There’s good news for the hundreds who will attend St. Anthony’s Catholic Church for its Easter Vigil Mass. 

The service will be packed as usual this year. But new changes announced recently will add chairs to the parish hall and end the uncharitable practice of seat-saving. Rules over seats for worship may seem trivial or even cold, but reasonable guidelines can curtail our less considerate instincts.

“Our goal is to make the Easter Vigil accessible to as many people as possible, while honoring the solemnity of the night’s liturgy,” said Rev. David Reamsnyder, pastor of St. Anthony’s, as he announced the changes before Sunday Masses March 30.

Last year’s service was crowded. That’s a great problem to have. Congregants were hip-to-hip and filled the whole sanctuary out to the back narthex, into the side gathering space, and all the way down the hall to the bathrooms. Many churches across the country will have trouble filling the pews to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection. St. Anthony’s will not.

But Mass attendees who arrived early last year got a stiff welcome. When I arrived at the church more than three hours before Mass, I walked into an almost-empty sanctuary. But not one seat was available, because a coat or purse had saved every spot. I sat halfway back in the side gathering space, but others near me — too late to grab a chair — stood for hours before Mass even began. They watched others come in to take their saved seats in the sanctuary up until the service’s start.

What’s a church to do with fewer seats than congregants? St. Anthony’s is adding overflow seating to the parish hall, which means fewer attendees will stand for the hours-long service.

The parish will also not allow attendees to save seats. That’s the right thing to do. Instead of allowing seats to be blocked by belongings, those places will go to those who are willing to sit and wait. Another new change: The church will open and allow the congregation to take seats two hours before Mass. Of course, most pews in the sanctuary will be reserved for the 24 candidates joining the church, along with their sponsors and guests.

Bravo to Reamsnyder and the parish. The guidelines will return the congregation’s focus from frustrations over space to the festivities on the altar.

 

Thomas McKenna is a junior studying political economy.