And . . . We're Off!

So many churches . . .

So, I've decided to attend mass at a different church each week.

Why?

I've been a practicing Roman Catholic for my entire life, but I'm not having a crisis of faith or "looking for God" or anything profound like that. I'm content as a member of my own parish, so I'm not looking to switch allegiances. Hmm. I guess I'm just, well, bored (not from a religious standpoint, just bored in general), and since Cincinnati has SO MANY Catholic churches, the answer to "Why?" seems obvious - WHY NOT?!!

Week One - Home Base - Saint Ignatius

Ah, my own parish of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Monfort Heights. As far as my little project goes, I'm not even really sure if this week should count. As a member of St. Ignatius for the past 19 years, I've only been to about a million masses there. With almost 3,000 families in the parish directory and six masses offered each weekend, it's definitely a large community - and a nice one. Having attended every possible mass option over the years, oddly enough, this weekend offered a bit of novelty in terms of masses. With the annual parish festival taking place, the starting time of 4:00 for Saturday's festivities prompted a rescheduling of the normal 4:30 mass to 3:00. I was there. Knowing that the majority of the people in attendance would be heading straight to the festival before the last song even ended (whether to hawk raffle tickets and/or to "drop their envelope in" via the Big Six booth), I expected a lot of t-shirts and shorts in the congregation . . . and I was pretty much right. Wait a minute - no homily?! and (par for the course) the priest forgot the creed. Guess even he was anxious to get out there!

ATTENDANCE: Comfortably full

DURATION: An unusually short 50 minutes