Locked In For Mass

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Never heard of this. Might possibly be illegal. I take it the Altar of repose is within the Church proper?

VERY illegal to lock people in. At least in America.

You can lock people out, but never, ever, in.

 

[Spyridon]

Texas is more like another country than a State - its massive size, extremely unique culture, etc.

 

[EricF]

Really our priest is probably a little paranoid. He was sent halfway around the world, away from his friends and family, into a culture he doesn’t yet fully understand. If securing the doors during Mass helps ease his tension, then it’s a small inexpensive thing to do, whether it’s objectively necessary or not.

 

[pianistclare]

It’s like they are doing an “upper room” thing.
It’s kind of un-CAtholic to lock the doors. IMHO

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Really our priest is probably a little paranoid. He was sent halfway around the world, away from his friends and family, into a culture he doesn’t yet fully understand. If securing the doors during Mass helps ease his tension, then it’s a small inexpensive thing to do, whether it’s objectively necessary or not.

Because locking people in is potentially deadly and wholly illegal.

Locking people out is cruel, and really serves no purpose as someone with homisidal intentions would just come in with everyone else.

 

[Horton]

I believe that the whole locking in and not being able to get out issue has been clarified. The discussion about it being illegal is moot.

 

[TheLittleLady]

I’d be shocked if the Bishop has allowed this.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

I’d be shocked if the Bishop has allowed this.

“Allow” is a loose term. The bishop has very little to do with the day to day running of a parish. While he would be able to say “don’t do that please” for the most part Bishops don’t step into parish matters. If a majority of the parish was fine with it, most would not stand in the way.

All the adoration chapels around me are locked 100% of the time. You must be buzzed in. I suppose if the parish set up that sort of system even the Bishop would have little to complain about. Simply locking out latecomers, however, would make me complain to the Bishop if the priest would not listen.

 

[Xanthippe_Voorhees]

Nobody is locked in, go back and read my earlier post. Our doors operate in such a way that there is no hindrance in exiting the building. The generic term is “panic hardware.” You can exit the building just as you always would. Your fears in this case are 100 percent unfounded.

It’s still silly that he’s locking people out, even if I haven’t read each and every part of your other posts. It’s security theatre and potentially much worse for both parishioners and himself if something should happen–as the attacker would not have to worry about first responders getting in, either.

 

[philipl]

I am thinking they are locking people out, not locking people in.

 

[EricF]

I’m done. May you all have a blessed Easter.

 

[tafan2]

I agree that it is ridiculous to lock the doors during mass for security.
But I will add it is also absurd to lock a Catholic church after mass. A Catholic church should be open all day. How can one visit the Blessed Sacrament? There are a couple if newer churches here that keep them licked during the day, I hated it. Around here, it is almost imposdble to go in a Catholic Church and find it empty, except of course for parishes that lock their doors, and those Catholics quickly forget all about stopping by the church and praying during the day. Sad, very, very sad. Inexcusable

 

[semper_catholicus]

The doors should never be locked for public Holy Mass or other Divine Service.

 

[Horton]

I agree they shouldn’t but in today’s culture should & shouldn’ts don’t matter to many people. It is unfortunate that any Catholic church be locked but in some areas there really isn’t a choice.

 

[midori]

I think every chapel that I’ve seen in Texas that has Perpetual Adoration, regardless of diocese, has been behind locked doors. The scheduled adorers-- who usually arrive in pairs-- are given a keycode. I don’t know what their rules are about admitting other people in at random… I’m sure it’s good if they’re familiar with you by sight, but I have a rotten memory for names/faces, and I’d feel really weird about letting in a total stranger. I’m sure they have rules. At the church close to me, they’re very friendly about offering you the keycode if they see you at daily Mass or something, but if you’re not on their radar, I can see that it would be difficult to just drop in at random.

 

[semper_catholicus]

That isn’t what Pope Francis said a while ago. He said that Church doors should stay open during mass, despite current security concerns.

 

[JanetF]

Some churches have adoration chapels that are available (coded entry) 24/7. All parishes I have been a member of over the years have been locked shortly after mass is over and unlocked for planned events due to risks of vandalism and theft. It’s sad, but it’s also reality.

 

[Horton]

I’m not disagreeing with you, or Pope Francis. I’m saying that in some areas the pastor may make the decision to lock the doors due to unfortunate societal issues.

 

[casslean]

Around here, it’s normal for churches to be locked, except when there’s a Mass imminent, and then the church gets locked up again about 20 minutes after Mass has concluded. So you don’t get the kind of drop-in-and-pray ability that you might get in other places. I thought that was a bit overboard (and sad) when I first came to Texas. But I’m not used to Texans absolutely losing their collective minds because of the smidgiest possibility of a threat… All of the security measures have been from the diocese, and the parishioners just kind react like-- “Really?”

This makes me kind of sad. I guess I take for granted how available our churches are - for the most part, if I’m having a bad day, I can go to my church at almost any time and sit in front of the Blessed Sacrament to pray. I have a volunteer position that requires me to have access which means I have my own key now, but even when I didn’t, if I went to the church and it was the rare occasion that it was locked, Father would often see me from the glebe house and come out and unlock it. If he was worried about my safety (i.e., he was leaving and I would be by myself) he would lock me in (we have safety doors we can exit without a key).

Our church nearly always has people stopping in to pray during the day.

 

[tafan2]

How do people know the codes? No it is not a reality. We just built a new church in our parish, and it’s not in the best part of town by any means. We install cameras, make sure lighting is adequate, etc, but early on in the project everyone made clear it will not be locked!!! There are.many churches around this diocese in bad parts of town and vandalism is rare, very rare. It is paranoia, it is a bad solution to a problem that likely doesn’t exist, it is laziness on the part of parish leaders to not wanting to plan on making sure it gets locked at 10pm each day. It is horrible IMO.