Why is the church so full on Ash Wednesday, yet so empty on Good Friday?

[manualman]

The OP is spot-on correct about Holy Days. If you buy your wife chocolate on Valentines because it is OBLIGATORY, it insn’t going to mean much to her. Ask me how I know! As the bride of Christ, we in the church can do no less. I suggest “High Holy Days.” How about it?

As for why? You may have noticed that you didn’t become instantly perfect upon entering the catholic church. Me either, and I’ve had a lot longer practice (less excuses). The short answer is that we haven’t hit the finish line. Entering the church is just the starting gate, but a WHOLE lotta people don’t seem to get this.

 

[hamburglar]

Perhaps this is a bit cynical, but my theory is that whenever there is something that is given away, more people will show up. On Ash Wednesday, people receive the ashes and feel like they belong and then proudly show it off to people. On Palm Sunday, people receive the palms and they get to make little crosses out of them. On the feast of St. Blaise, there is a blessing of the throats. But on Good Friday, there is nothing “free” that people walk away with.

 

[manualman]

But on Good Friday, there is nothing “free” that people walk away with.

Except the unsettling recognition that He was bruised for our iniquities, crushed for OUR transgressions… It’s rather uncomfortable to be reminded that our sins have painful, horrific consequences. It’s the veggies. People like appetizers more than veggies.

 

[Ohiomom]

I love the solemnity and the power of the Easter Triduum and for year (before children) I did attend. Regarding Good Friday services, there have been many years where I could not take the day off and since most of the services are at 3pm it makes it difficult. I think that is what prevents most people from attending. The services I recall from when I was a child (Baptist) were always at night so that was not an issue for most people.

 

[Marie5890]

I love the solemnity and the power of the Easter Triduum and for year (before children) I did attend. Regarding Good Friday services, there have been many years where I could not take the day off and since most of the services are at 3pm it makes it difficult. I think that is what prevents most people from attending. The services I recall from when I was a child (Baptist) were always at night so that was not an issue for most people.

I would agree. Middle of the day on a Friday can be a challenge for many who work.

Also, since it’s not an actual Sacrifice of the Mass, but rather a service, people may not take it quite as seriously.

AFA my parish, we actually have a good showing for both.

 

[kujayhawk]

Many statements above about the time of the Good Friday service and work schedules.

People make fun of Kansas for a variety of reasons, but at least, in the Wichita diocese, Good Friday service is in the evening at most, if not all, churches, either 5 or 5:30 or around 7 p.m. which, if I’m not mistaken, is the norm. Stations of the Cross in many churches around 3 p.m.

 

[CatholicZ09]

Well, I think it’s because on Ash Wednesday, there are some Masses usually in the evening after people get home from work, so they have a chance to go. On Good Friday, the Mass is usually held in the afternoon, when most people are at work.

 

[brotherhrolf]

The Triduum is not three separate liturgies but one. For all of you, one of the best examples of who we are and why and what we are about, I would respectfully suggest that you attend the Triduum from start to finish. It is a powerful liturgy. It may require you to take time off but I have done this since I have been a kid back in the 50s either as an altar boy, a cathedral chorister, or just a parishoner out in the pew. It is well worth the effort.

 

[Jennifer_J]

It may be b/c Ash Wed services are held at multiple times including before and after usual work times (at least in my parish) and Good Friday services are only at 3pm when it is difficult for many b/c of work schedules.

Having said that, I always do my best to be off work on Good Friday but can’t always make Ash Wed services (although I do my best there too!)

I think this is the most accurate reason…people have to work and these are not days off anymore (and THAT has NOTHING to do with Vatican II–it has to do with our growing secular culture).

I certainly hope many of you are more welcoming to new people at Mass than you appear to be on this thread. What have YOU done to make someone you’ve never seen before at Mass feel welcome and part of the family? What have YOU done to invite them back to full and active participation in weekly Mass?

 

[Filioque]

Restaurants, movie theaters, bars, and, yes, even Bourbon St. closed in New Orleans in the 50s and 60s. It stopped in the 70s after Vatican II.

Is that because of Vatican II, or because Society as a whole has turned it’s back on Religion?

I would suspect that part of the reason why there are more people at Ash Wednesday (in some parishes) than Good Friday, aside from the reasons already posted is, that many have the best of intentions as Lent begins, only some have the disciline and fortitude to keep a good lent. Just look at how quickly people forget their New Years Resolutions. We may want to include our fellow man in the pew, that God may strengthen their faith and ours during this holy season.

 

[brotherhrolf]

Is that because of Vatican II, or because Society as a whole has turned it’s back on Religion?

I would suspect that part of the reason why there are more people at Ash Wednesday (in some parishes) than Good Friday, aside from the reasons already posted is, that many have the best of intentions as Lent begins, only some have the disciline and fortitude to keep a good lent. Just look at how quickly people forget their New Years Resolutions. We may want to include our fellow man in the pew, that God may strengthen their faith and ours during this holy season.

I don’t think you can separate one from the other. It was unthinkable to go to a movie or eat out in 1969 when I graduated from high school. All of the restaurants were closed as were all of the movie theaters. I have to think that Vatican II had something to do with it and that the rest happened shortly after 1970. I know that is hard for some of you to accept but if need be I will research the archives of the “Times Picayune” (New Orleans’ main newspaper and show you the “amusements” page. I went off to serve in the Navy in 1971 and when I returned in 1974, everything thad changed.

I merely report what I saw with my own two eyes.

 

[Filioque]

I don’t think you can separate one from the other. It was unthinkable to go to a movie or eat out in 1969 when I graduated from high school. All of the restaurants were closed as were all of the movie theaters. I have to think that Vatican II had something to do with it and that the rest happened shortly after 1970. I know that is hard for some of you to accept but if need be I will research the archives of the “Times Picayune” (New Orleans’ main newspaper and show you the “amusements” page. I went off to serve in the Navy in 1971 and when I returned in 1974, everything thad changed.

I merely report what I saw with my own two eyes.

I don’t doubt that the implementation of Vatican II, had something to do with the changes in the Culture, but I don’t discount the Cultural influences on the practice of the Church either. I too was there. Although I usually attended Mass at Military Chapels, where the conservative mindset was intact, making going to an off-base parish sometimes quite a shocker. However had hippy songs not influenced the hymns and guitar atmosphere of the local parishes, (all preceeded Vatican II, beatnicks, hippies etc) or were contamporary with it, one bled over into the other. There were also the photos of hippies in copes dancing with monstrances when priests who wanted to “update” the parish gave vestments and other items away. Even today, I pick up altar candelabra and chalices in Thrift shops when a new pastor is assigned to a parish that has not updated yet.

 

[LindaSK]

The Triduum is not three separate liturgies but one. For all of you, one of the best examples of who we are and why and what we are about, I would respectfully suggest that you attend the Triduum from start to finish. It is a powerful liturgy. It may require you to take time off but I have done this since I have been a kid back in the 50s either as an altar boy, a cathedral chorister, or just a parishoner out in the pew. It is well worth the effort.

Have any of you asked to leave work to attend services on Good Friday and been refused? As a Protestant, before becoming Catholic in 2007, I worked in a public library for 9 years. I told them I would be leaving for services on Good Friday. I never had a problem. And churches were full - Lutheran/UCC - so I wasn’t alone. Now, I am self-employed, so, I put out a sign to let people know we have closed for Good Friday to attend [Catholic] services. Wishful thinking, but, it might cause someone else to go, too.

 

[Frosty]

I don’t think you can separate one from the other. It was unthinkable to go to a movie or eat out in 1969 when I graduated from high school. All of the restaurants were closed as were all of the movie theaters. I have to think that Vatican II had something to do with it and that the rest happened shortly after 1970. I know that is hard for some of you to accept but if need be I will research the archives of the “Times Picayune” (New Orleans’ main newspaper and show you the “amusements” page. I went off to serve in the Navy in 1971 and when I returned in 1974, everything thad changed.

I merely report what I saw with my own two eyes.

With all due respect brotherhrolf, this post is typical of what one sees so often on this forum. That is projecting one’s personal experience onto the whole Church as a matter of fact. If Vatican II was responsible for restaurants or movie theatres being open on Good Friday one would think that such would be the case everywhere. Like you, I grew up prior to Vatican II. However, in the province where I live, Good Friday was and still is, a day when everything is closed. And I do mean everything! Curious isn’t it that Ontario, Canada, a province that has never had anything close to a Catholic majority somehow escaped the infection of the Council?
I went to my first Good Friday Service when I was in Grade l in 1952 and have only missed one in the 57 years since. I do not remember a single one of those Services where the church was not at least 90% full. Actually, for the past 25 years, I have mainly attended Good Friday Services at the Cathedral in my Diocese and if one doesn’t arrive at least an hour ahead of time, one will not be able to sit, or even stand inside the Cathedral itself and if the weather is fair, will most likely have to stand in the narthex or on the greensward outside. Packed in like sardines is an apt description. My geographical parish, while not attracting the same hordes of the faithful is also packed for the Service. Of course I cannot speak personally for parishes that I have not attended but I do know from talking to friends and relatives who live in this province that they have had much the same experience as I .
Obviously, the fact that Good Friday is a statutory holiday here, had and still has a great deal to do with the numbers attending the 3 pm Services. In my experience the time has always been the same too. I still remember my parents taking us to visit an uncle who lived in upper New York state back in the late 1950’s. We left home early in the morning of Good Friday so that we would be there in plenty of time for the afternoon Service. To the great amazement of my brothers and I, there were actually gas stations and stores that were open for business, and my uncle had only been allowed half the day off work. We had simply assumed that the whole world had the same laws and behaved the same way as we did in our little corner of it! The church where we attended the Service that Good Friday wasn’t anywhere near as full as our parish church back home.
Today, my parish has three Masses with distribution of the ashes plus a distribution service at both the high school and the elementary school. I went to the Mass at noon and it was jam packed. Going by past experience, the 7pm Mass this evening will be just as full.

 

[ProVobis]

Today, my parish has three Masses with distribution of the ashes plus a distribution service at both the high school and the elementary school. I went to the Mass at noon and it was jam packed. Going by past experience, the 7pm Mass this evening will be just as full.

Yes, my noon Mass was well-attended too. It was an EF and it drew almost twice as it does on Sundays.

 

[LindaSK]

.

I certainly hope many of you are more welcoming to new people at Mass than you appear to be on this thread. What have YOU done to make someone you’ve never seen before at Mass feel welcome and part of the family? What have YOU done to invite them back to full and active participation in weekly Mass?

I don’t get the negative feel you seem to be getting from posts here. I would have been thrilled if others were not seeing what I have been seeing. I am glad there are those whose churches **are **full on Holy Days of Obligation and through the Easter Triduum. I am relatively new to my current church, too. What is especially sad here is that the first two churches I attended as a Catholic(Easter Vigil 2007) have been closed - about a year apart. Some of the people who were instrumental in encouraging me to become Catholic no longer go to Mass because of their anger over their church’s closing. Being fairly new myself and a musician, I basically see numbers of people in attendance, many of whom would beat the priest to the back door if they could. I play for Mass. When I come down, church is pretty well cleared out - hard to keep most through one verse of a recessional hymn!

Trying to encourage others who have fallen away has proven to be pointless so far. I keep hoping my actions speak louder than any words, because words are not working. I also keep them in prayer.

I love daily Mass. I try to encourage others to go. I have heard many creative excuses from people. Have you tried with any great degree of success? If you have, I’d be grateful for any pointers.

If everyone who came to Mass just at noon today for ashes came on Good Friday, church would be better attended than I have ever seen here on Good Friday - and our churches before they closed joined for one Good Friday service. And I would bet there were at least as many at the evening Mass today, too.

As Catholics, we see the crucifix over and over. Shouldn’t that alone serve to remind us how important Good Friday is - or, as other have pointed out, the entire Easter Triduum? Without it - no Easter. If so many see the significance and make the effort mid-day on Ash Wednesday, still more, not less, should be in church Good Friday.

To my way of thinking, this would be a poor excuse, but do you think that, since the Passion is read on Palm Sunday, people don’t feel they need to come Good Friday to hear it again? Just a thought.

 

[Monte_RCMS]

I have seen churches full all through Lent at daily Mass.

and then the Monday after Easter, the daily Masses are almost empty.

Maybe through Lent, priests could welcome people and ask those who only visit during Ash Wednesday and Easter to resume weekly Sunday Mass and ask those who do go to Mass on Sunday to get to daily Mass.

 

[LindaSK]

I have seen churches full all through Lent at daily Mass.

and then the Monday after Easter, the daily Masses are almost empty.

Maybe through Lent, priests could welcome people and ask those who only visit during Ash Wednesday and Easter to resume weekly Sunday Mass and ask those who do go to Mass on Sunday to get to daily Mass.

Last Thursday an Friday at Daily Mass, attendance was good, so I thought we were going to see an increase through Lent. HOWEVER… yesterday, there were 7(I ended up reading because those who normally read weren’t there - and it was the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter!), today, there were 9 - so sad.

 

[Phemie]

However, in the province where I live, Good Friday was and still is, a day when everything is closed. And I do mean everything! Curious isn’t it that Ontario, Canada, a province that has never had anything close to a Catholic majority somehow escaped the infection of the Council?

The stores and most restaurants (but not the bars or the movie theatre) will be closed in my town also because Good Friday is a statutory holiday across Canada.

It was not always so; I can remember my father working on Good Friday and only occasionally taking a few hours off to attend the service.

 

[ac_claire]

It’s kind of embarrassment that some Catholics only show up on Ash Wednesday and Palm Sunday. Or just on Christmas.

I’ve noticed in my parish actually that more people seem to come to the Ash Wednesday service than even the Easter or Christmas Masses. I don’t know why, but it might have something to do with “getting” something. Same with Palm Sunday. You get your palms, and you get your ashes which are the kind of tangible, visible things that cultural Catholics need to validate their “Catholicism”…

I don’t ever attend Ash Wednesday Masses or services because it’s wayyy too crowded, and crowded with a lot of people who don’t go to church regularly and frankly don’t know how to behave in Church. So I haven’t had ashes in years.