Easter

Moon over coal company building, from parking lot of Hanover Mall. March 31, 2018

The date of Easter is defined as the first Sunday after the first Full Moon after the Spring Equinox. That Full Moon was yesterday, March 31, 2018. So today is Easter.

Church was pretty much filled to capacity today, as usual for Easter. There were probably five times as many people in church as there are on a normal Sunday, where Mass is held in this church once each week. Some of the extra people were probably visiting from out of town for the holiday, but most were likely locals, the Lily-and-Poinsettia Catholics who show up at church twice a year.

This church, the Saint Faustina Kowalska Parish Secondary Site (formerly known as Our Lady of Czestochowa, or St. Mary's for short), is the sole surviving Catholic church in Nanticoke besides the "Main Site," formerly known as Holy Trinity. While it has a capacious parking lot, something the Main Site lacks, dwindling attendance and the worsening priest shortage do not bode well for it remaining open for much longer. If all the twice-a-year Catholics were to show up every week, one of those problems would not be an issue anymore - and an argument could be made for the diocese do dedicate additional priestly manpower to the parish.

This may have been the last Easter service at this church. Who can say?