What do you think the significance of this is and will it be repeated in Washington? Does it show that the laity are fed up, ambivalent and now disengaged from anything the hierarchy says or does and that they don’t want to celebrate any bishops’ departure or installation?
Southern Orders’ correspondent in Atlanta reveals this in a recent interview:
On Divine Mercy Sunday, what if they had a Mass...and almost no one came? That was the situation yesterday, not at a parish, but at the Marist School in Atlanta, where the farewell Mass for Archbishop Gregory was held. One of the ushers said that some 2,000 hosts were prepared for Communion, and there were plans for overflow parking and an overflow room (closed circuit TV) if needed. How many showed up? At most 200 (175 probably more likely) showed up---and that is including clergy! Both sides of the gym converted to church were virtually empty and even the middle portion in front of the altar, with 2 sections, maybe 1 was two-thirds full. I was shocked...but I guess 2 in the afternoon is not the time usually associated with Mass. Maybe lack of a reception afterward kept people away,, or the lack of Latin? Well, at least incense was used during the Mass...
Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...
WOW! There's a powerful message being sent to this Archbishops, all bishops and the pope!
Fr. Allan J. McDonald said...
Was there any local news coverage and commentary?
Anonymous said...
Father M, your "unofficial" correspondent from 30327 who was at Marist about this time yesterday did not see any of the local TV stations present. There was a reporter from the diocesan paper, and may have been one from the AJC (Atlanta paper), but not sure on the latter---looked like somewhat at the back of the center with card around his neck. When his predecessor, John Donahgue, retired in January of 2005, farewell Mass was held at the cathedral on a weeknight and it was packed (though the cathedral up here is not that hard to fill---at best seats around 750). It looked like the clergy present were mostly Marists (non-diocesan). Perhaps there were some Divine Mercy liturgies going on at some parishes, and the Mass was on somewhat short notice since the transfer to DC was announced less than a month ago. Still, you would have expected a larger crowd than that! Marist is not that hard to find, only a mile inside our Beltway, I-285, and in the heart of the Catholic concentration in Atlanta (the northside of Atlanta, above I-20, has far more Catholics than the southern side of the Archdioese, below I-20 and down to edge of Columbua, Macon and Augusta).
