Anyone attend church outside the US?

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Adamek

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Do you now or have you attended church in any European country (I will ask about other continents later) during the last 5 years? Have you met the clergy? What are your impressions?
I am not looking for anything in particular. Just asking a general question.
Just for background info: I have been blessed with opportunities to visit Italy and some other places. I did manage to attend mass at a few churches, but not enough to get the feel for what the European church is really like.
Looking forward to your answers. 😃
 
We attended mass at Westminster Cathedral a couple of summers ago. We walked in and were asked to bring up the gifts. We’d never done that before, but we did then! The mass was beautiful and was my only experience being at mass with a bishop presiding.
 
Rome, Florence, London, Edinburgh, also of course, my own country in Australia.
An amazing “significant birthday” gift from my sons and their wives was a trip to the above destinations.
I have gone to Mass in the US also, when one of my sons lived and worked there.
Regardless of language and environment, the Mass was always “home”.

The Masses in the United States had particular poignancy as I was there for a month at the time America was deep in shock, suffering the seismic change caused bu the events of September 11 in 2001.
I was getting ready to walk to daily Mass when my daughter-in-law came white faced to my room and called me to the TV.

I experienced the amazing spirit of my 7 year old grandson, going to a government school and not being raised Catholic.
As we called into the chapel halfway to his home my grandson said: “Grandma, this statue is for children, he said as he paused by a statue of a child in honor of aborted children, “this statue is for children. Can we please pray for the children on the planes.”
He was silent as we walked the remainder of the way home. Then my precious grandson said softly: Grandma, sometimes people do terrible things. If they’re really sorry, they can still go to heaven.”

He never mentioned the terrible event again, except to say, “I’m glad Grandpa wasn’t on one of the planes. ——‘s Grandpa was”
That beautiful boy only gathered lots of scrap computer pages and drew lots of windows, then taped the pages into towers, then he drew stores like target on the base, and said he was a scientist working for mankind in a basement of of of the towers.

People caring as The Lords Prayer was recited durin Mass.
Comforting weeping mothers with little children, afraid for the future, praying in their parish prayer groups after Mass.
My memories of American Catholics in Mass and devotion is deep in my memory and heart.
 
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We walked there from our hotel. I don’t recall if it was next to Victoria Station.
 
I have attended mass in Poland and Germany (SSPX and diocesan) as well as in Dutch Sint Maarten, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The priests there are just like priests anywhere else.
 
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Italy, France, Spain, UK, South Korea. Other than South Korea, almost always in monastic settings.
 
@Adamek @Convert3

Having been to Westminster Cathedral many times, I can confirm that it is a few minutes’ walk from Victoria railway station. It is more or less directly across the street from one of the many entrances to/exits from Victoria tube station. There is a good bookshop, St Paul’s, next door.
 
Yes…very recently I’ve attended mass in Ireland and France. I’ve attended mass several times in Ireland. I have many relatives there. My impressions have been overwhelming positive. In Ireland often the priests and Deacons would speak to my family or attend our lunches or whatnot.

As for attending mass in Ireland, in some ways it is very similar to attending mass in the US. It takes a few days near Dublin to pick up the accent and several weeks to pick up the accent up North. The big difference in Ireland is that the churches are far from packed likely due to the abuse crisis in Ireland. You’ll have a huge church that could sit 500, and you’ll have 80 people there at an 11am mass on Sunday. In some of the churches I go to in the US, you’ll have trouble finding a seat. That’s the biggest difference for Ireland.
 
I have attended weekday masses in Florence’s majestic churches, with about a dozen people there. About half of them were random tourists like myself. (backpacks and all)
 
Attended in Italy recently (not very touristic area). Compared with Mass in US people are less stiff (nobody is shy about shaking hands at the sign of peace or is having a meltdown if somebody sneezed) but a bit unruly (lines for Communion are like a traffic jam with people getting in the line when they feel like it, with no precise order) and at the end very few people are staying for the song after the final blessing. No coffee and donuts or priest greeting at the door (some people will definitely socialize after church in a bar for coffee or aperitivo). Probably more little children in US but this just reflects the demographic trend. Concept of cry room unknown. Mass times also different, in midsized/big cities you can easily find Sunday Masses as late as 7 pm or 9pm; very uncommon to have Sunday Mass at noon or 1 pm (common in my area in US). Daily Mass at 5pm or 6 pm more common than Mass at lunch break (very popular in US at least where I live).
 
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Yes several European countries.The Church buildings look/feel older more majestic. There are cultural influences of course. In Spain people tend to hold hands and receive on the tongue. And usually a nun with beautiful voice sings. They seem to have no shortage of those. In Germany there was no collection because Catholics get taxed directly I was told. In Italy there seem to be saint relics in every church, which is special.
 
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I went to Westminster Cathedral myself last August. I was visiting on a Tuesday morning and happened to walk right into the communion line when I arrived! Having just confessed two days earlier, I joined the line and received the Eucharist. The mass was in Latin, and when I knelt on the floor, the priest said “Corpus Christi” and gave me the host. Otherwise, the rest of the mass was just like what we have in the states, just in Latin. It was a beautiful experience.
 
Adamek said:
Ok. What about attendance? Were the services well attended? Young vs. old? Were they mostly families?
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Poland: regular Sunday Mass, standing room only or close enough to it, mix of ages and families/single people, have also attended Saturday evening Mass in Warsaw. At the time (1992) Saturday anticipated Mass was only to be attended by people who couldn’t make it to Mass on Sunday, they treated it as an exception that can only be made for good reason, otherwise you are expected to go to Mass on Sunday. I think it was very sparsely attended, apparently for that reason. I have also been to weekday Mass in Poland, not nearly as many people attend. I have attended Mass quite a few times in Poland.

Germany: (1) SSPX Mass (1990), chapel was about half full, I don’t recall the demographics. I attended Mass with an SSPX couple who were friends of mine (stationed at Darmstadt) and their family, I was their overnight house guest. (2) Regular diocesan Mass at Frankfurt airport, just a few travelers in attendance, small chapel. (3) Sunday Mass in Aachen at the cathedral (Dom Aachen), not many people, I think it was mostly individuals, I got there late (it is hard to pin down times for Mass at places like that). The usher was incredulous that an obvious foreign tourist (my German is very basic) would actually come to attend Mass, told me they weren’t doing tours while Mass was going on, I told him I wasn’t there for the tour, I was there for Mass.

Sint Maarten: weekday OF Mass at the main church in Phillipsburg, in English, 20-30 people were there, I didn’t notice any families. The music was typical church music with a Caribbean lilt to it, delightful.

I have also attended Mass in Canada, once in Montreal at the church down by the waterfront (French, probably Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, 1992), another time in Toronto at the Polish-language church near Roncesvalles Avenue (probably St Casimir’s, that’s been over 25 years ago, I don’t recall). The Montreal trip was solo and I don’t recall the demographics. We were visiting friends in Toronto and I have to think it was your typical mix of families and singles.
 
I’m an MC in a large parish on the outskirts of London. Here’s a link to our website which also includes recordings of our Sunday Masses. http://saintedmunds.net You may find that the home page is slow to load in the US.

I often go to Mass in Italy where congregations tend to be small but enthusiastic. I once went to an English language Mass in a basement room under the Presbytery of a church in Vienna. The priest was Irish and most of the congregation was American. I was surprised at how slowly they gave the responses.

Last year, I went to an interesting Mass in Ravenna, Italy. As I approached the church, I tagged on behind a pilgrimage party who, it subsequently turned out, were from Austria. They all sat together on one side of the church. I joined the Italians on the other side. After one of the party announced who they were, Mass continued in Italian celebrated by an Italian priest with an Austrian priest concelebrating. The Austrians sang the Gloria and Sanctus in German (Schubert). When it was time for Holy Communion, I went to the Austrian priest who addressed me in Latin. It’s nice to know you are a member of a Universal Church.

On another occasion, I went to Mass at the Cathedral in Koper, Slovenia. Mass was in Slovenian, but after praying the Lord’s Prayer, it was repeated in Italian and I joined in. Then when we got to the peace, all the Italians in the congregation enthusiastically came over and shook my hand.
 
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