Mann used Roman numerals to designate each previous Detroit Mass Mob event. The first one at St. Hyacinth was Mass Mob I. Since then, historic churches throughout Detroit have scheduled Mass Mobs, some more than once. The event at Our Lady Queen of Angels will be Mass Mob LII (52).
“We actually surpassed Buffalo in the number of Mass Mobs,” Mann said. “Almost all of the other cities who initially were holding Mass Mobs have stopped.”
Why should people start attending again?
“The historical [churches in Detroit] are stunning,” Mann said. “It’s the feeling of having that church filled. Mass Mobs bring people back to church. People who didn’t usually go to Mass came and told us they rejoined the Church because of the Detroit Mass Mobs.”
Mann encourages people unfamiliar with the concept to watch some of the videos on the Detroit Mass Mob website. He expects attendance at the 2023 Mass Mobs to grow with each subsequent event, just like they did in 2014.
“The first one was just word-of-mouth and social media. Reaching out to friends. At St. Hyacinth, about 150 showed up in a 700-seat church,” Mann recalled.
After Mann joined to help with promotions, media coverage and mentions on social media increased, as did attendance. The second 2014 Detroit Mass Mob took place at Mann’s own parish, St. Charles Borromeo.
“The church holds 400 and it was standing room only,” he said. “The miracle has been, outside of the first Detroit Mass Mob, we have filled and in some Masses had out-the-door, standing-room-only for the other 50 Masses, ranging from a 300-seat church to an 1,850-seat church at St. Hedwig, which has the largest seating capacity of any Catholic church in Detroit.”
Mann said Our Lady Queen of Angels holds 650 people. “I do expect to fill the church,” he said.
Regarding Mass Mobs after June 25, Mann is not ready to release a schedule yet, though he said he has many pastors interested in hosting Masses.
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“I’ve got a list already, but not confirmed. About two months ago, I started visiting some of the parishes that have been on my schedule. We were ready to have some in 2020 when COVID came,” Mann said.
He has been working on scheduling new churches where a Detroit Mass Mob has not been held yet. “But I’m getting asked by a lot of the pastors for us to come back,” he added. “Let’s see how this one in June goes. We will announce future Masses at a later date.”
Mann wanted to be sure to acknowledge the other organizers on his team.
“Anthony Battaglia is our webmaster, and he also created the Detroit Mass Mob Facebook page. Jeff Stawasz created the ‘Catholic Mass Mob of Detroit’ Facebook group page. I consult with him when organizing,” Mann said. “We also have added Diane Dawson Wilks and John DeLorenzo as photographers, and John Kevin Bentley is another consultant.”
This story was originally published at Detroit Catholic, the news site of the Archdiocese of Detroit, and is reprinted here with permission.
Kelly Luttinen is a freelance writer for Detroit Catholic, a digital news service of the Archdiocese of Detroit.
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