Would love to see good Catholics on the front lines in this issue. The only thing the church will listen to is cash income. Stop making any donations to the church and/or parish in any form. A percentage of all money given to each parish is kicked back to the diocese/archdiocese. Give directly to charities you support, take your priest out to dinner - but stop giving the church money. They won’t stop this until they can’t afford to do it any longer, and having a steady cash flow incoming each week means they don’t have to reach into their own pockets/assets to pay settlements. Certainly go to mass, enjoy your faith, etc - but help force change to save your church by withdrawing all financial support until they issue new canon laws. Current canon law says names and info about abusers are secret - those who know of allegations have to swear to “eternal silence” on pain of excommunication. The bishops aren’t freelancing decisions - they are following international Vatican canon law. That has to change.

I guess we’ll never know what country OP comes from! oP, please come back and tell us so we can all swing by your country and see how it’s done! Genuinely curious.

Anonymous wrote:Op here - we've been to Little Flower and it was very, very good. We are pleased that it was almost fully sung mass.
Merry Christmas!

Thanks for the feedback -- maybe I'll try it next year.

Op here - we've been to Little Flower and it was very, very good. We are pleased that it was almost fully sung mass.
Merry Christmas!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I am going with Little Flower. I called trying to find out about parking, seating, tickets etc. No one is responding. Does anyone know more about this? Thank you!

It should be on their website. Also I have regularly attended mass in 3 countries outside the US. Unless you are a member of the US military then they all get political and they all were embroiled in scandal. I am not defending the US catholic church by any means but if you actually think the church is apolitical in your country then you are very naive.

It's not on their website. Their website states the time of service but no info about parking, seating, and tickets.
I am not interested in your derailment of this thread with things that you are not familiar with.
Thank you.
And Merry Christmas!

OP you are coming on here and slandering the church, of course Catholics will get touchy. It’s not derailment, and you do not know what you are talking about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I am going with Little Flower. I called trying to find out about parking, seating, tickets etc. No one is responding. Does anyone know more about this? Thank you!

It should be on their website. Also I have regularly attended mass in 3 countries outside the US. Unless you are a member of the US military then they all get political and they all were embroiled in scandal. I am not defending the US catholic church by any means but if you actually think the church is apolitical in your country then you are very naive.

It's not on their website. Their website states the time of service but no info about parking, seating, and tickets.
I am not interested in your derailment of this thread with things that you are not familiar with.
Thank you.
And Merry Christmas!

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I am going with Little Flower. I called trying to find out about parking, seating, tickets etc. No one is responding. Does anyone know more about this? Thank you!

It should be on their website. Also I have regularly attended mass in 3 countries outside the US. Unless you are a member of the US military then they all get political and they all were embroiled in scandal. I am not defending the US catholic church by any means but if you actually think the church is apolitical in your country then you are very naive.

Just get there 30 min early and go in. There are no tickets to local parishes here. Most of the websites have bulletins you can read.

OP here - I am going with Little Flower. I called trying to find out about parking, seating, tickets etc. No one is responding. Does anyone know more about this? Thank you!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP! I say this kindly, but you have some issues.

Consider that before you take your visiting parents to any local Mass, you may be asked for an admission ticket, have difficulty finding a parking spot anywhere near the church, may have to stand the entire service, sit separately from one another or stand in line to enter the church.

Or, a combination of all. I'm in Virginia but was raised Catholic and know of a least two of my former parishes that due to complaints from "regular" communicants, arrangements had to be made in advance to get a ticket to attend Christmas Eve service. Similar to a concert, you'd go in advance to get your ticket.

Get to the service at least an hour before Mass.

Please stop spouting ill informed lunacy. There are no ‘admissions tickets’ to the churches here.

NP here. No idea if any churches in this area do it that way, but that's absolutely how the church in my hometown in NY handles midnight mass, so pp was not off the mark to suggest checking before making plans.

OLGC in Vienna, for example, used tickets for the family masses at least a few years ago (we’ve stopped going to Catholic Church since then). They were distributed in CCF classes.

If more Catholics went to church on Sundays instead of just Christmas amd Easter, they’d have larger churches/more churches and you wouldn’t need tickets and/or to get there 90 min esrly.

And even then possibly have to sit in a side room and watch Christmas mass on a closed-circuit TV. Give me a Protestant Christmas Eve service any day.

All of the Catholic parishes in Bethesda will have a “midnight” Mass, though possibly as early as 10 pm. St Jame de Chantal, Little Flower, Our Lady of Lourdes and St Bartholemews. Finding a seat is typicaslly easier than the 4/5 pm vigil Mass. You do not need a ticket and churches in Bethesda are not engaged in politics. You can find times and locations at masstimes.org

Anonymous wrote:OP! I say this kindly, but you have some issues.

Consider that before you take your visiting parents to any local Mass, you may be asked for an admission ticket, have difficulty finding a parking spot anywhere near the church, may have to stand the entire service, sit separately from one another or stand in line to enter the church.

Or, a combination of all. I'm in Virginia but was raised Catholic and know of a least two of my former parishes that due to complaints from "regular" communicants, arrangements had to be made in advance to get a ticket to attend Christmas Eve service. Similar to a concert, you'd go in advance to get your ticket.

Get to the service at least an hour before Mass.

Are you attending mass at Joel Osteen’s for profit , hair whipping shakedown in Houston? That’s not really relevant here.

Anonymous wrote:OP! I say this kindly, but you have some issues.

Consider that before you take your visiting parents to any local Mass, you may be asked for an admission ticket, have difficulty finding a parking spot anywhere near the church, may have to stand the entire service, sit separately from one another or stand in line to enter the church.

Or, a combination of all. I'm in Virginia but was raised Catholic and know of a least two of my former parishes that due to complaints from "regular" communicants, arrangements had to be made in advance to get a ticket to attend Christmas Eve service. Similar to a concert, you'd go in advance to get your ticket.

Get to the service at least an hour before Mass.

Please stop spouting ill informed lunacy. There are no ‘admissions tickets’ to the churches here.

St Bartholomew’s in Bethesda is a small Catholic Church with a dedicated choir and no politics. The choir just got back from singing at churches around Italy. Your parents might enjoy that.
It’s on River Road and there’s always a reception with cookies and things afterwards.