Since I posted once late, here is a second

 The Christmas season has begun.  Celebrations and attendance at masses were maybe a little bit less than they once were.  There are several theories as to just why attendance is down in churches in general.  The theory I subscribe to the most of any is simply that there are fewer Catholics walking the earth.  Simple statistical analysis ought to prove my thought.  The number of people per family is down too.  So really, no matter the religion -- Catholic or not, attendance would be down.  

At my current parish assignment, a trend in the Catholic society continues -- FAR MORE people are choosing to attend Christmas Eve Mass at whatever the earliest time any Church may have.  While the parish must have permission from our local bishop/vicar's office to even offer Mass before 4pm (trying to keep in line with Rome), we offer 3pm and 3:15pm Masses.  I know it sounds very strange to have Masses that begin only 15 minutes apart, but the 3:15pm Mass is in the Parish Center Gymnasium.  Why?  Because the number of people that attend the 3pm Mass in the Church is over 1300 people in a building that is only supposed to hold 1000.  The gym holds about 600 people too, and it too was full!  About 10-15 years ago, there were THREE Masses going on at once in three separate areas of the campus -- and the current parish center didn't exist yet!  Incredible to say the least.

There were several highlights for the Advent season, some from church and some not.  The school children had their Christmas program at which they really all sang wonderfully.  Last year there was a little boy in first grade who sang loudly and off-key.  Quite humorous.  This year he had a different role -- he was one of the shepherds we hear about in the gospel story when the angel appeared to them to announce Jesus had been born.  That boy in second grade this year was still great, but the teacher was kind enough to tell the parents not to have him sing.  In his shepherd role, he was simply to come forward with two of the other children and stand watching over the manger scene.

This past year brought us a new director of faith formation and the children really responded to her more laid-back way of thought.  The choirs were fantastic.  There were two concerts, one in the church and the other in the Parish Center.  They were both magnificent.

Another highlight was taking part in preparing the church building for the altar and sanctuary decor for Advent and Christmas.  It was really a lot of fun working with two cultures with one objective -- beauty.  I actually didn't do an awful lot of work on that end of things but I did wipe down every pew in the church before the concert.  That task should probably get done more often than it does, but I wanted it ready for Christmas.  No one else seemed to be overly concerned.  So why not just do it?

Now there is a small lull in activity from a parish standpoint because of school being closed.  There will still be reflections to come regarding New Year and Epiphany, but for now, it's all good.  MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!