Before Mass - CONFRONTATION

[Seagull]

One of my first questions - when I visited the site -
was that of silence in the church - before mass.
Well, someone spoke up on Wednesday.
4 of the regulars - talking away - turkey this - turkey that - etc
one was standing in the pew, leaning up against the pew.
There was about 15 of us - scattered about

" Can you please go in the hallway to talk, people here are trying to pray "
He said it loud - and a touch fed up.
One of the guys made a small comment, " yeah, okay " under his breath.
The man answered right back " this is the house of God "
The guy standing said, " Listen, I’m in charge of the rosary here "
Mistake. The man answered right back, " I don’t want to hear about your turkey ,
go in the hallway - or somewhere else" -

One of the guys said, under his breath, ‘sounds like my wife’
The guy standing said, " I wont ask ‘him’ if he wants to do one of the rosary mysteries " and laughed. Basically ignored him.
The man answered right back, " I’ll inform the Pastor, if you keep this up"
One of them said, ‘yeah, okay, do that’ - rolled his eyes.
The four / five people who chat - always do the mysteries too.
The guy standing -never- asks anyone else - it’s always the same 4-5.

After mass - I went over - and shook the man’s hand who spoke up -
his feathers were still ruffled -
" They’re always talking away like no one else is even there "
He was a touch sad - in a disappointed way.

 

[Cjbhoward]

There’s a story Jesus tells about being overly concerned with a small defect in our neighbor while being completely ignorant of our much greater fault.

In the story you just told, I ask myself, where is the love & can’t come up with an answer.

 

[Lee1]

I believe we should be quiet and respectful of others in church prior to mass. Many people want to sit peacefully, gather their thoughts and dwell upon pious thoughts and pray a little too.

Chatter isn’t conducive to that and there’s time after mass for that, maybe in the foyer before leaving, that’s what happens at my church.

 

[Dlee]

Sorry for this situation and the rude words of some. It’s just difficult to deal with these issues. As a society we feel so entitled to do whatever suits us, ignoring the needs of others. I noticed yesterday that the elderly lady I sit by, that we were more chatty than normal before Mass. With Thanksgiving and such, she had many issues that she needed to share. I don’t know the answer. Yes, we should all be prayerful and concentrating on the presence of Christ, yet as humans we need community. If someone asked me to stop talking, I would.

 

[PetraG]

Me? I’d find out who the wife of Mister “Sounds Like My Wife,” is, and let her know about what he said, LOL.

Seriously, this is beyond the pale. Since the aggrieved party started with the correct first effort, which was to talk to his brother(s) directly, and was not only ignored but rebuffed very rudely, I think that the pastor really ought to be notified, names ought to be named, and those who go to him ought to ask how he wants them to proceed.

 

[JMMJ]

If people are that rude to be sharing their turkey techniques in a church sanctuary while there are others there who are clearly trying to pray…then I wouldn’t even bother with asking them to alter their behavior. They are clueless. I would call the pastor and have a word, especially if it wasn’t a one-time incident.

I might even approach the offenders and introduce myself and find out what their names are, in a genuinely, kind, get to know your fellow parishoners kind of way. Then report their bad behavior.

The reason I suggest this is that the ultimate goal is to get the bad behavior to stop while at the same time maintaining peace and calm in the sanctuary. It is a difficult balance and the clergy should be more than willing to help with this. What I would NOT do is report it in a tattle-tale style. Express your genuine concern for the issue and humbly ask assistance from the clergy in taking care of it.