On Sunday morning my roommate and I attended Palm Sunday Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Patrick on 5th Avenue between 50th and 51st streets. Walking up to the church, I was reminded of past holidays with my family when, on trips to New York City, we would join the hordes of other tourists that flocked to the enormous cathedral, beautifully decorated with Christmas garlands and poinsettias. On Sunday, however, I walked up the stairs as a New Yorker – at least a temporary one.
The cathedral is massive. The ceilings are lofty, to say the least, and the rows of pews are many. It has this feeling of grandeur. The mass fills up so much that the ushers have to rope off the seating area, causing crowds to gather at the back. Popular masses, such as Easter, require reservations. Because of the large number of people that attend, there are many ushers, and the mass is very organized. Those who are not regulars are easily spotted, by their look of awe and confusion; we were two of those. The regulars also know to arrive early, and at the end of the mass, my roommate and I realized that a decent portion of the group at the very back of the church were actually people waiting to be seated for the next service.
The Cathedral of Saint Patrick, despite its fashionable location, draws a crowd from all walks of life, as churches should. While limousines could be spotted along the side streets, they were not representative of the entire congregation. The Cathedral of Saint Patrick proved to be consistent with New York City in several ways: It was enormous, filled with people (and diversity), and breathtaking.
