[Culturechat] Church and community in Europe
Ann Cricchi
Ann Cricchi" <acricchi@worldnet.att.net
Mon, 7 Jan 2002 13:40:52 -0500
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We were in Italy for a month this past fall on both the Venice and =
Umbria Untours.. We went to a variety of churches on Sunday and were =
rather surprised at the large attendance. Of course, at St. Mark's in =
Venice and the Basilica in Assisi, we could surmise that many of the =
attendees were tourists but even at an evening weekday mass at St. =
Mark's there were two dozen locals or more. At another church in =
Venice, where we had difficulty finding a seat at the primary mass on =
Sunday, the congregation appeared to be mostly Venetians. =20
In Umbria the small local church where we went to mass one Sunday was =
quite full. These were all locals, except us and they knew to come 15 =
min. after the advertised time because the priest had said mass the hour =
before at a neighboring church and it took awhile for him to get to the =
church. There were older men and women, youngish couples with children =
and a nice choir of mostly teenagers there. Mauro (the farm manager at =
Casale Grande) and his wife (probably in their late 40s) both went to =
early mass nearby on Sundays. It appeared that church was more a part =
of the Italian way of life than we had assumed.
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<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>We were in Italy for a month this past =
fall on both=20
the Venice and Umbria Untours.. We went to a variety of churches =
on Sunday=20
and were rather surprised at the large attendance. Of course, =
at St.=20
Mark's in Venice and the Basilica in Assisi, we could surmise that many =
of the=20
attendees were tourists but even at an evening weekday mass at St. =
Mark's=20
there were two dozen locals or more. At another church in Venice, =
where we=20
had difficulty finding a seat at the primary mass on Sunday, =
the=20
congregation appeared to be mostly Venetians. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=3DArial size=3D2>In Umbria the small local church =
where we went=20
to mass one Sunday was quite full. These were all =
locals, except=20
us and they knew to come 15 min. after the advertised time because the =
priest=20
had said mass the hour before at a neighboring church and it took awhile =
for him=20
to get to the church. There were older men and women, =
youngish=20
couples with children and a nice choir of mostly teenagers=20
there. Mauro (the farm manager at Casale Grande) and his wife =
(probably in=20
their late 40s) both went to early mass nearby on Sundays. It =
appeared=20
that church was more a part of the Italian way of life than we had=20
assumed.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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