by Vonda J. Sines

Created on: September 24, 2008

Many regular churchgoers dread Easter even though Christians commemorate it as a holy day and a magnificent celebration.

The reason they sigh is the thought of the crowded church they know they will face each year on this special day. In a large church, it usually means three to a hymnal and being uncomfortably scrunched to fit as many as possible into the pews.

There are several reasons why all these people show up only at Easter (and at Christmas, too):

1. Making the guilt go away: Easter is just one of the Roman Catholic holy days of obligation. The crowd you see at the Easter Vigil on Saturday night when new members are received into the Church or at the large Sunday services certainly contains visiting relatives of parishioners. But I suspect the larger number of people we see are "C and E" Catholics, those who appear only at Christmas and Easter. Catholic guilt causes most of them to come to church on these holy days. Many feel that observing these two great church holidays somehow makes up for ignoring other requirements such as going to mass weekly and confessing mortal sin. Catholics are technically required to go to confession only once a year but are encouraged to show up monthly. It's important to note that many of the other liturgical denominations such as Episcopalians and Lutherans experience the same crowds out of some sense of obligation.

2. Appeasing the spouse: One spouse is a regular churchgoer. The other isn't. To keep peace in the family, both show up on Easter, along with the children and perhaps grandparents or in-laws. This day, along with Christmas, might be the only day both spouses are in church together during the year.

3. Watching the kids: Some parents make sure their children are involved in a youth program at a church even though they don't participate much themselves. Easter is prime time for kids to participate in choirs, skits, and pageants. Their parents and other family members come to watch, much as they would any of the children's other activities.

4. Socializing: For some people, going to church at Easter is part of a social calendar that includes various activities. Among them: a search of the Easter Bunny or at least his eggs, baskets stuffed with goodies for the kids, a huge family pig-out, and perhaps some family TV time or a movie later. It means news clothes and shoes for everyone, including hats for some of the ladies in the family.

5. Impressing the boss: Somehow the boss got wind of the fact that you told another employee

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