Todays Mass

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tamie

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Today was my first ever Holy Day of Obligation. :gopray: I went to the Mass after work. I looked forward to it all day. I was very happy to get to the Church and come into the presence of God. The Mass was beautiful, as they all are to me. I was however, shocked at the small number of people there! There were 2 other Masses today, but on Sunday the three Masses are always packed. My observation is that people just don’t take HDO’s very seriously. That is a shame especially since we are on the brink of Advent. Actually I feel sad that people think so little of the Catholic Faith that they ignore the opportunity to celebrate and honor our Saints. Maybe I feel the way I do because I am in the process of converting and I am trying to do everything correctly so I not only learn the proper way to do things but also because I have such a deep desire to honor God. It’s just a pity that so many people take Jesus for granted.

Tamie Walcott
 
Hi Tamie,

It is sad that many cradle Catholics have not had the experience of those who convert from Protestantism. They have lost the sacredness and mystery of the Faith and may never have learned to love Jesus with the hunger that so many of the Saints have described.

I am thinking of St Augustine, St Therese of Lisieux and, more recently, St (Padre) Pio, although there are many, many others.

Don’t be discouraged by the lukewarm, I was once until I heard Scott Hahn’s conversion story and was so ashamed of myself. It is the witness of converts such as yourself that ‘rock’ us cradle Catholics. :blessyou:
 
The low turnout on Holy Days is why so many of them have been moved to Sundays for observance. And it is sad.
 
I agree with the others tamie & and yes, cradle Catholics are the worst. I’m one of those and have always heard that converts make the best Catholics. It’s also very sad here, where All Saints Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation, in Hawaii.
I’m proud of you Tamie for feeling the way you do & God Bless You!
in Christ,
Rich
 
… ours was packed.

Also, many people may go during a noon lunch, or hit up am masses at parishes that offer multiple masses.
 
Some Schools also offer it as that’s where the kids are 😛

I think it depends on time… If you go early, probably small amount… Midday, people coming from lunch ect… Later, easiest for people to get to
 
Part of the responsibility falls on the priests to catechize their congregations. Holy Days are noted in our bulletin with Mass times, but our priest, to the best of my knolwedge, has never mentioned them during the announcements explained that if you willfully do not attend Mass it is a mortal sin. People should know this, yes, but many have been uncatechized for so long that they just don’t take the days seriously and don’t think the Church does either all that much. I think the gradual movement of these days to Sunday shows that many Bishops in our country may not take them seriously either…
 
Our 8 a.m. was packed…I hadn’t known how many people were there until I turned for the sign of peace (I sit up front)…my mouth almost dropped open. I can only imagine how crowded the vigil and 7 p.m. Mass must’ve been if it was that crowded for the morning Mass. Maybe the other two were better attended at your church.

Penitent
 
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It’s also very sad here, where All Saints Day is not a Holy Day of Obligation, in Hawaii.
I’m proud of you Tamie for feeling the way you do & God Bless You!
in Christ,
Rich
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Hawaii is part of the US and under the USCCB so, yes, it WAS a Holy Day of Obligation. According to the USCCB website, All Saints can have the obligation to attend Mass deleted, but only if it falls on a Monday of a Saturday. Since All Saints was a Tuesday this year, it was a HDO throughout the US. Sounds like you might have some disobedience going on in the ranks.
In addition to Sunday, the days to be observed as holy days of obligation in the Latin Rite dioceses of the United States of America, in conformity with canon 1246, are as follows:
January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God;
Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter, the solemnity of the Ascension;
August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary;
November 1, the solemnity of All Saints;
December 8, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception;
December 25, the solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Whenever January 1, the solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption, or November 1, the solemnity of All Saints, falls on a Saturday or on a Monday, the precept to attend Mass is abrogated.
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A friend of mine went to Mass yesterday at our Cathedral at noon, he said it was packed - so packed to where they had to bring out extra chairs. I went to Mass last night at 7:00 and it was slammed, people were standing up in the back.

Don’t put too much stock in the fact that the service you attended didn’t have a lot of people there, maybe they were at a different parish, maybe they went earlier that day and maybe - just maybe - they went to the vigil Mass. 😉
 
I am an RCIA-er… one of those folks probably more excited about the Catholic faith than most cradle Catholics, so I do try to make it to the Holy Day masses.

Last night I went to St Patrick’s Cathedral, not my home parish but it’s the closest one to my work. It was neat to see people there from so many countries, speaking many languages- this is probably due to its touristy location, but still very cool!

Was it packed? Not really, but for St Pat’s to be packed there would have to be thousands upon thousands of people there. Still a decent turnout.
 
I went to the vigil on Oct 31 at 7:30 right in the middle of Halloween and the Church was full. Now I wonder where my CCD kids were as none came to class. Hummm
 
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tamie:
Today was my first ever Holy Day of Obligation. :gopray: I went to the Mass after work. I looked forward to it all day. I was very happy to get to the Church and come into the presence of God. The Mass was beautiful, as they all are to me. I was however, shocked at the small number of people there! There were 2 other Masses today, but on Sunday the three Masses are always packed. My observation is that people just don’t take HDO’s very seriously. That is a shame especially since we are on the brink of Advent. Actually I feel sad that people think so little of the Catholic Faith that they ignore the opportunity to celebrate and honor our Saints. Maybe I feel the way I do because I am in the process of converting and I am trying to do everything correctly so I not only learn the proper way to do things but also because I have such a deep desire to honor God. It’s just a pity that so many people take Jesus for granted.

Tamie Walcott
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Take Heart! I went to Mass at 5:45pm! We were full to the brim! There was a line of cars waiting to get into the parking lot for the next Mass at 7:30pm! We had a Mass that morning at 7:00am and one at 8:00am and an extra a noon!

St. Joseph’s Parish is hummin’:dancing:
 
I live in a city w/ an estimated 20,000 Catholics (assume that 15,000 are church-going Catholics). In addition to Masses at the Parishes, each of the Catholic Schools that had Masses taking 2,200 out of going to the Masses plus if the Mass I attended at the school is any indication there was probably another 700 not going to the Parishes. And then adding up that I heard the downtown noon Mass was filled w/ people coming from work, I would guess all told that probably 33% of the Catholics in my town went to Mass other than their Parish. Take 1/3 out of any parish and it would seem empty.

My point: Attendance was probably better than what it felt like in your Parish. God bless you on your journey.
 
You all have good points. There were 2 other masses that day so those could have been packed. The priest did make an announcement on Sunday that it was a Holy Day of Obligation, but did not go on to say it was a mortal sin to not attend. In the Las Vegas, NV area (where I live) there are almost 600,000 catholics in a total population of 1.7 million. There are quite a few Catholic churches here. Mine is one of the biggest, but there are two others that are larger. I am thinking that people went to the churches closer to work. That would make sense.

I am really looking forward to Avent and Christmas. Celebrating it in the Catholic Church will be awesome!

Tamie Walcott :angel1:
 
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tamie:
The priest did make an announcement on Sunday that it was a Holy Day of Obligation, but did not go on to say it was a mortal sin to not attend.
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I don’t think he mentioned it because most Catholics already know.

P.S. - I’m looking forward to Advent and Christmas as well, its a beautiful time of year in the Church. 🙂
 
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