Does anyone go to Midnight Mass?

They do in Catholic churches. When I went a while back it was packed. More recently Children's service on Christmas Eve 6pm packed to the gunnels. This was in London, members of the congregation would include Polish and Brazilians and of course Irish. I think possibly inspite of CofE being the official religion, I'm guessing there are more Catholics.

We've not had a midnight mass for many years.

There are two family carol services in the afternoon on Christmas Eve which are well attended. The children take part so lots of parents and grandparents choose one of those. Then there is a later carols by candlelight.

Yes, and its very well attended. CofE, its a village church and has attendances of 50+ most Sundays.

I'm near Oxford and the parish church here has a midnight mass, always packed. The children's service in the afternoon of Christmas Eve is packed too. Smaller numbers at 8am on Christmas Day but good numbers for the morning service.

I'm a Catholic and when old enough we always went to Midnight Mass. One of the lads in my primary class had older brothers and the local Trades Hall (a drinking establishment with a dubious clientele) was next to the Church.

At midnight, the drinking club would empty and my friend's Catholic brothers and all their drinking pals would pile into the church and loudly sing all the hymns and carols, before wobbling unsteadily back to the club for a few more hours.

The lovely priest welcomed them thought a few old biddies tut-tutted in disgust!

Madmeg

I'm a Catholic and when old enough we always went to Midnight Mass. One of the lads in my primary class had older brothers and the local Trades Hall (a drinking establishment with a dubious clientele) was next to the Church.

At midnight, the drinking club would empty and my friend's Catholic brothers and all their drinking pals would pile into the church and loudly sing all the hymns and carols, before wobbling unsteadily back to the club for a few more hours.

The lovely priest welcomed them thought a few old biddies tut-tutted in disgust!

Oh that sounds exactly like my early Midnight Mass memories Madmeg. The Rising Sun Pub was about five houses along from the church, closing time Christmas Eve, I reckon a fair few of their customers emptied into the church for mass. For late comers, it was standing room only.

We used to go every year when my husband taught in a local Catholic, independent school. We went to the Midnight Mass and many of the staff and students were there too. It was held in the Catholic Cathedral in the city. It was a lovely service and even though we’re not Catholic, we always went up for the blessing, as we couldn’t take communion in a Catholic Church (always struck me as odd as we take communion in any other church.) We don’t go now though, as it’s a bit late for us these days.

We’ll be going to our own local church before Christmas and to the village church in my son’s village on Christmas Eve evening. So no more Midnight Mass for us.

Yes

The Festival of 9 Lessons and Carols at Durham Cathedral is absolutely packed out - it’s so popular seats are reserved from one year to the next. The rest of the seats are occupied anything up to 3 hours before the Service begins.
Standing room at the back and out of sight in an adjacent chapel, but crowds turned away.

surfingsal

Our local church is not doing Midnight Mass this year, I am not religious but several of my friends are and they are very disappointed, the vicar says it is not worth heating the Church for around 20 people I wonder if other Churches are still holding Midnight Mass?

20 people?

Midnight Mass used to have a large congregation of people who'd just poured out of the pubs.
The smell of alcohol was not coming just from the chalice!

The midnight service always feels special. When my son was a cathedral chorister they weren’t allowed to stay up for that mass until they were 12. Younger choristers could only sing at the earlier Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning services - it seemed so exciting when they finally got there and he still loves it as an adult. There is something magical about going out late at nigh, gathering in a sacred place then walking home under the stars.

night

Our local c of e does. It is very popular.

Tonight at the PPC, we discussed Christmas Mass times and we will be having having Midnight Mass.

I am always the duty sacristan and love being in the candlelit church, with the choir practising carols before the parishioners arrive.

Our vicar would like the choir to sing at Midnight Mass but most of us don’t plan to be there. Either busy, with families staying, or, like me, live alone and don’t want to be driving home at that time of night.
The church will be packed earlier for Christingle, and I will go at 10am on Christmas Day.

I have not been to Midnight Mass since my teens and I only go near a church for weddings and funerals.

My local Catholic church is too far away- I do not drive in the dark, I live on my own and I would not feel safe to be out in the dark, living in London. I will be in bed.

Our Catholic Churches have moved to an evening service rather than midnight.
The midnight one was always busy but priests are rarely young. Christmas is a very busy time for them, especially those who look after more than one parish.
The move to an earlier service was with their wellbeing in mind, as well as stopping rowdy participation.

My childhood memories are of midnight Mass then a dash home for warm sausage rolls - advent ‘fasting and abstinence’ was still observed then.

I am a Catholic and my regular church ( a cathedral) has two Masses on Christmas Eve, one at 4pm and the other at 8pm.
The actual Midnight Mass was dropped a long time ago as many people did not feel safe going home at that time, and the roads were full of drunk drivers.

We attend Christmas Eve late afternoon and Christmas Day after breakfast.

Yes - until 3 years ago. I don’t like night driving now.

Madmeg
Happy days!
I think I was one of them.

We used to go to midnight Mass at our local church, but stopped during the pandemic. There is still a service at midnight but I don’t know how many people go. The carol service in the afternoon will be rammed, standing room only!

My totally non-religious son and his equally non-religious wife always attend a midnight service at Christmas, and have chosen the Church of Scotland service in place of Mass for the last two years. Apparently the music is better!
I was a Midnight Mass attender when we sang at Mass, but later I preferred to go with our children on Christmas morning. They were all invited to bring along their favourite toys, which were shown off, then blessed!

We've traditionally had a midnight communion service at our church but the last vicar didn't like having to travel to and from our village at that time of night as well as getting up early-ish for a Christmas Day service in another of the group's churches. The best we got was a 9pm service.

We're without a vicar at present and the person looking after us is happy to do a midnight communion. In the past we often went back to someone's house after the service for "refreshments", sometimes until 4am. Always a good start to Christmas.