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Comment by thinkingemote | Hacker News Reader

It's Holy Week this week (the week before Easter starts) and every day there is a service in each parish. UK, Roman Catholic churches. You have to book online to reserve a place. A quick look at a few parishes in an area for big and small churches shows that all the services for each day of the week and weekend are booked out in advance.

Obviously the numbers able to fit in the churches are capped because of Coronavirus, but it appears as if there are more people who are wanting to attend than can. What I can say with some confidence is that there is at the very least more demand than the capacity.

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I might take my kids there. Then again I also took them to see Santa.

Unfunny quip aside, it is a social gathering and it is undeniably positive for the community.

That really depends on the church. Many flavors of religion are a net negative for the community.

Possibly. I was mostly talking about the specific mild flavour of Roman Catholicism practised by church we frequent here in London.

Roman Catholic... in the UK? That makes up a very small number of churches...

It's bigger than you think, it's about the same size as the Church of England.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/11297461

https://faithsurvey.co.uk/uk-christianity.html

Roman Catholicism is the second largest Christian denomination in the UK (after the Church of England). Something like 7% of the population of England and Wales, 16% of the population of Scotland, and 40% of the population of Northern Ireland are Catholic. Catholicism is the dominant religion in many parts of Northern Ireland, and even in some parts of western Scotland.

You have to get tickets to get into Temple on the Jewish High Holy Days too. I know because I take my kids. It doesn't mean we are religious though. I just like to take them for the singing and to see the blowing of the ram's horn, fond memories I have from my own youth.

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