Feeling shut out at my church

  • Thread starter Thread starter annamc
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
I’ve done it too especially in the winter where my coats and purse are all over the bench.
 
Last edited:
OurGodIsWithUs said:
I’m a 19yo non white catholic male. My parish at San Diego is majority white. You know where this is going. Although the front of the church is crowded, when I sit in a pew at the front, no one sits next to me. I pretty much have the entire pew to myself. It sends a message.
Click to expand...
I had this done to me when I lived in the Midwest but when I moved to the East coast that didn’t happen. In fact people who are familiar to me always sit next to me.

I think nothing of it. If they don’t sit next to me because I’m not white, that’s their problem, not mine.
 
Last edited:
@OurGodIsWithUs

I’m genuinely sorry that you’’ve experienced this. I’ll put you—and your fellow parishioners—into my personal prayer intentions book. Keep strong your faith, in spite of how parishioners behave… May God abundantly bless you and keep you.
 
The Mass I attend is not heavily attended. I am in the middle of the pew, and I might have a person on my far right, and a person on my far left. When a group of three comes and sits to my left, I generally scoot to the right a little and drag my purse along with me, so that there is enough room between us that we don’t feel crowded.
 
I, too, found that I wasn’t seeing much of my RCIA fellows, once I had officially joined the Church. Two were quite young, anyway, and the only other older one who was a candidate with me goes to the Mass in the early afternoon. I go at the crack of dawn! So, maybe at the Easter Vigil, we say hello to each other.

Our catechist has told us that within a couple of years, about 60 percent of those who went through RCIA are no longer practicing the faith. So, all in all, RCIA is probably not a good place to hope to form long friendships.

Something you said reminds me of a story about a church with bats in the rafters of the nave. The pastor got a cat to sleep in the nave, but it didn’t do much to discourage the bats. The next pastor got more intense and had the whole place fumigated. The bats moved out till it was safe and then moved back in and continued to worry the congregants. Handful of years later, a new pastor is installed, and within a few weeks all the bats were gone. Everyone said, Father, the bats are gone—you are a wonder! He said, No, no, all I did was baptize and confirm them all, and I knew within a short time I’d never see them again.

I guess that’s insider gallows humor addressing the rate of departure from the Catholic Church.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top