and about 25 men and boys on the Sabbath. The Baptist church we go to now is always full. All the churches around me have big congregations. Since my husband and I are Jewish they expect us to answer all the questions about our Bible. It started with a question from one of the congregation, he wanted to know why Abraham did not have to sacrifice his son but Jephthah has to sacrifice his daughter. Our daughter-in-law had to pipe up and tell the pastor that we were Jewish and my husband could answer that.

[Sympthsical]

10. That sounds about exactly right

I had a somewhat similar experience. Growing up Catholic, my parents tried, and it was a bit crowded when I was a child. Over time, you'd see less and less people going to mass. Eventually my parents gave up with us kids. They'd go on their own, then they trickled down. But the holy days were always, always a required family thing. Easter, Christmas, Ash Wednesday, etc. I think there was an Ascension in there. By my twenties, whenever I was in town and went on a random Sunday with my mom, there were maybe two dozen people in there for mass.

Then their suburb started shifting from 99.9999% white of the 80s and 90s to about 50/50 Latino.

Crazy packed on Sundays. You could tell from the traffic alone. It looked how it did when I was a young child. Some masses were standing room only. At my father's funeral some years back, there were a bunch of Latino parishioners filling up about five rows in back. We had no idea who they were. They were there for the funeral and the mass. They were incredibly kind and nice people.

Some people take their faith more seriously than others depending on the culture. My best friend growing up was Baptist, which was considered unusual. I went with his family a few times, and those people were just absolutely hard core. Church was the entire Sunday. You had the service, then a Bible class for kids, music, food, socializing.

Seriously some of the most boring days of my life. But those people did not mess around. They'd even try to convert me by asking about my Catholicism. Good thing my father never found out. It would not have gone well.

[marie999]

17. Our service last 1 1/2 hours unless someone at the end needs to testify. Groan

[ChazII]

15. When it comes to Jeptha I

go with the school of thought that she lived but remained a virgin.

[ForgedCrank]

8. What is odd

about it to you?

[MineralMan]

12. Well, I've been an atheist for almost 60 years.

Before that, as a young guy, I was a churchgoer. I was there every Sunday, and at choir practice on Thursday. I sang in the youth choir and the adult choir both, so I was almost always at two services every Sunday. I was a pretty devout young Christian, I suppose.

What's odd to me is people who only attend services on high holy days. Christmas and Easter in most denominations. I thought it was odd back when I was a churchgoer, too. I couldn't understand being a "believer," but only participating a couple of times a year.

Of course, as an atheist, I don't attend any church services any longer. Oh, I'll go to the odd wedding or funeral at a church, but it's no longer part of my regular life. I no longer believe any of it, so why would I go? But, if you do believe, why would you not go? That's what's odd to me.

[ForgedCrank]

24. While there are

some who only go on a day like this, the majority show up in much higher numbers because of special services on special days like this.
Some Catholics go on Wed, some on Saturday, some on Sunday. When there's a special Sunday service for the holiday, they all show up at once, not all that odd really.
And just like any following, there are some fake people. It's just a part of it when humans are involved. That isn't for us to judge, however. We behave like proper Christians and let God himself sort out those types. Churches in general don't make a habit of telling anyone they can't come to church for that very reason. Yes, there are some exceptions, but it's rather rare.
I'd also like to add that regularly going to church isn't something that is required of a Christian. Myself, I don't attend church on a regular schedule. It's a personal relationship, and church is mainly for socialization and learning. There are some churches out there that may require it, but those have bowed to the rules of men rather than following God and his word. The various Amish splits are an example. I don't openly call them bad Christians though, that's not my place and I don't believe they are bad Christians, I just think they've over-complicated things and it's not my cup of tea. I know a lot of them and they are very good people, salt of the earth types. The Beachy that I know well tend to mostly agree with my assessment of Christianity. So just because I only go to church on occasion does not diminish my solid beliefs and I would say the same for others.

[ForgedCrank]

25. Oh, and if

I can add one more thing, I would like to thank you for not bashing. It's really hurtful to read what a lot of people here say about Christians. I won't get into what I think of those types, but at least you didn't do it. We are supposed to be the inclusive types, not the bullies. So thank you for that.

[erronis]

11. Not many other opportunities to wear that silly frippery and dress up the kids in stuff

they wouldn't be caught in any other time of the year (except for a funeral, perhaps.)

[MineralMan]

13. I suppose that being a holiday Christian is something.

I don't quite understand that kind of thinking, though. Show up a couple of times a year, drop a $20 in the collection plate and you can say you're a Christian, I guess. Makes little sense to me.

[No Vested Interest]

14. I was one of those who made the extra effort to get to Mass today, and so grateful I could.

Between the pandemic and my own aging and deteriorating health, Mass attendance just often doesn't work for me anymore, though I have willingly attended weekly throughout my 80+ years. It is a choice I have made to live as a faithful Catholic.
If I had not able to attend today, due to insomnia, which makes it unsafe for me to drive, or due to poor weather, which I tolerate less and less with age, I would have felt a subtle disappointment, similar to so much of what I now experience daily as life experiences contract little by little for me.

But I had a good enough night's sleep to get up and pull myself together sufficiently to drive to a nearby parish that has a noon Mass, and to be with people unknown to me personally but with whom I share a faith and a lifetime experience of worship. The priest did not see or notice me, and I only saw a few persons I recognize out of the perhaps 200-300 there. I did notice that people were not dressed in celebratory clothes as was usual when I and my children were growing up. Everyday dress was the norm.

So now I feel a subtle exuberance as I wait for my adult children to come to prepare and serve the Easter meal we have ordered, our familiar nod to our traditions and memories of the happy days we enjoyed together on holidays when our family was whole and in one place.
It's alright that others do not celebrate our holiday. Each family is unique and makes its own traditions one way or another.
I did not go to be seen by a priest; Jesus knows my intents, whether I'm at Mass or not, as well as the reasons.

[Elessar Zappa]

16. My mom is Catholic and only goes to the Easter and Christmas services.

She doesn’t believe going to church makes you a better Christian but enjoys the pageantry of the holiday services. Probably a lot of people have that mindset.

[MineralMan]

18. Well, who am I to dispute that, after all?

[Elessar Zappa]

19. There's also probably also people

that feel like they’ll go to heaven as long as they go on “big” days. Whatever, I’m an agnostic so I skip it all.

[MineralMan]

22. Yes. I'm an atheist, so none of it makes much sense to me.

[BlackSkimmer]

21. This. A friend of mine is Catholic.

As she’s gotten older she doesn’t make it every Sunday, but loves the special holidays.

She’s been afraid to attend anything during the pandemic, but she decided to go back today. I think many have stayed away during the pandemic.

I’m not in the least religious, but I sure don’t judge how others practice their religions.

[ymetca]

20. I was an altar boy

way back when, in the dead-end Sixties.

I always got the funerals, because I didn't "cut up" like most of the others. You can't fidget at funerals!

My priest was a Pole, who fled that country as an orphan child during WWII. Whatever the parish gave him, he gave away - like a big, nice recliner rocker. When later he was asked where it went, he just said that someone else in the parish needed it more.

Then I got the sunrise Mass job five days a week. Had to literally unlock the church and turn the heat on, otherwise Father G. would know I was late, if the church was still cold when he showed up!

At those Masses, only a handful of folks would show up, mostly women. The mother of one of my best friends was always there. I learned later on in life that her husband was a terrible alcoholic and beat her and their kids.

The Sixties were a turbulent time for the Church, and unfortunately it has lurched backwards, with all the cover ups, crimes, and the just plain greed. Father G., thankfully, never had to witness it.

Decades after leaving the Church, I was in Italy and went into a Mass one evening, and even though it was all in Italian, I still knew every part of the process, like it was etched in stone into my memory. I felt strangely reassured, and yet, at the same time the feeling that you can't go home again.

[BrightKnight]

23. A lot of people in my Episcopal Church are returning to in person

services. It did not happen exactly with Easter but I think it was the turning point for many. People are ready for normal religious life to return.

Zoom is still an option but people want real life.

[shrike3]

26. Nothing new

They're called "Poinsettias and Lilies" Catholics. Attend Christmas and Easter masses. Been around since I was a kid.

[Omaha Steve]

27. After a review by forum hosts....LOCKING

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