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

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puzzleannie said:
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.
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Most all the Catholic churches here do this.
for casual reading during an over-long homily–poor etiquette.
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Sad but true, especially when the announcements in the bulletin are usually repeated at the end of Mass anyways.
 
If you, yourself, are fully engaged in the homily and in participating, then how do you find the time to pay so much attention to some people reading bulletins?

This whole thing reminds me of how some children, after a group prayer, will say, “I saw [insert name]'s eyes open while we were praying!”
 
Hi,

I ditto what the other protestants said about the bulletins. When I first sit I take a glance but when the service starts I pay attention. I do like to know the outline of the service. Im one of those people that has to know what is going on and in what order and who is doing what during the offering:o

I have never really noticed if anyone in my church does this because I only look around the room when we are singing and everyone is always up and singing. Other then that Im paying attention.👍 This Sunday Ill look around:thumbsup: 😛
 
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.
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How about people who keep looking at what other people are doing instead of focusing all of their attention up front? 😃
lak611 said:
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 used to do this all the time when I had fallen away from the true faith and was attending a NDC church. The preacher would usually be up there just saying things I had long ago learned in my religion classes in collge, so there was no point in listenign to him.

I’ll still do during Mass if the congregation is singing a hymn I don’t know (how can you sing along if you don’t know it?), or, worse yet, if it’s some choir that sings while the congregation sits silently. Never understood the point of making people listen to choirs, except maybe as some form of penance or mortification.
 
sea_oat said:
If you, yourself, are fully engaged in the homily and in participating, then how do you find the time to pay so much attention to some people reading bulletins?

This whole thing reminds me of how some children, after a group prayer, will say, “I saw [insert name]'s eyes open while we were praying!”
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I pay attention and participate but do not stare or get that drawn in. I’ll glance around momentarily once or twice. It’s like anything else I do where I never fix my attention on one person so much that it’s like staring. Even in a job interview, it’s not good to look at the interviewer non-stop and never blink or look down at one’s notes.
 
lak611 said:
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.
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I know what you mean, and I find myself being irritated at this type of thing. However, I honestly feel that this irritatedness is not a good thing. At least these people are in church. At least they are reading the bulletin. Wouldn’t it be worse if they weren’t even coming to church? What if they had no desire at all to know what is in the bulletin? At least they’re not Mormons, or JWs.
 
Well, to answer the original question, I haven’t went to a Protestant worship service since I was a kid, but here’s how I remember it.

The bulletins were pretty much designed to be read before the service started, and there were even mazes, or little games in them for kids. There was no presence of the Eucharist, or anything, so showing reverence inside the building wasn’t as big of a deal.

Don’t get me wrong; showing respect was VERY important in God’s house, but it certainly wasn’t considered disrespectful to chit-chat, laugh, greet each other, read a bulletin, etc. before the service started. Actually, it was expected. It’s one of the cultural differences many Protestants will notice when they go to a Catholic Mass.
 
sea_oat said:
Well, to answer the original question, I haven’t went to a Protestant worship service since I was a kid, but here’s how I remember it.

The bulletins were pretty much designed to be read before the service started, and there were even mazes, or little games in them for kids. There was no presence of the Eucharist, or anything, so showing reverence inside the building wasn’t as big of a deal. Don’t get me wrong; showing respect was VERY important in God’s house, but it certainly wasn’t considered disrespectful to chit-chat, laugh, greet each other, read a bulletin, etc. before the service started. Actually, it was expected.
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I think you hit the nail on the head here. You mentioned reading bulletins BEFORE the service started. As I had mentioned earlier, I’ve been to Protestant services and never seen anybody reading a bulletin during the sermon or other parts of the service. Only the Catholics read the bulletin during the sermon/homily from what I’ve seen. I think in many cases, our Protestant brothers and sisters have more respect than we do in God’s house.
 
Nobody reads the bulletins during Mass at my parish, because the ushers only put them out after the Mass is over. Then, when all the people have gone, the ushers collect the remaining bulletins and put them away again. At the end of the next Mass, out come the bulletins once again. The ushers repeat this process for each Mass. 🙂
 
lak611 said:
I think you hit the nail on the head here. You mentioned reading bulletins BEFORE the service started. As I had mentioned earlier, I’ve been to Protestant services and never seen anybody reading a bulletin during the sermon or other parts of the service. Only the Catholics read the bulletin during the sermon/homily from what I’ve seen. I think in many cases, our Protestant brothers and sisters have more respect than we do in God’s house.
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Oh, there were people who read things (bulletins, Bibles, tracts, etc.), and fell asleep during the sermon. I think that kind of stuff goes on in most denominations, unless you’re Pentacostal, or something. It also probably depends on where you’re at, I guess.
 
CarolAnnSFO said:
Nobody reads the bulletins during Mass at my parish, because the ushers only put them out after the Mass is over. Then, when all the people have gone, the ushers collect the remaining bulletins and put them away again. At the end of the next Mass, out come the bulletins once again. The ushers repeat this process for each Mass. 🙂
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That’s great!🙂 Too bad most parishes don’t have enough volunteers to do that.
 
The bulletins at churchs I have been to often had the words to songs or the Hymn # if using Hymnals, the order of service, an outline of the sermon, Scripture quotes related to the sermon, a place for notes, a list of available classes & services besides the announcements. Some left out the songs and service order. I generally have mine out for notetaking.

Using it to not pay attention: bad form.
 
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