Detroit — This year, Catholics in Metro Detroit have double the chances to participate in a Mass mob, thanks to a second set of events beginning to take shape.

The “Traveling Catholic’s Mass Mob,” organized by AnnaMarie Barnes, celebrated its first outing April 19, drawing nearly 700 people to Mass at St. Hyacinth Church in Detroit, the site of the first Mass Mob in 2014.

Barnes, who helped organize Mass Mobs in 2014 with three other local organizers, decided to start the Traveling Catholic’s events this year as a response to the movement’s popularity, she said.

“All summer long people enthusiastically asked for more than one Mass Mob a month,” Barnes told The Michigan Catholic. “I believe having more than one group is an asset to our Catholic community.”

Barnes said she planned St. Hyacinth’s Mass as an anniversary of the inaugural Mass Mob, but also as a “do over” after the first Mass there generated just 200-300 attendees before the movement picked up steam in the summer.

“Last year, I and the other guys never thought (the Mass Mob movement) would reach the magnitude that it did,” said Barnes, who attended St. Hyacinth as a child.

The Traveling Catholic’s Mass Mob is separate from the Detroit Mass Mobs, which also has a schedule of events at www.detroitmassmob.com. Barnes said one of the goals of the Traveling Catholic’s schedule is to visit churches that may be struggling financially.

“The beauty of a church is not found in the architecture, glass and adornments alone,” she wrote on the group’s Facebook page. “There is beauty in the small, in the simple, and in quiet struggle.”

The Traveling Catholic’s schedule for 2015, published at www.thetravelingcatholicsmassmob.com, is as follows:

• May 17, 10:30 a.m. — St. Raymond-Our Lady of Good Counsel, 20103 Joann, Detroit


• June 14, 12 p.m. — St. Gabriel, 8118 Vernor Highway, Detroit


• July 19, 10 a.m. — St. Jude, 15889 E. Seven Mile, Detroit


• Aug. 23, 10 a.m. — SS. Simon and Jude, 32500 Palmer Road, Westland


• Sept. 20, 11 a.m. — St. Alphonsus, 7455 Calhoun Ave., Dearborn


• Oct. 18, 11 a.m. — St. Mary of Redford, 14750 St. Mary’s St., Detroit


• Dec. 13, 11:30 a.m. — Our Lady Queen of Heaven, 8200 Rolyat Ave., Detroit

A November event is being planned as well. Email Barnes at [email protected] for more information.