Will/did you go to Mass for Ash Wednesday?

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Yes. It will be difficult due to some scheduling, but I think I found a Mass that I and the kids can go to. My dh will attend in the evening after his class.
 
Oops, I forgot to answer my own poll–hate it when I do that.

I’ve not decided yet. I would like to, but I’m not sure of the local times yet, so I don’t know if I’ll have the opportunity.
 
It’s a bit awkward for us because of the hours my dh is working. We would be hard pressed to be able to receive communion because I can’t wait until after Mass to eat and eating before might not give us enough time. Plus, by the time we would receive ashes the day would be basically over. It’s hard when you can’t get to an earlier Mass and can’t take the day off, either.
 
Front and centre 7.30 am Mass 🙂 Lucky the church is only a few minutes’ walk from my home. And I’m going to Confession today just to be extra squeaky clean and ready for it.

I’ve been going to morning Mass every day at this time for a few weeks now. Sometimes it’s still very tempting to pull the covers over the head and sleep in a little longer but I feel so much better when I’ve been.
 
If I don’t want to wait around for 6:30 mass at my parish (I’m generally at work by 6:30), I can go to masses at the Cathedral at 11:00, noon or 1:30. (I’m totally unavailable in the evening for 7:00). No excuse not to make mass.

Likely I’ll stay home and participate in the mass at my parish at 6:30. Being a mere catachumen, I’m always somewhat worried about getting out in a crowd and not knowing what it is I should be doing. And this is my first Ash Wednesday service.
 
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GoLatin:
I don’t think that Ash Wednesday is a Holy Day of Obligation.
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Not in the U.S., at least. I’m not sure if any national conferences have made it so.

But a lot of people here seem to think it is, for some reason. I’ve noticed that Ash Wednesday Masses tend to be more crowded than most Sunday Masses (but that could be because the local parishes here offer 5 Sunday masses per parish, and only 1 or 2 Ash Wednesday Masses).
 
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Timidity:
Not in the U.S., at least. I’m not sure if any national conferences have made it so.

But a lot of people here seem to think it is, for some reason. I’ve noticed that Ash Wednesday Masses tend to be more crowded than most Sunday Masses (but that could be because the local parishes here offer 5 Sunday masses per parish, and only 1 or 2 Ash Wednesday Masses).
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This is true at our university parish. On weekends we have 4 Masses, averaging ~450/Mass. On Ash Wednesday, everybody comes out of the woodwork, though. We have 4 Masses that day and they all get packed! I believe we have more people attend Mass on Ash Wednesday than Easter. Which makes me wonder, are we a Church of guilt or a Church of joy?
 
Yes, I’ll be there. It will be my first time during Ash Wednesday, plus it’ll be a topic of discussion at RCIA (as will the Rite of Sending on March 5).
 
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ChemicalBean:
This is true at our university parish. … I believe we have more people attend Mass on Ash Wednesday than Easter. Which makes me wonder, are we a Church of guilt or a Church of joy?
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Maybe, being a University parish, that many students are home with their family for the holiday, and therefore at their home parish?
 
Ash Wednesday is not a holy day of obligation.

I would go if I did not have to work that day

Ken
 
Never miss it even in the years I left the Church. But it is funny how many people do believe (including my own kids) that this is a holy day of obligation.

When I worked for the Church it was always a joke about how many people would call the most attended Masses throughout the year outside of the usual Easter and Christmas are Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday. People think gotta go the Catholic’s are given something away for free.No I have never missed it and my grown children to this day still attend Ash Wednesday Mass.
 
Yes, I wouldn’t miss it. I don’t think it is a holy day of obligation. I think it is just the official beginning of Lent.
 
I’m going, but I go to Mass everyday. You will probably see Father Benedict Groeschel having a little segment durring the commercials on EWTN on the Thursday after stating that Ash Wedensday has the highest Mass attendence by non-church-goers. Both Catholics and non-Catholics who don’t practice their faith for some reason feel a desire to be at Mass on Ash Wednesday, something about recieving ashes is appealing. I brought this up for my RCIA students on Sunday, I also stated is the irony is that Ash Wednesday is not even a Holy Day of Obligation, it is the first day of Lent, that’s it. We are all encouraged to be there to get a good start on Lent, but none of us are obligated.

If only we could see this turn-out for the days of the Paschal Tridium. Those days are also not Holy Days of Obligation, however, that is what Ash Wednesday and Lent prepares us for. Ironic indeed.
 
…Ash Wedensday has the highest Mass attendence by non-church-goers.
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I’ve heard the second-highest Mass attendance by normally non-church-goers is Palm Sunday. Seems like if they are giving someting away, Palms or Ashes, people want to be there. :hmmm:
 
For my business, the last and first days of the month are the busiest… I’ll still head over to the Cathedral for the noon mass.
 
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Timidity:
Maybe, being a University parish, that many students are home with their family for the holiday, and therefore at their home parish?
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Nahh, I don’t think so. Being a public university, we don’t get time off around Easter (our Spring Break is a whole month earlier). Holy and Easter weeks are the 4th and 3rd last weeks of school, respectively. People are either partying or flipping out about final projects and tests coming up.
 
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