Gabbing in church....a rant

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kristie_m

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So I went to our church’s reconciliation service last night and after the service, as they allowed folks to go to individual confessions, our liturgy coordinator had to address the congregation at least FIVE times asking them to keep their voices down so that the priests could hear the confessions!!!

Now, I don’t have any objections to someone saying a quick hello to a friend they might see, but there were people in there talking on their cell phones, making plans for the weekend with their friends…not in near whispers, but full out cocktail party voices.

Each time they were addressed and asked to be more respectful, the noise would die down…but a few minutes later, it was back to full volume. And there were kids there…kids who look to the adults in their lives for clues on how to behave in church.

Okay, I’m sorry…I just really needed to vent. On the upside, with all that noise, I guess it’s guarenteed that no one overheard my confession. 😃
 
yes I spent half my time at reconciliation services this week shusing people. adults were worse than the teens. we kept the teens occupied with stations and rosary while they waited, but adults chose not to join it, but many carried on like they were at the local bar, I had to ask them more than once to please set a good example for the students. our parish is pretty good about talking in church, but our tiny vestibule is apparently DMZ, as is the portico outside. people outside can clearly be heard in church when they are talking conversationally, so they need to be shushed when a service is going on as well.

my next rant will be on the topic of gum in church, so I won’t go on about the drink boxes, soda cans and chip bags I picked up after the service—none of which in the area where teens were sitting.
 
We are living in the impolite age of Bart Simpson, in a nation with a pretty loud and outspoken national demeanor.

I’m not suprised, but I don’t think that there is any real solution except to wait it out.
 
It was the extreme flipside at our reconciliation mass. All you could hear were barely audible whispers.
 
Is this one of those parishes that has you welcome your neighbor before Mass?
 
Loud excessive talking while waiting is rude and does not allow one to pray and be properly prepared for a Good confession.

A situation though that I noticed at my parish. When everyone was silent in the hall ways waiting their turn, I could hear the person who was with the priest.:eek: I made the whole line of people back up so as not to be close to the door of the confessional. I just thank God that all I heard was voices and not the actual sin being confessed.
 
Lorik said:
Is this one of those parishes that has you welcome your neighbor before Mass?
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Depends on the priest, but some do. Even so, once they’ve greeted one another they generally have sense enough to pipe down so the mass can continue.
 
puzzleannie said:
yes I spent half my time at reconciliation services this week shusing people. adults were worse than the teens. we kept the teens occupied with stations and rosary while they waited, but adults chose not to join it, but many carried on like they were at the local bar, I had to ask them more than once to please set a good example for the students. our parish is pretty good about talking in church, but our tiny vestibule is apparently DMZ, as is the portico outside. people outside can clearly be heard in church when they are talking conversationally, so they need to be shushed when a service is going on as well.

my next rant will be on the topic of gum in church, so I won’t go on about the drink boxes, soda cans and chip bags I picked up after the service—none of which in the area where teens were sitting.
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My thing is water bottles. Now I an a person who carried a water bottle everywhere, but even I can go for an hour without a drink of water. We find lots of them following a service with a lot of people who are not regulars.
 
Haven’t seen this very often, but my rant would be about people bringing their Starbucks in to church. Don’t think I’m going to go there today… .:eek:
 
Okay we have never had a reconciliation service in our parish. A a matter of fact since I joined the RCC I have never been to onenor do I know hwat they are At this time of the year its just confessions every night at church as well as nightly day masses.
 
The local parish has instrumental music (organ, bells, flute) playing during the confession part of the service. It helps set a reverent mood and can act as an audio shield.
Deborah
 
Deborah said:
The local parish has instrumental music (organ, bells, flute) playing during the confession part of the service. It helps set a reverent mood and can act as an audio shield.
Deborah
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interesting idea…I’ll have to throw that one out to our liturgy director and see what she thinks. It’s got to be better than constantly telling people to pipe down. 👍
 
kristie_m said:
interesting idea…I’ll have to throw that one out to our liturgy director and see what she thinks. It’s got to be better than constantly telling people to pipe down. 👍
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My parish has music during confessions but then my congregation would never need to be shushed anyway. It’s more to assist privacy. Be aware though that the sort of people who will yak even when asked over the PA not to are just as likely to take “background music” as carte blanche to yabber just as they do with “elevator music” in other places. (BTDT!) Might not solve the problem but it’s worth a try.

Me, I’d be all for two warnings and then an announcement from the celebrant that due to non-compliance with direct requests for cooperation this service is now over, please leave. 😦
 
Maybe we need a new paragraph in the guidelines for church architecture adding a requirement that the building be a Faraday cage. That might stop cell phone use in church.

Matthew
 
We are becoming a nation of cell phones and water bottles. When the time capsule from this age is dug up, it will have those 2 things in it.
As far as the yakking, I know EXACTLY what you mean. I have heard details of peoples lives I would be embarrased to share with anyone, let alone someone in church.And it’s the OLDER people that don’t seem to think anything of yapping away. I head off to Mass early, for some QUIET prayer time. Not these folks. They talk about Joe’s bowel surgery. And how Mabel’s kids don’t go to church anymore.It’s soooooooooo frustrating. No one seems to care that they are in church. All they care about is being seen. Ever see the folks with the “lighthouse necks”? (spinning around like they are auditioning for an "Exorcist " sequel. Ok…I’ll get off my soap box.

Kathy
 
kristie_m said:
So I went to our church’s reconciliation service last night and after the service, as they allowed folks to go to individual confessions, our liturgy coordinator had to address the congregation at least FIVE times asking them to keep their voices down so that the priests could hear the confessions!!!

Now, I don’t have any objections to someone saying a quick hello to a friend they might see, but there were people in there talking on their cell phones, making plans for the weekend with their friends…not in near whispers, but full out cocktail party voices.

Each time they were addressed and asked to be more respectful, the noise would die down…but a few minutes later, it was back to full volume. And there were kids there…kids who look to the adults in their lives for clues on how to behave in church.

Okay, I’m sorry…I just really needed to vent. On the upside, with all that noise, I guess it’s guarenteed that no one overheard my confession. 😃
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Hi Kristie. This topic has popped up again and again. I think it is a real problem in our present times. People just don’t seem to know (or remember?) how to behave in God’s House. Sad, isn’t it?

Between now and the last time I read about this topic… something else happened at our parish… which seems to be related to this problem.

My mother and I go to visit the Blessed Sacrament about twice a week, weather permitting. Well, about a week ago… we arrived and entered through the back of the Adoration Chapel. The Chapel was empty… except for ONE guy. He was sitting in the front row, literally inches from the Tabernacle… yakking loudly on his cell phone.

I was like… :bigyikes: I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing. He turned around, when we came in and then he quickly got up, and left the Adoration Chapel. However, he lingered… just outside the door… continuing his loud yakking… and making it very difficult for us to pray.

He was finally “chased off” by a church janitor, who came out to vacuum the Narthex. I felt he left, because he couldn’t hear his cell phone conversation with the vacuum cleaner going.

So, he didn’t see fit to give the respect of his silence to Our Lord, in the Tabernacle… and it took a janitor going about the business of cleaning God’s House… to run this guy off.

I think he was a Catholic, too… because he was holding a Rosary. So sad, that even some Catholics these days… don’t seem to know enough to be quiet in God’s House. 😦
 
MarieVeronica said:
My mother and I go to visit the Blessed Sacrament about twice a week, weather permitting. Well, about a week ago… we arrived and entered through the back of the Adoration Chapel. The Chapel was empty… except for ONE guy. He was sitting in the front row, literally inches from the Tabernacle… yakking loudly on his cell phone.
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Oh man, that’s just WRONG!!!

I wish there was a way to educate people a little better about proper decorum when in the presence of the Lord. But probably the ones who need it most would be too busy on their phones to bother listening…:banghead:
 
It is rare when it happens in our church, but it happened last week just after morning Mass finished. About twenty people or more gather after weekday Mass to say the Rosary, and this weekday, three people were talking loudly at the church door, but inside the church. everyone could hear them, we could hardly hear the person saying the rosary. After about five minutes they left the premises,

They don’t seem to realize how rude it is.
 
Deborah said:
The local parish has instrumental music (organ, bells, flute) playing during the confession part of the service. It helps set a reverent mood and can act as an audio shield.
Deborah
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My parish does the same thing, except they use recordings of Gregorian chant. Nobody talks, and nobody overhears what is being said in the confessionals, either. 🙂
 
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