How long would do you think incense lingers in a building not built for incense?

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My church (Find a few pictures in my albums) is not built for incense, and I proposed a thurifer to my priest and he said no because of allergies, coughing, and of course, the building.

Well, I found a great product of incense from Monastery Icons that is hypoallergenic and pleasant. The only problem is the church is not built for it.

I want to convince my priest that incense would be a very beautiful liturgical part in the Mass. And of course, yours truly will be playing the main role as thurifer. 😉 😛

If there is no distinct picture in my albums, maybe its half the size of a regular cathedral. A high roof too.

Incense will only be used once a week on 1 Sunday Mass.

Thanks!
 
Even older churches weren’t really, built for incense in any special way. It will be the same as any other church. It depends on the type of incense (how long it will linger), but I’m sure the smoke will fade away soon after use, but the fragrance will be around for a little bit after the mass.
 
The incense smell doesn’t linger long. Our church has high ceilings, but only seats 250 people at a time. The incense Mass is the last Mass on Sunday, in our case, the 11 AM Mass. As a warning to people with allergies, it’s advertised in our bulletin, so they can attend another Mass. Later Sunday afternoon, I’ve returned to our Church, I haven’t smelled any lingering effects from the incense. The next Mass is Monday, Daily Mass at 7:30 AM. Still, no lingering incense smell.
 
april32010 said:
it would seem Father doesn’t want incense,why push it ? 🤷
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I guess I didn’t give the whole story.

He didn’t say no as in he didn’t want them.
He said no because of those reasons.

But if those reasons are solved out and no more problems, then he would allow them.

He even said he loves incense and done it at his last parish, as it represents our prayers flying to heaven. 🙂
 
Elizium23 said:
Do not buy anything from Monastery Icons! They are actually not Christian at all and their products are considered spiritually dangerous.

orthodoxinfo.com/general/monasteryicons.aspx
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=629605
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Oh no! I already bought over 175 dollars worth of stuff!

I thought these were spiritually safe because my own parish has some icons from this website! My priest approves of these too!

What should I do? If I get them blessed by my priest, would the “bad blessing” going away… I don’t think they are badly blessed. I’ll call them.
 
I just called Monastery Icons and the representative said they have never heard of such! I will probably never use them until I get them blessed by my priest. Probably never take them out of the package and only open it up until I get to my parish to get it blessed.
 
JD27076 said:
I just called Monastery Icons and the representative said they have never heard of such! I will probably never use them until I get them blessed by my priest. Probably never take them out of the package and only open it up until I get to my parish to get it blessed.
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Nonsense. They have hindu influence in their “icons”. Get your money back. And they are well and fully aware of their status. I’m afraid you’ve been conned.
 
What do you mean by your church not being built for incense? What does that even mean?
 
TheDoors said:
Nonsense. They have hindu influence in their “icons”. Get your money back. And they are well and fully aware of their status. I’m afraid you’ve been conned.
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Well, I will just get them blessed and purified and be fully dedicated to the service to the Lord. Just because a Hindu makes it doesn’t mean its demonic or occultist.
 
JD27076 said:
Oh no! I already bought over 175 dollars worth of stuff!

I thought these were spiritually safe because my own parish has some icons from this website! My priest approves of these too!

What should I do? If I get them blessed by my priest, would the “bad blessing” going away… I don’t think they are badly blessed. I’ll call them.
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Just have the priest do a blessing on them before use.
 
The only reason I can think of as to why a church would not be “built for incense” would concern the fire alarm system and the placement of its smoke detectors. I used to attend a Byzantine parish which met in a converted two-car garage, and the incense permeated everything. It was wonderful!

A great source for quality incense is Orthodox Incense. They are expensive but worth the cost.
 
My church is relatively small, and the incense smoke and scent don’t really linger long depending on how much you use. We’ve never had complaints either. I’ve used a good amount a couple of times, and it didn’t stay for more than one hour. My church was originally supposed to be used for a whole different purpose, so it wasn’t “built” for incense either. If the fire alarm system is an issue, there should be a way to shut it off. The system is located in our sacristy, and it’s abled to be turned on and off whenever we use incense. If Father really doesn’t want incense, you probably won’t be using it even if you get the good stuff. I used Monastery Icons’ incense at my house, and it’s very good.

I don’t know about the whole Hindu stuff supposedly associated with it. I can’t believe EVERYTHING I read online.

If the Monastery Icons stuff creeps you out, then Gloria incense is really good.

orthodoxgoods.com/gloriaincense.html

This is also good high-quality incense:

holycross-hermitage.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?search=action&category=NCNS&keywords=all&template=PDGCommTemplates/TopBotNav/Storebuilder_Type4.html
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I used Monastery Icons’ incense at my house, and it’s very good.

I don’t know about the whole Hindu stuff supposedly associated with it. I can’t believe EVERYTHING I read online.

If the Monastery Icons stuff creeps you out, then Gloria incense is really good.
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An investigation of their public records filings is very revealing and in no way can be called “Internet rumor”. These findings are circulated by reputable people and based on cold, hard facts.
 
JD27076 said:
My church (Find a few pictures in my albums) is not built for incense, and I proposed a thurifer to my priest and he said no because of allergies, coughing, and of course, the building.

Well, I found a great product of incense from Monastery Icons that is hypoallergenic and pleasant. The only problem is the church is not built for it.

I want to convince my priest that incense would be a very beautiful liturgical part in the Mass. And of course, yours truly will be playing the main role as thurifer. 😉 😛

If there is no distinct picture in my albums, maybe its half the size of a regular cathedral. A high roof too.

Incense will only be used once a week on 1 Sunday Mass.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
“Monastery Icons” does not produce very good incense. It’s also not a Christian organization. It’s largely sawdust that has been perfumed with solvents and not pure resins.

I suggest you print and read the treatise on www.SmellsBells.com It covers all your questions in depth.

If you want some superior incense at a much lower price just buy some pure White Copal resin off eBay.
 
I’m betting that there are people who will experience an allergic reaction even if there are no physical allergens to trigger one because of their psychological fear that they have of incense and allergy.

We can scoff at this and say, “Hey, get a grip! Overcome your fear!”

But what we say doesn’t really matter. Psychological fears are very real. If someone sees/smells incense and panics and as a result, has a physical reaction of some kind (e.g., hyperventilating, throat tightening up, gagging, headache, etc.), well…there’s not a whole lot we can do to help them. We really can’t be dismissing someone else’s reaction just because we don’t experience the same reaction.

So I’m guessing that even the most hypo-allergenic incense in the world will cause someone in the congregation to have a reaction, and that would be the end of incense use in the parish, because it would be uncharitable to continue using a product that can trigger any kind of reaction in someone.

It’s too bad, and I know that people rail against this and think that others are just being overly-sensitive–but again, we can’t cavalierly dismiss the way others are just because we don’t experience the same symptoms that they have.

I can see that advertising in advance which Masses will have incense would be kind. But even then, there are probably people who cannot attend any other Mass, and what are those people to do?

In the past, people with allergies would have just put up with their incense allergy, and covered their faces with handkerchiefs or even stood outside the nave and possibly even avoided approaching the front of the nave for Holy Communion. In my opinion, that would probably be a good way for the allergic person to handle incense at Mass if they encounter it. Unfortunately, that’s not the way other people handle these things. Many people get angry that they are being subjected to an allergen that isn’t a requirement for Mass, and they demand that it be eliminated.

And I think that priests are doing the right thing to be concerned for the comfort and SAFETY of their parishioners and visitors. Some allergic reactions can be fatal. I carry an epi pen because of the possibility of asphyxiation from an allergic reaction. (I’m allergic to sulfa drugs, and sometimes these substances are present in meds that we don’t expect them in.)

It’s a shame it’s so complicated! But it is.
 
Cat said:
I’m betting that there are people who will experience an allergic reaction even if there are no physical allergens to trigger one because of their psychological fear that they have of incense and allergy.

We can scoff at this and say, “Hey, get a grip! Overcome your fear!”

But what we say doesn’t really matter. Psychological fears are very real. If someone sees/smells incense and panics and as a result, has a physical reaction of some kind (e.g., hyperventilating, throat tightening up, gagging, headache, etc.), well…there’s not a whole lot we can do to help them. We really can’t be dismissing someone else’s reaction just because we don’t experience the same reaction.

So I’m guessing that even the most hypo-allergenic incense in the world will cause someone in the congregation to have a reaction, and that would be the end of incense use in the parish, because it would be uncharitable to continue using a product that can trigger any kind of reaction in someone.

It’s too bad, and I know that people rail against this and think that others are just being overly-sensitive–but again, we can’t cavalierly dismiss the way others are just because we don’t experience the same symptoms that they have.

I can see that advertising in advance which Masses will have incense would be kind. But even then, there are probably people who cannot attend any other Mass, and what are those people to do?

In the past, people with allergies would have just put up with their incense allergy, and covered their faces with handkerchiefs or even stood outside the nave and possibly even avoided approaching the front of the nave for Holy Communion. In my opinion, that would probably be a good way for the allergic person to handle incense at Mass if they encounter it. Unfortunately, that’s not the way other people handle these things. Many people get angry that they are being subjected to an allergen that isn’t a requirement for Mass, and they demand that it be eliminated.

And I think that priests are doing the right thing to be concerned for the comfort and SAFETY of their parishioners and visitors. Some allergic reactions can be fatal. I carry an epi pen because of the possibility of asphyxiation from an allergic reaction. (I’m allergic to sulfa drugs, and sometimes these substances are present in meds that we don’t expect them in.)

It’s a shame it’s so complicated! But it is.
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Cat, I think eliminating incense due to allergies goes too far. As you said, incense-free Masses can be advertised. My solution to the rare situation in which an allergic person can’t make it to as incense-free Mass is as follows:

Priests can dispense from the Mass obligation. If a person truly can’t make it to the incense-free Mass because of a doctor’s appointment or other such pressing issue, then the priest can dispense this person from Mass attendance on this occasion and can, if the person in question so wishes, dispense Holy Communion outside of Mass.
 
YoungTradCath said:
Cat, I think eliminating incense due to allergies goes too far. As you said, incense-free Masses can be advertised. My solution to the rare situation in which an allergic person can’t make it to as incense-free Mass is as follows:

Priests can dispense from the Mass obligation. If a person truly can’t make it to the incense-free Mass because of a doctor’s appointment or other such pressing issue, then the priest can dispense this person from Mass attendance on this occasion and can, if the person in question so wishes, dispense Holy Communion outside of Mass.
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some should be denied Mass because of a medical condition so you can have incense.
 
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