Chain letter found at your pew?

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I’ve heard of chain letters but never at Mass. 🤷

I tend to think they’re just a superstition.
 
“Superstitious novenas” are pretty common.

“Make 81 copies and leave 9 in Church each day for 9 days. NEVER KNOWN TO FAIL!”

The irony is that these usually are attached to prayers which, in and of themselves, are fine and good. If people would just trustfully pray and offer the devotion as a novena, there would be no problem. There wouldn’t even be an issue if it didn’t have the entire. “If you do this then SURELY you will get you wish,” element inherant. A pastor might not care, in that case, if you left some at Church to promote devotion or offer someone the encouragement of prayer. But as it is, when people leave these sorts of things in the pew or a parish rack or by the statues, pastors really have no other choice than to take them and toss it in the trash.

The unending forwarded emails with these sorts of “promises” or even threats attached are just an extension of that sort of thing. While I don’t think I have seen copies printed out and left in Church yet, it wouldn’t surprize me if some people did. And they’d get dealt with in exactly the same way… finding their place in the circular file.
 
water said:
I read this thread on chain letter: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=10450&highlight=chain+letter

and I remember that at one Sunday, our pastor talked about chain letter, and he said he would put them away if he found any.

Has your pastor had to deal with this yet?
and what do you think about “chain letter”?

Thanks!
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I think people should not leave litter, cookies, cracker crumbs, in the church for someone else to clean up. If you brought it with you take it with you.
 
chicago said:
The unending forwarded emails with these sorts of “promises” or even threats attached are just an extension of that sort of thing.
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Yes, I and my girlfriend got this email once, and I explained to my g/f not to worry about the threat.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
I think people should not leave litter, cookies, cracker crumbs, in the church for someone else to clean up. If you brought it with you take it with you.
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Well, in the case of leaving behind prayers - many people who do this think they are doing it right - after all, convincing one another to pray is what we all need to do. However, some of them go extreme about this.
 
A former pastor, now retired, addressed the issue directly from the pulpit. Somebody had been leaving “literature” in the pews and in the back of the church.
A new policy was established. No more leaving “literature” in the rack without permission.
He also attacked superstition in the way of chain letters and novenas that promise specific miracles. He is a no nonsense type of preacher. Our faith is in God alone.
When I receive a chain letter e-mail, I automatically hit delete.
 
We had a retired Bishop who regularily [sp] (once a month or so) said mass at our college chapel and one day he devoted a homily to this and said that it was deeply offensive to God.
 
Our church also has a “no materials left in the rack without permission” policy. Superstitious stuff left behind just makes more work for the custodian.

As far as email chain letters go, I hit the delete button as soon as I recognize one for what it is. One time, though, a friend sent me a chain letter which threatened that the opposite of my wish would happen if I didn’t pass it on. I wrote her back and told her that I was not passing it along (and to please refrain from sending me such things in the future)…and that I had just wished that I would gain 10 pounds. Of course, my refusal to forward the email did NOT make the opposite happen; I’m just as chubby as I was the day I sent it. 😛
 
In the olden days before the easy access we have to copy machines and printers, people copied those prayers out by hand to leave in church. At least then there was a certain amount of effort and time spent which may have been ever so slightly meritorious. Now, we go to the copier at work and make nine or 81 copies on somebody else’s paper and leave them in the pew. The only good thing about that is going into the church nine days in a row.

The emails are even worse. Every once in a while, I’m slightly tempted by the promise, but I just say, “Jesus, I trust in You,” and hit the delete button.

Betsy
 
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