Did anyone visit seven (or so) churches on Holy Thursday night?

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I managed to make it to five churches last night. I love this tradition in the Church. Did anyone else partake?
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I managed to make it to five churches last night. I love this tradition in the Church. Did anyone else partake?
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I love this tradition too! As a child my grandmother always use to take me to the seven churches and we did together well into adulthood. This year I was unable to do it and I was so sad :’( it is great that you were able to do it!!
 
Sounds like a great idea, but it’s a little easier to do in Rome, where there is a church on nearly every block. 🙂
 
I used to do this every year, but alas, my toddler is not a sport. She almost made it through Mass though!
 
Did this walking on Holy Saturday when I lived in the Boston suburbs as a youth, today in the Denver suburbs it would require significant driving to do so, assuming the churches were not shut and locked. The two outermost churches would be around 25 miles apart, the closest two around 3 miles apart.
 
Considering there is only one church in my county and the next county only has one church, this would require a ton of driving.
 
KendraDZ1902 said:
Considering there is only one church in my county and the next county only has one church, this would require a ton of driving.
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Same here. There’s one church in my town + a small mission on a reserve (Canadian for “reservation”) 26 miles away to the north. To get to a third I’d have to drive 363 miles.

OTOH, in my town of 7500 there are Baptist, Anglican, United, Salvation Army, JW, Pentecostal, Assembly of God, Moravian, and non-denominational Protestant military churches.
 
Here in Boston, MA I have heard and seen this done in the last couple of years. This year some person efficiently drew up a flyer describing this practice and giving the names and closing hours of churches in metropolitan Boston and immediate area as well as a map of their locations. Only Holy Cross Cathedral and St. Clement’s (which has perpetual adoration) had their doors open until midnight. So visiting seven churches would mean careful planning and a bit of a scramble - in fact, almost taking a day or afternoon off to do it.

I had not heard of anything like this since my childhood (think back 50 years) and then from a Sister of Saint Joseph (in her mid-30’s, I’d say) who spoke of visiting churches noon to 3:00PM on Good Friday in her childhood. That sounds like a variation of the Holy Thursday custom which was probably far more wide-spread in this country than I ever knew. I was pleased to notice last night at St Clement’s that a mob of students were in the chapel of repose for post liturgy adoration, hinting that there is more than hope for the post-post baby boomer (the one following mine) generation.
 
Phemie said:
Same here. There’s one church in my town + a small mission on a reserve (Canadian for “reservation”) 26 miles away to the north. To get to a third I’d have to drive 363 miles.

OTOH, in my town of 7500 there are Baptist, Anglican, United, Salvation Army, JW, Pentecostal, Assembly of God, Moravian, and non-denominational Protestant military churches.
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Oh yeah. It seems like every mile or so, in any direction, there is a Baptist Church. I honestly don’t know why they don’t combine a few because this county isn’t very populated. There’s only one high school.
 
Michael_Austin said:
I had not heard of anything like this since my childhood (think back 50 years) and then from a Sister of Saint Joseph (in her mid-30’s, I’d say) who spoke of visiting churches noon to 3:00PM on Good Friday in her childhood. That sounds like a variation of the Holy Thursday custom which was probably far more wide-spread in this country than I ever knew.
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Growing up in Chicago, similar time frame, we also visited churches on Good Friday rather than Holy Thursday
 
We always have a number of non-parishioners stop by our small parish on Good Friday. They always come for a bit, usually while we’re setting up for Vespers, stay and pray, then move on. I wonder if this is what they are doing.
 
Yes. It is a growing tradition here in the Philippines. Every Holy Thursday Night, churches are packed with worshippers, both inside, as they adore the Sacrament, and outside, ay they pray the Stations of the Cross.
 
SMHW said:
If I may ask…

How long did this take and when did you start?
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I started about 8:45 p.m., and it took me up to midnight. I wasn’t in walking distance from each church, so there was some drive time in between each church.
 
My family did; but on Good Friday. My children (5,8 & 13) are just too tired to do it after the Mass on Maundy Thursday night since we also attend the Chrism Mass in the morning. We start the pilgrimage to the 7 churches around 9 am on Good Friday and finish before 3pm. We visit a different set of churches every year - I plan them by zipcode. The children lead the stations of the cross. Then we spend a few minutes for personal prayerr before moving on to the next church.
 
GoGoDiego said:
Yes. It is a growing tradition here in the Philippines. Every Holy Thursday Night, churches are packed with worshippers, both inside, as they adore the Sacrament, and outside, ay they pray the Stations of the Cross.
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I have noticed that you of the Philippines are very devout and, frankly, an inspiration to many of us outside the Philippines. I only wish that the vast number in your annual
pilgrimage to Ste. Anne de Beaupre in July could be copied by many others in the USA
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