Do any Protestants see neighbours reading Church bulletins during the service?

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lak611

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As a Catholic, one thing that really bothers me is seeing people reading the Church bulletin during Mass and not participating in the Mass. I’m not sure if Protestant Churches have bulletins every week like Catholic Churches do. Have any of you noticed your neighbours reading a bulletin during the service, rather than listening to the minister or participating in the service?
 
At the Presbyterian church that I am a musician at, the bulletin is part of the worship program which is handed out at the main entrance to the sanctuary. The worship leaders, hymn selections, prayer responses, scripture readings, and sermon topic and notes are listed in the front part of the program. The announcements, calendar, and activities, are listed in the pages after the worship notes. And yes, some congregants do read the bulletin portion during the worship service. But for the most part, they are in the moment and pay close attention to every aspect of the service. I am impressed with their attentiveness and active participation.
 
lak611 said:
As a Catholic, one thing that really bothers me is seeing people reading the Church bulletin during Mass and not participating in the Mass. I’m not sure if Protestant Churches have bulletins every week like Catholic Churches do. Have any of you noticed your neighbours reading a bulletin during the service, rather than listening to the minister or participating in the service?
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I’ve seen this problem before. The best way is to hand out the bulletin at the end of the mass, and that is how my parish does.
 
water said:
I’ve seen this problem before. The best way is to hand out the bulletin at the end of the mass, and that is how my parish does.
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The problem is they have them in racks in the vestibule in most parishes because they don’t have people to hand them out after Mass.(That may go along with the thread about lack of fellowship in the Catholic Church–lack of people who want to volunteer to do things). So people pick one up before they enter the church. 😦 I was asking if Protestants had this problem because I’ve been to Methodist and Lutheran services and did not see anybody reading the bulletin during the services.
 
yes, various protestants do read the bulletin during the service because it often contains the order of worship, hymns etc, or notes on the bible passage and sermon for study.

there are several Catholic churches here who also include the order of Mass, proper prayers, readings, responses, hymn in the bulletin, so people use it for the same reason.

for casual reading during an over-long homily–poor etiquette.
 
Our bulletins are mailed to our homes about mid-week.

We have a worship aid with the readings, responses, hymns, etc (home made missel, basically).
 
The bulletins in my Catholic Church have the readings also and you can use them instead of the missal, but I don’t think I have seen anyone read them at Mass or use them for that reason.

The attentiveness is generally proportionate to the fervor and understanding of the faith that each congregation has. If you have lackluster enthusiasm for the faith, they probably do not know what the Catholic faith is.
I would see how you could get involved in Bible Study\Faith Study, this can do wonders.

God Bless
Scylla
 
The ushers put them out after mass. We have even considered waiting until Father exits the church so that if you leave before him you will have to wait to get a bulletin if you want one.
 
Beno said:
At the Presbyterian church that I am a musician at, the bulletin is part of the worship program which is handed out at the main entrance to the sanctuary. The worship leaders, hymn selections, prayer responses, scripture readings, and sermon topic and notes are listed in the front part of the program. The announcements, calendar, and activities, are listed in the pages after the worship notes. And yes, some congregants do read the bulletin portion during the worship service. But for the most part, they are in the moment and pay close attention to every aspect of the service. I am impressed with their attentiveness and active participation.
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I have seen plenty of folks at both Lutheran and Presbytrian services reading the announcements part of the bulletin–either during the sermon or during the ‘communion’ time. Also, plenty of chatting during those times also. At our current parish, I have seen folks flipping through the bulletin during the service but I haven’t heard any chatting, thankfully!!
 
lak611 said:
As a Catholic, one thing that really bothers me is seeing people reading the Church bulletin during Mass and not participating in the Mass. I’m not sure if Protestant Churches have bulletins every week like Catholic Churches do. Have any of you noticed your neighbours reading a bulletin during the service, rather than listening to the minister or participating in the service?
Click to expand...
When I was Protestant, the churches I attended passed out bulletins with the order of worship and a few announcement type things in them – they were much smaller than the ones I’ve seen in Catholic parishes, so there wasn’t much to read. It wasn’t uncommon to see people falling asleep, though, since we spent much more time sitting than Catholics do at Mass, and the sermons were generally longer, which tended to put some people to sleep:)
 
water said:
I’ve seen this problem before. The best way is to hand out the bulletin at the end of the mass, and that is how my parish does.
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Same here. The Ushers have the bulletins in hand at the door AFTER Mass. 👍
 
scylla said:
The bulletins in my Catholic Church have the readings also and you can use them instead of the missal, but I don’t think I have seen anyone read them at Mass or use them for that reason.

The attentiveness is generally proportionate to the fervor and understanding of the faith that each congregation has. If you have lackluster enthusiasm for the faith, they probably do not know what the Catholic faith is.
I would see how you could get involved in Bible Study\Faith Study, this can do wonders.

God Bless
Scylla
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I don’t read the bulletins during Mass. I never pick them up until after Mass. We do have Bible study and I attend it. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be able to get the irreverant people reading the bulletins to go to Bible study. The same ones that read the bulletins during Mass usually run out like stampeding buffalo when it’s over, sometimes even leaving before Father processes down the aisle.
 
Veritas41 said:
. It wasn’t uncommon to see people falling asleep, though, since we spent much more time sitting than Catholics do at Mass, and the sermons were generally longer, which tended to put some people to sleep:)
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That is pretty common in many Catholic churches too. 😦
 
A dear friend of mine is hard of hearing. He says that he reads his weekly bulletin during the ‘holy mumble’. He clearly does not hear a word that is being preached. Better to read something holy than to be doing something not relevant
 
Sixtus said:
A dear friend of mine is hard of hearing. He says that he reads his weekly bulletin during the ‘holy mumble’. He clearly does not hear a word that is being preached. Better to read something holy than to be doing something not relevant
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In this case, it makes sense. It is similar to me when I attend a Spanish mass, during the homily, I do not understand anything; therefore, I pray.
 
I want to bring my laptop to service, but few churches offer wireless access in the church.😃
 
Sixtus said:
A dear friend of mine is hard of hearing. He says that he reads his weekly bulletin during the ‘holy mumble’. He clearly does not hear a word that is being preached. Better to read something holy than to be doing something not relevant
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I would rather read my Bible.
 
lak611 said:
What about reading your Bible? To me, that’s better than reading the bulletin.
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I can do a quick google search of any Bible verse, Church council, or papal encyclical. Much easier than bringing all those books to church.
 
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