I see that a parish in Dublin has decided that its Christmas Eve Mass is to be a ticket-only affair. Apparently some people in the parish are none-too-happy about this. I can understand why people find this a bizarre and irritating step, but the Christmas Eve Mass in our parish has been dangerously crowded the past few years and obviously it's not much different in Rush, Co. Dublin.
Every family with young children wants to go to Mass the night before Christmas because it's nearly impossible to drag them away from the goodies on Christmas Day. That makes the early Christmas Eve Mass far too popular. Personally, I'd prefer to go to Midnight Mass, but that's simply not possible with young children.
I like the fact that the parish tried to reward those who attend more regularly by announcing the ticket policy in the church bulletin and distributing the tickets this past weekend. Maybe it could have been handled better, but there should be some reward for turning up more than once a year.
Still, I can't help wondering if the scalpers (touts) will make a killing on the tickets for Mass. "Who needs tickets?" might be the only thing heard outside the Church before Mass.
