Loud people at mass

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I try to go to mass regularly. Now, in my parish we have this lady who really responds in a very loud voice! She is heard way above everyone else. I really do try not to listen to her but I am finding it hard.

I have moved to the rear of the church but still she booms out her replies! 🙂

Now, I know I shouldnt be concerned about her and concentrate on my mass, as such, but it is proving to be very hard. The priest has looked at her too when she is so loud!

Last week she didn’t attend mass and I was relieved! I know I shouldnt think like that.

What do you guys do when this happens in your church?

I know I am wrong in even mentioning it on her but just wondered what your experiences were with people who love to be above everyone else at mass and how you get past it.

Thanks all and God Bless You
 
Maybe talk to her privately? Perhaps she doesn’t know how she is affecting her fellows? Surely tis better than gritting your teeth 🙂
 
St Therese had a similar issue with a nun. She got so annoyed by the nun makings an annoying noise with her rosary that she almost couldn’t bare it. She decided to offer the noise up as a symphony to God.
 
You know, for me it was perhaps a year or so before meeting my wife. It was the typical parents with small children sitting right behind me making a huge racket. At first I knee jerked to the anger / shut your kid up response. But thankfully, God offered me the grace to pray for patience and charity.

I did, though to be perfectly honest I suffered terribly that whole mass. But, in subsequent masses I stopped noticing the kids as much, oh I hear them but they don’t bother. Of course now I’m the parent with the screaming (actually usually singing) toddler and noisy baby.

Edit
And when I say singing, I mean we went once to the most traditional OF parish in our diocese. They had just finished singing Sanctus (yep, in Latin) and Veronica decided to punctuate it at the end with “Ee i ee i oh!”
 
There’s a woman in my parish who recites and sings all the responses incredibly loud. Sometimes she holds the last note of a song 5 seconds longer than the rest of the congregation. In her case, she is obviously mentally ill, so I think a lot of people just discount anything she says or does.

Yesterday, she came in at the end of our Mass, early for the next Mass. She shouted the Communion hymn as loud as she could, and shouted “Amen!” as the priest gave the longer final blessing. Our pastor then chose to address this “elephant in the room.” After the last “Amen,” he paused, looked at the congregation, and said something like, “Well, may be you all are just not loud enough. May be if you all were a little louder, she wouldn’t need to be so loud.” I imagine that stopped everyone from rolling their eyes at her - at least for the moment.

It can be distracting when someone is too loud, or too fast, or out of tune. One thing that has helped me, is to thank God for their zeal, and pray that I become more fervent in my own faith.
 
ajecphotos said:
I try to go to mass regularly. Now, in my parish we have this lady who really responds in a very loud voice! She is heard way above everyone else. I really do try not to listen to her but I am finding it hard.

I have moved to the rear of the church but still she booms out her replies! 🙂

Now, I know I shouldnt be concerned about her and concentrate on my mass, as such, but it is proving to be very hard. The priest has looked at her too when she is so loud!

Last week she didn’t attend mass and I was relieved! I know I shouldnt think like that.

What do you guys do when this happens in your church?

I know I am wrong in even mentioning it on her but just wondered what your experiences were with people who love to be above everyone else at mass and how you get past it.

Thanks all and God Bless You
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I wonder if she is hard of hearing. I’d speak to the priest before I’d speak to her myself if she’s that loud. She most likely is bothering everyone else as well. Maybe he can speak to her in priavte. That’s a tricky situation.
 
ajecphotos said:
… lady who really responds in a very loud voice! She is heard way above everyone else.
…she booms out her replies! 🙂

Now, I know I shouldnt be concerned about her and concentrate on my mass, as such, but it is proving to be very hard. The priest has looked at her too when she is so loud!

Last week she didn’t attend mass and I was relieved! I know I shouldnt think like that.

What do you guys do…

…what your experiences were with people who love to be above everyone else at mass and how you get past it.
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There may be a number of reason why she does not follow the socially acceptable range of speaking or singing.

She may have issues on the autism spectrum. She may have hearing problems. She may have a family background of speaking very loudly. She could have a number of disabilities that either affect her social skills, communications skills, speech, hearing, etc.

One thing to do that will not only help you understand why she does this, but also may give you a way to see her in a friendly light - in a light that says you are happy she is at Mass with you ---- that is to greet her after Mass. Spend a few minutes with small talk after Mass with her every few weeks. As you learn more about her - you may understand why her social skills in volume seem off the normally acceptable measure. You may see her as another child of God coming to worship with all her human frailty.

I would not discuss with her that she is too loud - just learn a bit about who she is.

May God lead you to peace when you hear her voice in Mass.
 
RoseMary131 said:
There may be a number of reason why she does not follow the socially acceptable range of speaking or singing.

She may have issues on the autism spectrum. She may have hearing problems. She may have a family background of speaking very loudly. She could have a number of disabilities that either affect her social skills, communications skills, speech, hearing, etc.

One thing to do that will not only help you understand why she does this, but also may give you a way to see her in a friendly light - in a light that says you are happy she is at Mass with you ---- that is to greet her after Mass. Spend a few minutes with small talk after Mass with her every few weeks. As you learn more about her - you may understand why her social skills in volume seem off the normally acceptable measure. You may see her as another child of God coming to worship with all her human frailty.

I would not discuss with her that she is too loud - just learn a bit about who she is.

May God lead you to peace when you hear her voice in Mass.
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[SIGN]Two thumbs up![/SIGN]
 
Pray for her.

And perhaps ask her to pray for you.

Many people become prayer partners.

Just a few seconds once a day.

Maybe for just 30 days.

Put a little stickie on your mirror with her name to remind you.
 
ajecphotos said:
I try to go to mass regularly. Now, in my parish we have this lady who really responds in a very loud voice! She is heard way above everyone else. I really do try not to listen to her but I am finding it hard.

I have moved to the rear of the church but still she booms out her replies! 🙂

Now, I know I shouldnt be concerned about her and concentrate on my mass, as such, but it is proving to be very hard. The priest has looked at her too when she is so loud!

Last week she didn’t attend mass and I was relieved! I know I shouldnt think like that.

What do you guys do when this happens in your church?

I know I am wrong in even mentioning it on her but just wondered what your experiences were with people who love to be above everyone else at mass and how you get past it.

Thanks all and God Bless You
Click to expand...
Encourage her to join the choir.
 
ajecphotos said:
I try to go to mass regularly. Now, in my parish we have this lady who really responds in a very loud voice! She is heard way above everyone else. I really do try not to listen to her but I am finding it hard.

I have moved to the rear of the church but still she booms out her replies! 🙂

Now, I know I shouldnt be concerned about her and concentrate on my mass, as such, but it is proving to be very hard. The priest has looked at her too when she is so loud!

Last week she didn’t attend mass and I was relieved! I know I shouldnt think like that.

What do you guys do when this happens in your church?

I know I am wrong in even mentioning it on her but just wondered what your experiences were with people who love to be above everyone else at mass and how you get past it.

Thanks all and God Bless You
Click to expand...
Sit next to her and follow the instuctions on the duct tape.

No seroiusly, thank God she is responding. We have a gentleman from a nursing home who attends Mass. Physically he is fine but he has some hearing loss and has some mental disablility. He responds loudly at Mass, and also makes sure he greets everyone at the sign of peace. After while you don’t even notice how loud he is, he is just praising God like everyone els.
 
clem456 said:
Sit next to her and follow the instuctions on the duct tape.

No seroiusly, thank God she is responding. We have a gentleman from a nursing home who attends Mass. Physically he is fine but he has some hearing loss and has some mental disablility. He responds loudly at Mass, and also makes sure he greets everyone at the sign of peace. After while you don’t even notice how loud he is, he is just praising God like everyone els.
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Ah yes, as I sometimes remind my wife, “Dear, silence is golden and duct tape is silver. Take your pick.” I, then, immediately head for the front door, car keys in hand. :rotfl:
 
Tomster said:
Ah yes, as I sometimes remind my wife, “Dear, silence is golden and duct tape is silver. Take your pick.” I, then, immediately head for the front door, car keys in hand. :rotfl:
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What? You don’t stay around for the abuse to follow?
In my house, I would rather endure the minute or two of verbal correction than the week-long cold shoulder.
 
Immediately report her to the Bishop and revoke her baptism! She is disturbing the quiet AND UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES MUST THIS EVER BE ALLOWED!!! :eek:

Really? This is your big problem? My mother would tell you to say a prayer to God thanking HIm you have the ability to hear.
 
She’s probably hard of hearing. Isn’t it too bad that our fellow parishioners aren’t as perfect as we are?
 
clem456 said:
What? You don’t stay around for the abuse to follow?
In my house, I would rather endure the minute or two of verbal correction than the week-long cold shoulder.
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Sometimes, for me anyway going on 40 years of marriage, a week’s worth of the cold shoulder is blessing. :rotfl::rotfl:

Silence, wonderful silence. That’s one reason why I prefer the EF.

The early desert monks were on to something.
 
ajecphotos said:
I know I am wrong in even mentioning it on her but just wondered what your experiences were with **people who love to be above everyone else ** at mass and how you get past it.
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The phrase I bolded is the key to your problem. You have decided that her reason for being loud is that she loves to be above everyone else. Learn to separate your observations (loud singing) from your imagination (she loves to be above others).

In traditional Catholic morality it is actually considered the sin of rash judgment if we make judgments about interior states of others such as their motives. I recommend that you go to Confession about your problem. The grace of the Sacrament may give you strength to deal with the situation.
 
I know what you mean bye loud people at mass,were they drown out others,but I sing out loud too ,because I ,am dare to sing to please God,and if I have a good voice,then it shouldn,t bother anyone to hear me. In fact I was told, what awonderful voice and they injoy hearing me sing.
 
It could be that she has issues with her hearing, so please don’t make assumptions.

I was in a novitiate before and I got used to doing the offices and Mass at a slightly faster speed. Now that I have left religious life I get exasperated by the slow slow speed that the congregation goes at, it’s like one word every 10 seconds. Mass takes an hour and a half instead of an hour.

I tried attending Mass at a church from a different ethnic group and the children and infants made so much noise you could not hear the homily and scripture readings. Mean while the nursery and crying room stayed un-used.

Really slow Texans praying in a drawel beats a Mass you can’t hear.
 
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