This may sound like a dumb question, but since I know scant little about Catholicism I’d like to ask…
Supposing I’m a devout Catholic living in Paris. Can I go to Sunday Mass every Sunday morning at the big Notre Dame cathedral? If I’m a Roman Roman Catholic (ha!), can I attend Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica? Or are Catholics near these cathedrals expected to attend Mass in a smaller parish church in their neighborhood? Are these cathedrals only used for special occasions?
Yes, is the answer, in every single European cathedral I’ve ever been to.
Sometimes you see mass being celebrated while tourists tiptoe round the edge; sometimes the cathedral is closed to tourists while services are being held.
Plus the really big cathedrals often have different small chapels at the side where services can be celebrated while the main knave is empty.
Finally, not all the cathedrals are Catholic: St. Patrick’s and Christchurch in Dublin are both Episcopalean (Curch of Ireland).
At Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, six masses are celebrated on Sunday, four on weekdays and one on Saturday. Morning prayer is held on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Evensong takes place Mon.-Fri. 5:45 - 6:10 p.m. and Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
Wow. Do lots of people (besides tourists, that is) actually attend these masses? I was under the impression that France was one of the most, if not the most, secular nations in Europe. 
Yep San Marco in venice is pretty widely attended depending on the time of year…just like regular Ctholic church. between Christmas and Easter is the most widely attended time fo year for Catholics…after that attendance kind of slacks off a bit. 
France is one of Europe’s most secular nations in the sense of “There is a pretty distinct separation between State and Church.” This might sound one of the most natural things on Earth to an American, but in fact in many European nations the dominant church(es) still have privileges granted to them by law. In Germany, for example, the official tax collecting authorities collect “church tax,” which are membership dues everybody who is member of one of the two big churches (Catholic and Lutheran) has to pay, based on income. Italy’s and Ireland’s contitutions, IIRC, specifically mention the Catholic Church to play some important role in society. France is very eager in keeping everything related to churches out of official stuff, but of course there are many religious French who attend mass regularly.
Yes, you can attend masses in those enormous cathedrals. Generally speaking, though, you can’t get married in them (there’s usually a smaller church in the same parish in which you get married, even if you’re a parish member), though I have seen a wedding in progress at Toulouse’s St.-Sernin.
Most French people are Catholic, but it’s a sort of cultural Catholicism that has more to do with heritage and holiday foods and traditions. I like to think of it, somewhat whimsically, as an analogue to cultural Judaism.
Most French people are Catholic, tho’ the Gallic church has for a very long time had a sort of semi-independance from Rome. When in several French cathedral cities I have seen mass being conducted in the Cathedral’s after all their that is their primary function.
Anglican Cathedral’s also have regular services.
Unless the Cathedral is falling apart and is dangerous, they are open for business.
I attended a Mass at St. Patrick’s in NYC and tourists walked in taking pictures while Mass was going on. My non-Catholic friend was appalled. I said it was just one of those things.
I went to the big Catholic cathedral in Amsterdam one early Sunday morning (jet lag and all) and that was a trip. Only about 20 people there and some people were following some alternate prayer book or just walking around in an aimless circle.
Then again, it was Amsterdam.
Well, assuming that most people are secular, but that the majority of non-secular people are Catholic, how would that be different (in terms of population dynamics) from the U.S. where the majority of people are Protestant, yet we have large Catholic cathedrals in our cities?
The UN population estimate for Paris in 2000 was 9,638,000. If only 1% were actively Catholic, that would leave 963,800 people going to Mass each Sunday–and they have to go somewhere. (And the Cathedrals do not fill up to SRO capacity at each mass.) I also suspect that 1% is probably a little low, so we’re actually talking about over a million people.
Y’know, I did the math right, then typed an extra zero when I posted.
At 1%, there would be 96,380 people going to church each Sunday and if it is closer to 10% (still low by U.S. standards), then there would be almost a million people going.
I’m curious to know what you mean by semi-independent from Rome. All French bishops are appointed by the Vatican, as they are anywhere else in the world.
(And why the apostrophe in Cathedrals?)
Although it is true that the Catholic church has been quite… influential… in Ireland’s history, the church has nevertheless no constitutional recognition…
This has been the case since the 5th amendment to the Constitution in 1973. (Constitution of Ireland)
I’m surprised no-one has mentioned that all the pre-19th century cathedrals in the British Isles are Anglican, and that the Church of England (etc) is still constitutionally established.
All of them have religious services, of course.
As has been mentioned, just because it’s a “cathedral” that doesn’t mean it’s Catholic. In fact, two of the largest cathedrals in the US (The National Cathedral in DC and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC) are Episcopalian, not Catholic. And it’s not just the large ones - “smaller” cathedrals like St. Phillips in Atlanta are Anglican as are many Lutheran cathedrals.
As a sort of analogy, the Old North Church in Boston (the “one if by land, two if by sea” church) is a major tourist attraction, yet is also still an active Episcopal parish church - Eucharist is held there on Sundays and IIRC Wednesdays for parish members.
[Standard SDMB Argument About Britain]
No, they’re not. Scotland’s different.
[/Standard SDMB Argument About Britain]
OI TOM! 1% of 9,638,000 is not 963,800, it’s 96,380!!! Anyway France is just a hop across the Channel from me, esp. Normandy and Brittany and generally their cathedrals conduct normal Sunday services.
Which would be why, at 1:53, I posted the correction to my post of 1:46 (a slow response time adding about five minutes to my second post).
I’m afraid I don’t see your point, since I specified Catholic cathedrals as a comparison of finding enough Catholics to fill a Catholic building at a Catholic service between the (mostly Protestant) U.S. and (mostly secular) France.