Jeff Miller, the Curt Jester, notes the following:

Using just anecdotal evidence I wonder if today’s Holy Day of Obligation is the least attended. Year after year no matter what parish I might go to on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God there is but half the people there you would see on a Sunday or some other Holy Day of Obligation.

I guess sleeping in after partying all night is preferable to actually honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary on her feast. Yeah it’s gravely sinful to miss Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation without serious reason – and a hangover is not one of them. The idea that missing Mass is gravely sinful is certainly not something you hear much anymore since it is one of those things that went-out-with-Vatican-II-but-didn’t-really-go-out-with-Vatican-II.

The parish I went to today is usually so packed on Sundays and other Holy Days of Obligation that you have to park in satellite parking and they have a couple of dedicated vehicles that can carry 40 some people to the front entrance. Today though no problem parking with plenty of empty spaces near the main entrance. I would be curious if this is something my readers have observed.

Well, my parish was packed. We had a vigil mass last night at 6 pm that was about as full as our Saturday night masses. And our two masses today — 10 and 12 noon — were quite full, too. The noon, in fact, was almost capacity. We had five communion stations, and could have used more. Many of the people, I noticed, were not regular parishioners. (Maybe visitors from out-of-town?) FWIW: we didn’t cut any corners liturgically. We had a half a dozen altar servers, lots of singing, incense, and the noon mass was concelebrated with three priests. (The deacon, ahem, preached.)

How were things in your parish today?