We overflowed the overflow

At St. Jane de Chantal in Abita Springs we decided to try something new; have an overflow Mass!  To be specific, we were concerned last year at how our 10 am Mass for Easter was incredibly overcrowded and uncomfortable.  The Church was packed, squeezing more that we should in a pew, with still dozens and dozens standing, and yes, about 50 folks standing out on the steps.  So this year let's offer an overflow, using our St. Jane Hall for a mass site.  The staff and volunteers beautifully transformed the hall space into what looked like a Church.  We set up seating for about 110.

Figuring people would not want to come to a mere hall for Mass, we instructed the ushers when the Church was over-packed, move the folks our way.  Would we fill up the hall or just be offering Mass for 50 or so who almost always are the step sitters?

By 9:50 am it was obvious we were going to be jammed in the hall too.  Between the main room and the foyer, we quickly set up another 100 chairs or so.  And yes, we filled that hall, even standing room, with a total of about 250 in the place.  Thinking the ushers must have gone soft in the main Church I was to find out not so.  In fact, they estimated close to 500 in the church that normally sits about 325 comfortably.  If these numbers hold up, we had over 700 worshippers on campus at one time; perhaps an all time record for the almost 95 year old campus.

We love having so many folks with us for Easter and reminded one and all you are welcome to come back all year long.  By the way and for what it's worth, all Masses were huge with our Vigil more crowded than usual, about 275, and the 8 am with well over 350.  The noon Latin Mass was estimated to attract another 300 worshippers.  Throw in the 75 at our mission in Bush, we were pleased to have at least 1,700 worshippers, perhaps more, in a town with an overall population of 2,500!!!

Easter liturgies are over as we chose to not have any evening liturgies.  So Easter 2018 is in the books for the clergy, staff and parishioners of good St. Jane Parish where we overflowed the overflow!