It is a night-time event that is considered to be at the core of a traditional Christmas. But the Christmas Eve celebration of midnight mass is at risk of dying out, partly because of worries about the growing number of Yuletide drunks stumbling through the doors.
A recent survey by Catholic newspaper the Tablet found that several of the parishes they contacted reported problems with drunk people interrupting services on their way home from the pub.
A church in Havant reported having to call the police three times after “drunken yobs” threw bricks at the worshippers one year, and in York, in 2006, the mass was disrupted by a streaker.
Canon Alan Sheridan, of St George’s in York, told the Tablet: “We are on the main drag into town so people are coming straight from the pub and it can make mass very difficult.”
In Middlesbrough, only one in four Catholic churches still offer the service, although the causes of the decline are more complex than simple alcohol-related disruptions.
Parishioners no longer feel a midnight mass is an essential part of Catholicism; church services earlier on Christmas Eve, at 8pm or even 5pm, tend to be much more popular.
The other great cause is the collapse in recruitment to the priesthood. Since the 1960s the number of Catholic clergy has plummeted and those that remain have aged. There are now around 135 Catholic priests for every 100,000 Catholics, and mass cannot be celebrated without a priest. Even where there is a large potential congregation, the priest may not be available to perform.
In 1937, almost 1% of the Catholic population of England put themselves forward for ordination, a quite astonishing figure by today’s standards. By 2010, the proportion had dwindled to 0.03%, though it has since slightly recovered.
Increasingly, one priest will look after numerous parishes, and where that happens there is at most one church that can have a midnight mass. Yet parishioners are very reluctant to travel to churches they do not regularly attend, even if they are only a short journey away.
In a commentary in the Tablet, Fr Mark Minihane, who is 76, expresses despair at what is happening. “This is likely to get worse as we old priests die off,” he writes. “In my ministry I have been to about 100 churches in the past 10 years and see at first hand what is happening. Some people have stopped going to mass and will not go to a neighbouring church or will not accept a change in mass times. How weak and fickle faith can be … But many of these parishes haven’t produced a vocation in 50, 100 and more years. What right have they to complain?
“Why is it that parishes do not produce priests? When I have raised this question and suggested a way forward, I have met with silence and even resentment. A few mothers have said there is no way they want their sons to be priests – but they would still want me there at 4am for a sick husband or child. I call that double standards.”
And yet midnight mass still thrives in parts of the country. In Ely, East Anglia, where there is a large eastern European population, the parish priest, Fr Anthony Shryane, said that he has congregations of at least 100 both for the midnight mass and one he celebrates at 2am. There is also a service at 7pm the previous evening. But this enthusiasm is unusual outside of areas with high immigration.
There is some sign that clergy numbers are growing from a very low base. It seems that the 1500-year-old tradition of midnight mass may be following many other traditional religious practices into extinction.
