If you and your family were churchgoers when you were a child, did you still go to church/mosque/synagogue etc. when you were off on holiday or otherwise away from home ?

[WildRosie]

Just that really. I'm not seeking to make a point or be nosy, it's simply idle curiosity before I head off to the kitchen to do the washing up!

We're Muslims, we pray no matter what but on holiday don't always go a a mosque, depends where we are really. Sometimes going to different mosques is a feature of the holiday itself!

*patron saint of Mexico

My kids don't go to Church whenever I find one on holiday, btw. It's nice because I feel connected to my parents and grandparents and I especially enjoy Mass in Latin. I studied Latin in school.

Yes and yes

Nearly always went when we were away in the Uk.

Ordained parent would do a home Eucharist for us in the tent or whatever on holiday.

I have just about lost all faith now as an adult but have frequently attended elsewhere whe I’ve been away. I’ve enjoyed a bit of mystery worshipping in my time…

I was brought up in a Catholic family and we never ever missed Sunday Mass. If we were abroad then we just had to sit through it and understand v little. If we were away in the UK we went to wherever was local and offering mass. I think I coped better with the foreign services tbh as at least the language barrier meant feeling awkward was to be expected. I can still remember the hideousness of teen self consciousness and being invited to do the offertory or something as the visitors...

I am very much not a Catholic as an adult and the relentlessness of church going throughout my childhood helped get me here.

Yes and yes. When the children were little we spent a few years going back to the same area and even went back to the same holiday church as it was totally, totally bonkers. The priest was about 98 and looked like he'd died years ago and yet the mass was bizarrely lively with fantastic music and singing and a friendly family atmosphere. And every time the priest would shake our hands in his ice cold skeleton hands and ask where we came from and say he'd been to the seminary there - after a few years DH said "near where you went to the seminary" and he went all like we'd been stalking him. Then one year we went back and he was gone and it was all boring like mass at home

It depended on where we went.

Every few years we stayed with my grandparents who lived overseas and went to church with them.

For several years when I was little we went to the same holiday home in the UK with a family who were close friends of ours and we always attended the local church when we were there.

All other holidays were camping, travelling around either UK or France and we never went to church on any of those holidays.

I guess it depends who I’m with. I would if it was just me - not fussy about denomination. Husband would probably go too - but would probably pick more traditional ones. But if we are with our young kids then probably not as they would be difficult to manage. If with my siblings/family then they don’t tend to go, so would probably do the same, and with DH’s family - sometimes they go, so would go with them. I think it’s interesting and a blessing to hear different types of services in different languages - even if I don’t really understand it.

Yep. Holiday accommodation always factored in proximity to mass.

I'm not a church goer now.

My dad would go when we were on holiday, my mum and I went sporadically when at home and probably never while on holiday. It was one of my dad's fist day tasks, find a church and mass timetable, he usually got this information by visiting a pub as a first resort ha! If he couldn't go it was no big deal, but he would definitely try to and enjoyed it when he could.

Yes. We were dragged to the nearest Catholic Church for mass or the closest alternative to that if no RC church was available. Greek Orthodox was apparently acceptable.

I’m an atheist, though, as an adult I do appreciate the architecture of medieval cathedrals of mainland Europe. As a child I was just fascinated by the (old) woodworm holes in the wooden benches

Catholic - no when on holidays. But If we went to family for holidays (Ireland & Scotland) we would then go to church as a family. We usually at home went to the Saturday evening mass - less busy, less singing shorter mass. I’m not overly religious but I do like occasionally going to a Saturday evening mass - my time to escape the kids and a little bit of mindfulness for me :)

We did if we were staying with grandparents (pretty often), which was sully Christmas/Easter anyway, but not on holiday. Although we did go to. Lot of Cathedrals in France (Catholic).

When we went on holiday to our family in Hungary, we’d get dragged to church with disapproving looks from my grandmother if we didn’t go (catholic), my other grandmother couldn't care less as she was Protestant.
I now don’t go church at all. Only because our local priest is hideous and unfriendly to children.

Brought up Catholic - yes, we went on holidays. I stopped going to church when I was 15.

Sometimes if we were in England. I think it depended how easy it was to find and get to a church and what else we were doing. (Dad is Catholic, Mum was bought up CofE but went to church with us sometimes and didn't go to CofE church).
I went to church myself and took my DC until Covid. I haven't been back since, and feel like I have lost my faith. DH is an atheist who disagrees with organised religion. I have never gone to church on holiday as an adult.

Yes. We used to go to church when we were on holidays and we do try to go now if we're away and it's convenient.
We've had some lovely experiences at church when on holiday, we've had dinner invites, met friends of friends and generally we enjoy it.

Our family, no. Dh's yes.

I stopped that for our family when we'd arrived late one Saturday night and the next morning the dc came running into our room.
"Can we go to the beach?"
Dh: "There's a nice little church just down the road, and I thought we'd go to the service first..."

I pointed out that was going to be a quick way of ensuring that they hated church. First morning, nice and hot, beach just over the road... let's go and spend it in church with not even any children's groups...
Now if we're away and he wants to go then he goes on his own and I take the children elsewhere. But normally he doesn't. He took my point.

As a child, no, mum took us to church with grim regularity on Sundays; her parents took me much more cheerfully (so I went if I stayed with them, if that counts as a holiday). But we didn't generally go to a church we didn't know.

I remember my mum being super judgy when I went to a service in Notre Dame when I was about 19 and we were on holiday in Paris together.

I like going to a church I don't know.

I didn't go to church regularly with my family but as an adult I am now a church goer and will usually seek out a church when I am away ... as a PP says it is lovely to go to a different church and meet new people, observe a different service etc. I now live in a fairly touristy area and we frequently have visitors join us which is really nice and I hope we make them feel welcome.

I'm not sure that expression still exists in the PGL brochures ... my DS has a PGL holiday a few years ago and I don't recall seeing it.

I was brought up as a catholic and we’d go to church every week even when on holidays.

Now I don’t believe in god at all but I still like going into a church when I’m on my travels to light candles for my loved ones who’ve passed away as well as to just sit and think a wee bit in peace.

gabs totally agree, we've had some lovely experiences at different churches and lots of invitations. My DS is a Uni student and (pre Covid) as a church goer he was invited to Sunday lunch every week by different people who enjoyed welcoming the students ... one Sunday he got an invite to lunch and an evening meal .

No, I think that’s odd. But I definitely know people who do this.

@mindutopia

No, I think that’s odd. But I definitely know people who do this.

Why odd?

No. I have a fair few clergy friends and most of them don't go to church when they're on holiday either.