Does anyone go to Midnight Mass?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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

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.

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.