Ash Wednesday prayer service/Mass attendance

  • Thread starter Thread starter CatholicZ09
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

CatholicZ09

Guest
I’m curious to know how the attendance was at your parish’s prayer service/Masses for Ash Wednesday? I went to the 6:30 Mass this evening, and it was pretty filled. Probably equivalent to a Sunday Mass.
 
7:00 PM Mass with full choir was in overflow. We had people in the balconies which happens rarely except at Christmas and Easter. Put tonight’s attendance down to its being the only service most folks could get to.

deBoisvert
 
At the parish I go to there is a 8:30 A.M. Mass, 5:00 P.M. Mass, and then a 7:00 P.M. Service of Ashes only, no communion. The 8:30 is moderately busy, the 5:00 P.M. is the busiest, and the Service of Ashes has a pretty low attendance with numerous rows of pews empty. This is about how it plays out every year at my parish.
 
7am mass was packed! Attendance was similar to or even more than a Sunday mass. They didn’t have anyone directing traffic, so it took 30 mins to get out of the parking lot. Total disorganization and people honking at each other. :eek: I prayed my rosary until the crowd thinned out. :gopray2:
 
6:30 P.M. was packed! All the pews were packed and the overflow crowd
was shoulder to shoulder in the back near the baptismal font. It was a great
service tho. This was my 1st ash wednesday so it was new to me but i enjoyed it.
 
7:00 PM Stations of the Cross & Ashes was just as full as a Sunday Mass.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I’m curious to know how the attendance was at your parish’s prayer service/Masses for Ash Wednesday? I went to the 6:30 Mass this evening, and it was pretty filled. Probably equivalent to a Sunday Mass.
Click to expand...
I went to 6:30 as well and it was packed! Maybe we were at the same church.
 
i went to 530 pm mass.it was packed like sardines,SRO even in the balcony.just before leaving i saw fleet of vehicles ingressing for 7pm service .im sure it will be as packed as 530,as the traffic was enormous.it took me at least 20 mins leave my parking space.may be some catholics are returning to the fold,francis effect!
 
4:15 pm, the only day the parish has a Mass at this time, scheduled so the children in after school religion classes can attend…but apparently no one clued in the new religuous ed director as the children never showed up.🤷 Other Masses were at 8:00 am and 7:00 pm, the same as on holydays. About 800 in attendance at 4:15 compares to 1000 at the most popular of our four weekend Masses. Many, many unfamilar faces. Approaching to receive ashes was the same as our normal communion procedure and again a lot of folks were obvously unfamilar with it.
 
5:30 p.m. was packed–people overflowed into the lobby. The parking lot was awful–so much snow and ice took away a lot of the parking spaces. :(. I came 20 minutes early and got one of the last spaces in the lot, way in the back.

Several years ago, I read an article from a Calvin College paper saying that Ash Wednesday is the most popular day for Christians of all denominations and flavors to attend church. I know this is true at work–people that have never ever talked about church were talking about where they were going to receive ashes. We had a priest at work distributing ashes (a hospital).

And lots of the Protestant churches, including Evangelical Protestant churches, in our city, advertised distribution of ashes.

My favorite actor had a picture of himself on twitter with his ashes! Coolest picture I’ve ever seen of him, especially since he lives it in his off-screen life.
 
I often wonder what the attraction to ashes is? Many of those who come do not attend Mass on a regular basis and I assume a good number do not go to confession. Perhaps it is the fact that wearing ashes is their way of admitting they are sinners, but how many are willing to take the step to change their lives?

I think preachers have a great opportunity on Ash Wednesday to pull out all the stops and give dynamic homilies that might inspire people to come back on Sundays. Yet so often we hear the same old drab thing about what we have to do during Lent, or even chastising those who only come for ashes (and leave right after not staying for communion).

Ash Wednesday would be a great time for evangelizing those who come. Perhaps with a handout about the parish, or devotional material for adults and children.

But I still go back to the question, why do they come? What is it they are looking for? I think I am going to pose that question at our next staff meeting.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I’m curious to know how the attendance was at your parish’s prayer service/Masses for Ash Wednesday? I went to the 6:30 Mass this evening, and it was pretty filled. Probably equivalent to a Sunday Mass.
Click to expand...
 
I went to noon Mass at a parish near work. It was full, but no standing, so there were seats for everyone.

My wife went to noon Mass at our home parish, at it was about normal for a Sunday Mass. I guess the 7:00pm evening Mass was packed.
 
The 9:00 am Mass was packed. Although all the students from the school also attended and they take up a fair bit of room.
 
7:30 Mass. Overflow crowd (but that is relatively normal).

Bi-lingual.

(BTW, if any priests are reading this…don’t do bi-lingual liturgies. They generally don’t work. Please, just do English, Chinese, Spanish, or Latin…as long as you read the black and do the red, I’ll figure it out – whichever language)

I heard some great news!

I don’t have to abstain from meat on Fridays! Woo-hoo!

(kidding, I know the priest misspoke)

I also found out that Ash Wednesday was a feast day! Imagine that! Woo-Hoo!
 
5:30 had more people than any two Sunday Masses – and more youth than (almost literally) a month of Sundays. Wish we saw them more often.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top