text: It seems that most people who long for  "spectacle" are the same people who point to the evangelical Protestant churches as some kind of model for doctrine (conservative) and say that is why they are growing.  You say the problem with the RCs is that mass is too low church.
  
  I don't know if you've been to services in these churches,  but they are as far from ceremony, rites, ritual, and mystery as you can get, and many are held in "conference center" type faciltiies. However, there is very often "spectacle"  - preachers in business suits, or preachers in T-shirts and jeans - who know how to grab an audience. There are fog machines and christian rock. There are giant TV screens, and juice bars.   These churches attract thousands on Sundays
  
  Mass is packed at Christmas and Easter because it's Christman and Easter. It has nothing to do with how people dress up their kids. It's nostalgia time, playing on emotional sentiment (and when visiting home, Mom and Dad still want you at mass).