Atheist drawn to the church

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Ok so quick update - I finished work early to get there and actually made it through the door this time! Third time lucky lol
There were quite a few people there which made me feel a bit less conspicuous.
It was a wholly new and positive experience to be honest. I am going to make the time to go again soon.
Thanks again for all your help on this thread, I probably wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t for all your motivation and tips.
 
Unfortunately, locked over concerns of vandalism, etc is now the norm, sadly. Even some parish offices have buzzed entry.
 
OP, if you’re near a large city you should be able to find a chapel that is open outside of Mass times.
 
All parish offices I know have locked entrances. They are targets for every panhandler in town, they need security!
 
Catholic churches locked up during the day… Drives me crazy. Not many parishes around here are locked, only know of two. The three churches closest to me, they are never empty during the day. I stop by to make a visit and never find fewer than half a dozen people there.

Locking a church is a normalization of deviancy.
 
A false concern, fixing a problem that hasn’t happened yet in most places.
 
It all depends on the area.
The Catholic Church is increasingly a target.
 
Put up cameras, look for volunteers to man the church, whatever it takes, but do not lock the church.
 
That’s great my friend. Glad you had a good experience. The Lord works in mysterious ways. It’s amazing the pull the Lord can have on ones soul. He is the shepherd indeed.

God Bless
 
Well I certainly agree the Church shouldn’t be locked up all day. Kind of defeats some of the purpose.
Volunteers (retirees) might be entrusted to open and close.
 
Or a sign that there are evil people in the world who will steal from Churches.
 
Perhaps, but just as often it is a sign of paranoia. I know one church that was newly built and they have kept the church locked during the day for 10 years, as far as I know they never suffered any vandalism or theft. They never locked their old church that was replaced.

This became an issue for us when we were planning the build for our new church and noticed a couple that were always locked when we went to visit recent builds. We decided at that point in time, we would not make the same mistake. We did install plenty of security cameras. It has been a great blessing, as the Church is literally never empty during the day.

I know of older churches, that are really beautiful, in not the best parts of town, and they always are open and they have no major problems.
 
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You are blessed to live in such an area.

We live in one of the highest crime areas in the entire US. I’ve worked for the Church or been in volunteer leadership for 20 years, all cameras would do is to let someone watch the vandalism/stealing take place. We have had furniture stolen DURING Mass!!

We had to move the Perpetual Adoration Chapel because of crime, it was unsafe for people to come overnight. Aggressive panhandlers would storm in and demand money. The votive candle money box was pried open while people were in the chapel, after the 5th time we had to simply remove the votive stand from the chapel.
 
Actually, our new church is in an older part of town, all minority. And yes, we have had votive candle money stolen before. We have had many panhandlers come into our building. I do not say there are not areas where this is justified. But most of the time when I see it, I look around and say “really?”. But for the most part, if people are there visiting the Blessed Sacrament or otherwise praying and there are multiple people there (which there always is), we have little problem. Of the other two parishes close by to me, another I would classify as in a dangerous part of town. They never lock the church, always people there, no problem. They do not even have to have a sign up sheet for perpetural adoration.

I understand there are differences in areas, and perhaps having a large Hispanic community helps. But if you want people going to confession, increase confession times, if you want adoration, leave churches unlocked. If you want people going to daily mass, have daily mass at a time working people can attend. All of these simple ideas appear to work, from what I see around me.
 
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