During Lent and Advent, I spend a lot of time in this newsletter sharing strategies for how you can advertise your Masses for the two biggest days of the year.

But this year, it hit me:

If you're like most parishes, you don't actually need more people these two days. Your pews are likely packed with standing room only.

(In fact, you might even want LESS people at the 4 pm Christmas Eve Mass because you're getting scary close to your fire code capacity.)

What you actually need these busy days?

For the people who are there to come back.

C&E's, Chreasters, CEOs, CAPE Catholics — call them what you want, but I've said it before and I'll say it again:

We wring our hands the rest of the year lamenting that they aren't coming to Mass the other 50 weeks of the year...

...but then we don't capitalize on it the two Sundays in a row they do.

On Palm Sunday and Easter, people who only go to Mass a few times a year file dutifully into your church to receive their palms and celebrate Easter.

And if we're not strategic, we won't see most of them again until December 24.

But I don't think it's an accident that the very next Sunday after Easter is Divine Mercy Sunday.

When Our Lord is yearning for those very people to return so He can pour His mercy out upon them.

Aiming for people to show up for Easter is too low a bar.

We need to aim for a different type of Triduum: Getting them to show up for Palm Sunday, Easter, AND Divine Mercy Sunday.

Because I strongly believe that if we can get people to show up three weeks in a row, there's a much greater likelihood of them returning the Sundays after that.

In the restaurant and retail business, there's something called the "3 Visit Rule." Essentially, there is a 70% chance that people will become loyal, regular patrons if they visit three times.

I have a feeling the same thing applies to churches.

1️⃣ They come the first time to check it out.

2️⃣ If they feel welcomed and enjoy it, they come the second time to see if the first time was just a one-off experience.

3️⃣ And if they're wowed the third time? Well, I think it's only a matter of time until they claim their "regular" pew.

(Coincidence that three is the number of the Trinity? I think God-incidence.)

It's psychology paired with a whole lot of God's grace.

Here's where God makes it so easy for us this time of year: They're already coming Palm Sunday and Easter.

So that means all we have to do is convince them to come one more Sunday in a row!

But how are you going to convince them to return April 12?

By starting a story on Palm Sunday that only concludes on Divine Mercy Sunday.

And you're probably thinking, "Um, yes, Emily, there's this little ol' story called HOLY WEEK that we'll probably be focusing on."

Except this year I don't want you to just share Jesus' story again.

They've already heard it every year. Just hearing the historical story of Easter hasn't changed them yet, so it probably won't this year, either.

Instead, I want you to share why Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection matters — to them.

Why did He go through all of that in the first place? And what does it do for them practically 2,000 years later?

And then from there, connecting the "why" of the Easter story to the point of the following Sunday: Mercy.

Mercy is what makes the Easter story active in their own lives today. We have to show them that Easter wasn't just a historical moment to passively remember, but a story they're still being invited into through mercy.

In other words, we want to communicate: What are they struggling with right now in their lives, and why is mercy the answer to it?

So this year, I want to invite you to look at Palm Sunday, Easter, and Divine Mercy as a package, with the goal of Easter (from a communications perspective) to get them to come back for Divine Mercy Sunday.

I know it's last minute, so I already have plans to talk about this a lot earlier next year so you can prep ahead of time.

But here's a few ways you can still implement this strategy this year:

• Create a devotional you can email/text them every day of Holy Week and the Easter Octave that tells the story of why Easter still matters today, and how Divine Mercy is the answer to whatever they're struggling with. (I was hoping to have this prepped for you to just copy and paste, but I'm already working on it for next year!)
  ​
• Have a homily series that starts the message on Palm Sunday, continues it on Easter, and concludes on Divine Mercy Sunday (the more practical you can make this, the better!).
  ​
• Hold an event on Divine Mercy Sunday attached to Mass aimed specifically at the C&E crowd — obviously confession so they can actually receive God's mercy right away, but maybe also some time for food/fellowship, retreat-style or witness talks, praise and worship, etc. Think like a mini parish mission on mercy! (And don't forget to invite them to it at Easter.)​
  ​
• At the very least, actually invite them to return! Not in a guilt-trip way, but by simply sharing at Easter that you'd love to see them return so you can continue to serve them and help them to practically live out being an "Easter people": That Jesus rose from the dead to give us mercy, joy, and abundant life, and if they don't feel like those things are a part of their life right now, your whole job is to help them find them!

And of course, with all of this, we want to have it really rooted in the needs and language of this specific crowd: Those who only attend on Christmas and Easter.

(Here's a recap on that group and their needs.)

Like I said last week, I'd been hoping to have the time this past week to put together a full pack for you with the devotional prompts for each day, language for your web pages, flyers for what to do after Divine Mercy, etc.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but I wanted to at least get you started, so here is a free Canva template you can use with a full page flyer promoting Easter and Divine Mercy Sunday.
​

​
I pray that it saves you at least a few minutes this week and even more importantly, brings even one "Chreaster" back for Divine Mercy and beyond!

For His greater glory,

Emily