If you’re a God-fearing, churchgoing person, you know what Palm Sunday and Holy Week, especially Easter Sunday, mean:
- Overcrowded pews
- Overcrowded parking lots
- Dozens of people not sure what they’re supposed to say or do
You will be tempted to roll your eyes at them and throw snide remarks at them. If you are among the ordained, you will be tempted to tell them about how coming to church just on Christmas and Easter is not what Jesus wants and that they are making him mad or sad.
And, a couple of weeks later, you will have the place back to just the way you like it, and bemoan the fact that so many Americans don’t go to church very often or don’t have a 
relationship with God.
I’ve been one of “them.” I left Church in 1972. I tried going back at Easter in 1990, after my mother’s death, and found a Chicago area parish where no one greeted or even smiled at my sister and me. I went a couple more weeks, and nothing changed. So I stayed home again after that.
I tried again in 2003, knowing I was on the verge of personal and professional disaster, and encountered a priest in the Cincinnati area who gave the “you are bad Catholics” homily and a parish bulletin that contained nothing about activities or good works, only about how much it would cost to sponsor a Nativity lamb or an Advent candle as part of a renovation. I stayed away then, too… because I already knew I was a bad Catholic.
Remember, they’re coming, starting this Sunday.
Whether or not they keep coming is in part up to you.
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