Asking for the nearest church to Bonnaroo.. well.. wasn't the easiest task. However, getting out of the campsite in the early morn was pretty dang easy. Although, we only saw about 3 other 'Rooers at mass.. so this is for you guys. haha.. We apparently caught the church on an "off day". The piano player didn't show up and so a few of the women were trying to get us to help sing songs acapella. Some of the hymns weren't the ones I was familiar with and I had also pretty much lost my voice/hearing from Bonnaroo, so that added to the difficulty. Kind of a disappointment because I wanted to hear some good Southern hymns and a loud congregation to back them up. The church itself is nice. It seems fairly modern, more like a large cushy meeting space than the churches I'm used to. The air conditioning (after a couple days of camping) was a definite plus (it is sometimes lacking in older churches). Some older women were talking about Bonnaroo and I thought that was pretty awesome. They weren't referring to the concert goers as "crazy kids" or anything, but appreciated people's love of music. The homily from the priest was pretty long. He was a good speaker, but none of his points totally reached me. Could have been my exhaustion. My only problem if I lived in the area is that there is only one mass on Saturday (4PM) and one mass on Sunday (10:30AM). They do have a 1PM Spanish mass too, which I thought was cool. At our mass on Sunday there were about 20 people or less. I wonder if all the 'Rooers scared off the regular congregation that didn't want to deal with nearby traffic? Living in the city, I'm used to at least 4-6 mass times to choose form, but I can understand that the priest at this church must have to travel to other parishes due to the shortage. read more

St Mark Catholic Church - Churches Near Me - Manchester, Tennessee