Which Mass is most popular

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THurifer2

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On Christ mass My Parish has 3 vigil Masses and one Christmas day at 9:00

WHich Masses are most popular at your parish?

At My Parish:

4PM Not crowded maybe even a few open pews but the church is nicely filled

6:30 PM Completely Croweded. Bursting at that seams. Tons of familys and this is when one sees the Chreasters. VERY FULL and overflow seating in the basement. Impossible to find a seat. Must arrive a minimum of 45 minutes early to make sure you get a seat. We get there an hour beforehand.

Midinight: Similar to the early Mass not hard to find a seat but by no means an empty church. an empty seat here and there

9:00 Am Christmas day: I had to ask someone on this one but they say often not very full Hardly ANY families with kids 😃
 
THurifer2 said:
On Christ mass My Parish has 3 vigil Masses and one Christmas day at 9:00

WHich Masses are most popular at your parish?
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By far midnight Mass is the most populated… standing room only! It’s that way at my parish and at the Cathedral as well.
 
At most parishes, I think “childrens” and “midnight” would be the handsdown winners.
 
6p Winter Texans, 3/4 full
8p Children’s packed to the rafters, SRO on the porch
10p Spanish,half full
Midnight, half full traditionalists, couples w/o kids, surprisingly many young adults, maybe they are on their way or coming home from a party
9 am half full, people who don’t want the hooplah of Christmas eve, celebrate that at home, or worked until the last minute assembling bicycles and other toys
 
Our 4PM is packed, packed, packed. The overflow mass at 4:15 in the gym is full. Our 5:30 PM Mass os overflowing as well. Midnight is not at capacity. The Christmas early masses 7:30, 9:00 Masses are not packed . The 10:30 is above average. The 12:00 and 12:30 (gym) masses are packed.
 
4 p.m.: Family Mass is packed to the gills, probably in violation of the fire code.

6 p.m.: moderate attendance

Midnight: full but not overflowing

10:00 a.m. Usually the older folks who don’t stay up late and who want to avoid the crowd at 4.
 
Our Family Mass – this year it’s at 5:30 with the pageant just before – is SRO. It’s also a Mass that is so irreverent that I cannot attend. The kids are everywhere, running in the sanctuary, practically climbing the walls and no sign of parental discipline to be seen. Fr. says “It’s OK, Christmas is all about kids.” Nah, sorry, it’s all about Jesus.

11:00 p.m. (Midnight Mass) – some empty pews.

10:00 a.m. – Maybe 50 people and as few as 24 one year.
 
We do not stay home for Christmas - but, when we travel, Midnight Mass is full bursting so crowded and rowdy it is like a circus.

Christmas Day, of the three Parishes in town, only one will have a Mass, it will have very low attendance.
 
drforjc said:
At my parish it’s the 4:00 p.m. “children’s mass.”
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This is true for us as well, such that we need to run two masses simultaneously, one in the church and one in the school gym.

BTW, the OP does not say this is only about Christmas Masses, not regular Sunday Masses, but that is how I understand the question. For regular Sunday Masses, the most popular is the 10:30 am Mass.
 
I am going to go out on a limb…In the far northern states like mine I am guessing that midnight mass is less attended due to the fact that people want to drive their cars home. Last year and the year before it was 10 below at midnight. and a much warmer 10 above at 4 PM.

For those of you who live in the south…cars often don’t start when you get far below zero…In fact the older ones dont even turn over. Oh those days as a kid before fuel injected cars…

Hey remeber starting spray and jumper cables…it was a weekly experience.
 
THurifer2 said:
I am going to go out on a limb…In the far northern states like mine I am guessing that midnight mass is less attended due to the fact that people want to drive their cars home. Last year and the year before it was 10 below at midnight. and a much warmer 10 above at 4 PM.

For those of you who live in the south…cars often don’t start when you get far below zero…In fact the older ones dont even turn over. Oh those days as a kid before fuel injected cars…

Hey remeber starting spray and jumper cables…it was a weekly experience.
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I don’t know that that is the reason, we’re much farther north than any state except Alaska and the cold is not the reason few attend. I find that many older people (and our parish has a very high ‘average age’) opt for the Family Mass, either because of grandchildren or just so they don’t have to go out late at night. OTOH, if you want to see the kids who’ve been away at school, Midnight Mass is the one you want to attend.
 
THurifer2 said:
I am going to go out on a limb…In the far northern states like mine I am guessing that midnight mass is less attended due to the fact that people want to drive their cars home. Last year and the year before it was 10 below at midnight. and a much warmer 10 above at 4 PM.

For those of you who live in the south…cars often don’t start when you get far below zero…In fact the older ones dont even turn over. Oh those days as a kid before fuel injected cars…

Hey remeber starting spray and jumper cables…it was a weekly experience.
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What about radiator heaters? Every car that didn’t spend the night in a heated garage had a plug hanging out of it’s hood to plug into the heavy duty extension cord so your car would start!

I am so happy to live in the Southwest now where the lowest might be 10 above (Fahrenheit).

I just know that in my Parish probably the least populated Mass is that 8 a.m. one otherwise they are pretty full, you might find a seat at the 4p.m. but not at Midnight Mass if you didn’t get there early (at least 30 mins. early) and you are lucky to head home by 1:30 a.m. Monsignor always warns people off of the two Children’s Masses we have on Christmas Eve, 4 p.m. and 6 p.m.(?) because they are always full with our large young families (yes, we have large families in this Parish, those who only have 1 or 2 generally have so few because of secondary infertility). Being as I attend the Mission Parish, I always can find a seat, even if that means we crowd in just a tad bit.

Brenda V.
 
Brenda_V said:
What about radiator heaters? Every car that didn’t spend the night in a heated garage had a plug hanging out of it’s hood to plug into the heavy duty extension cord so your car would start!

V.
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They are called block heaters and they are very uncommon because it is after market modification. Heated garages were a rarity as a child and they are quite uncommon nowadays. Garages that are attached to houses are slightly warmer but detached garages (common in rural areas) are no good.

With that in mind IT IS 37 DEGREES OUTSIDE!!! YAHOOOO.

anyways MERRY CHRISTMAS!
 
I haven’t been to any of the other Masses at my parish on Christmas, but the Midnight Mass (which actually DOES start at midnight) is standing room only. Completely packed. I’m assuming it’s the most popular Mass. We also have a 5pm vigil, 9:30am, and a 11:30am.
 
Definitely the Midnight mass for our parish. It’s standing room only and this is in a Cathedral which can hold about 3000 people. You have to get there about a half hour to an hour early to get a seat and to get parking. It really is a beautiful and reverent mass and lasts about 1 1/2 to 2 hours long. I’ve cantored the earlier masses and they are also packed, but not like the Midnight. Christmas day is usually not as packed.
 
THurifer2 said:
They are called block heaters and they are very uncommon because it is after market modification. Heated garages were a rarity as a child and they are quite uncommon nowadays. Garages that are attached to houses are slightly warmer but detached garages (common in rural areas) are no good.

With that in mind IT IS 37 DEGREES OUTSIDE!!! YAHOOOO.

anyways MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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Cars without block heaters are a rarity around here. Tonight it’s -14ºF. Car plugged in as we speak.

BTW, I’m old enough to remember ‘cranking’ a car to get it started in winter.
 
We have 2 vigil (kiddie) masses on Christmas Eve, midnight and one on Christmas morning. I hear that all masses are full with midnight being standing room if you get their less than 45-60 minutes before mass time. It ends up being ridiculous by the time mass starts.

We can seat about 1500 including the temp chairs in the back and the narthex. The least packed that I’ve seen is on Christmas morning.
 
Large parish, midnight Mass is usually 80% full. Tons of PACE Catholics and quite a few young people.
 
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