Baby Crying during Mass Homily

[MarkInOregon]

The third time he says For God’s sake

I am troubled by fathers use of God in this manner – especially during the mass regardless of the situation.

The peace of Christ,
Mark

 

[MarkInOregon]

,
well, yea, sort of, but if you can’t hear the homily, why bother coming ?

I don’t go to mass expecting a good homily. The homily is not why I go to mass–if I get a good one I consider it a bonus. I go to pray, to worship God and to receive the Eucharist with fellow believers.

The peace of Christ,
Mark

 

[MarkInOregon]

What that means is that they have approximately 10 minutes during the priest’s homily to “get catechized.”

I don’t believe the homily is really for catechesis is it? Isn’t it for cracking open the readings heard at mass–occassionally the readings lend themselves to commenting on or explaining a Church teaching, but in my experience those opportunities are usually not siezed upon. And given the number of complaints one reads about poor homilies I am surprised there is so much lament over not being able to hear them–most of what I read indicates most people think they are not worth hearing.

The peace of Christ,
Mark

 

[Sarabande]

Has it been suggested that perhaps, in their attempts to rein in their own children, they genuinely did not hear the priest’s first few requests? When I actually get to stay inside the church for the homily, I rarely get to actually listen. This may have very well been the case.

I was thinking the same thing. Even when my 19-month-old and 3-year-old are not making noise, we’re constantly “ready” for any problem. Because of this, I rarely hear the priest’s homily when I’m not cantoring the mass. I try my best to listen, but I tend to be stressed out when I have the kids for mass because I’m afraid of them or me annoying someone.

 

[jmcrae]

What do I do ? I don’t want to seem to harsh ? Love always, right ? I like these women, they are good people, but our Father is new and I know he feels bad about what he said. My mind though, is blown at the quickness to raise a pitchfork at him.

There is certainly a culture difference between North America and India with regard to raising children. Indians are very strict, and expect much more from their children than we do, for the most part.

 

[MarkInOregon]

They’re going to take their marbles and go home because they were extremely rude to the entire congregation, and they’re “awesome people?”

In my book, “awesome people” admit their own faults and forgive others theirs. We can only hope they’ve thought better of their actions (and reaction).

If we all go back and read the original post it seems to me that the family really didn’t have a clue there baby was being as disruptive or loud–he is asking me? We are all so quick to assign blame and hurl out “rude” and not just rude but extremely rude, “disrespectful” , etc. Sometimes people just don’t realize when their children are being disruptive. It seems like there is probably enough fault to go around–the priest, the family, the ushers, probably even other parishioners.

Given that I have five children, live in a loud and rather crazy house, have spend a lot of time at large, loud family gatherings–I am pretty good at tuning things out–and it takes a lot more to distract me than the average person–quite possible things could be going on around me that others find disruptive and I wouldn’t have a clue. There are a number of babies in our parish and some Sundays it is like there is something in the air and they are louder than normal–it just doesn’t distract me from my prayer though, and I always feel for those parents. Never once have I thought "Oh, I wish we had a cry room. I am glad they are there, I am glad young families in my parish are having babies and coming to mass together as a family. I would think that we would all encourage that even if at times we have a little trouble hearing.–but thats just me. I think everyone probably could have handled the situation better.

The peace of Christ,
Mark

 

[babochka]

I don’t believe the homily is really for catechesis is it?

k

There is nothing that precludes the priest from using the homily as an opportunity for catechesis.

From Sacramentum Caritatis:

"The catechetical and paraenetic aim of the homily should not be forgotten. During the course of the liturgical year it is appropriate to offer the faithful, prudently and on the basis of the three-year lectionary, “thematic” homilies treating the great themes of the Christian faith, on the basis of what has been authoritatively proposed by the Magisterium in the four “pillars” of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the recent Compendium, namely: the profession of faith, the celebration of the Christian mystery, life in Christ and Christian prayer (143)

diocesefwsb.org/wp-conten…mily-Guide.pdf

GIRM 65 states:

1. The Homily is part of the Liturgy and is highly recommended,[cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium 52, canon law 767§1] for it is necessary for the nurturing of the Christian life. It should be an explanation of some aspect of the readings from Sacred Scripture or of another text from the Ordinary or the Proper of the Mass of the day and should take into account both the mystery being celebrated and the particular needs of the listeners.[cf Inter Oecumenici 54]

This is wide latitude and the priest is, by no means, limited to the scriptural texts of the Mass.