Mass irreverence

  • Thread starter Thread starter PKoucheravy
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

PKoucheravy

Guest
Has anyone else noticed that people talk A LOT after mass is over nowadays? I’m only 26, but I’ve noticed a definite change in tone after mass is over. When I was a kid, we all kept our mouths shut while we exited the church to shake Father’s hand, but now I’m finding myself the only closed-mouth in the church as we exit.

It strikes me as highly irreverent, just minutes after receiving the Body and Blood, to be chatting about soccer practice and next week’s party as you exit the sanctuary.

I think it would be more understandable if the Blessed Sacrament was kept in a separate side-chapel, but I find that people are just casually chatting it up even with the tabernacle right in front of them.

Thoughts?
 
PKoucheravy said:
Has anyone else noticed that people talk A LOT after mass is over nowadays?
Click to expand...
I was unaware that was considered irreverent. I mean, I don’t know, maybe it is.

We have a period of silence, what’s wrong with chatting as we are leaving after being dismissed?
 
I know exactly what you mean. If someone starts to talk to me I just say “I’ll see you when we’re outside.”

We are in the Presence of God, in His House. It is a sacred place and we should respect that. Also. some people may be still praying or meditating after having received the Eucharist.

I read somewhere that the Host takes about 15 minutes to be absorbed. It just doesn’t seem right to be idly chatting while Jesus is still present in me in a very physical manner.
 
If you don’t want to chat, stay and pray awhile.

Betsy
 
I understand what you mean. It’s not so much that we just received Communion, but rather, some people will stay and offer their thanksgiving, and it is inconsiderate at best to chat as though you’re not still in a place where others are praying.

That said, I think that any kind of idle chatter in front of the tabernacle is irreverant at any time.
 
Conciliar said:
I understand what you mean. It’s not so much that we just received Communion, but rather, some people will stay and offer their thanksgiving, and it is inconsiderate at best to chat as though you’re not still in a place where others are praying.

That said, I think that any kind of idle chatter in front of the tabernacle is irreverant at any time.
Click to expand...
:amen::amen::amen:
 
Your solution is?
PKoucheravy said:
Has anyone else noticed that people talk A LOT after mass is over nowadays? I’m only 26, but I’ve noticed a definite change in tone after mass is over. When I was a kid, we all kept our mouths shut while we exited the church to shake Father’s hand, but now I’m finding myself the only closed-mouth in the church as we exit.

It strikes me as highly irreverent, just minutes after receiving the Body and Blood, to be chatting about soccer practice and next week’s party as you exit the sanctuary.

I think it would be more understandable if the Blessed Sacrament was kept in a separate side-chapel, but I find that people are just casually chatting it up even with the tabernacle right in front of them.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
 
After mass? How about all the people who carry on and talk during mass. Don’t even get me started as to why anyone feels the need to bring a cell phone into church, unless they just forgot and brought it in.

Not to mention the tons of parents who let their kids carry on like mass isn’t even going on. (I’m not talking about the little infants and toddlers who can’t control their behaviors.) I’ve seen kids up to seven or eight years old jumping up and down on pews, running up and down the pews, playing with toys and parents making absolutely no attempt to control them. And yes, all the Churchs I’ve been too have had cry rooms.
 
After mass? How about all the people who carry on and talk during mass. Don’t even get me started as to why anyone feels the need to bring a cell phone into church, unless they just forgot and brought it in.
Click to expand...
Sigh. Don’t get me started on this. There are times I think the worst offenders are little old ladies. We have some who talk constantly before Mass. I try to be charitable, but I really wish they’d stay in the parish hall and talk instead of making it impossible for me to concentrate on prayer.

And then there are those who talk in a monotone all during Mass.
Sigh again.
 
This really bugs me too. It happens sometimes in my parish but it seems that the parishes that I have visited do it more. There is a parish that I go to in Destin, FL when I am there that really bugged me the last time. Everyone was talking and socializing before Mass and then before Mass was actually done, everyone started getting up and leaving and talking. It was driving me crazy!! DH said the look on my face was priceless when I noticed everyone leaving. He’s not Catholic but it even made him mad to see the irreverence.

My home parish has its days but most of the time everyone is silent until they get out into the narthex.👍
 
Hellisreal said:
Your solution is?
Click to expand...
Obviously lots of yelling about fire and brimstone is the solution…😃

Seriously, I think the solution is some more teaching from the pulpit on what the sacrament really means and how to conduct ourselves in front of the tabernacle. Some people are just ignorant. Mass on Sunday is just a routine for them, so they see no need to act any different than they would outside church.

Last year the pastor at my parents’ parish in Virginia put out to the congregation that he expected everyone to begin bowing during the line “born of the Virgin Mary” in the Creed. No one complained or told Father they felt lectured to, and now the entire congregation bows and shows the proper reverence at that line.
 
I notice the same thing at our parish. I only wish, we had a parish center that was connected to our church, where people can congregate and socialize. I think that is important as well. But frequently, parishes just don’t have the facilities. It’s important to be a family in all ways…and socializing also leads to more evangelizing, ministering to the needs of others, and opening more doors to volunteerism as well.

More reasons to pray and dream.
 
baltobetsy said:
If you don’t want to chat, stay and pray awhile.

Betsy
Click to expand...
This was practically impossible at our previous parish. DH and I will always kneel and say a prayer of thanksgiving after Mass. There were times when children would be running up and down the aisles, and pews, some people even stepping over us to make the mad dash to the doors while we are trying to pray. And always so much chatter you can hardly hear yourself think.

Fortunately we have changed parishes - that is no longer an issue for us now. Our current parish is extremely reverent and respectful of the sacred space. Visiting is done in the school gym after Mass where refreshements are served.

~Liza
 
Fr. Larry loves to remind us that we are to be silent and reverent in Church.
About once a month, he has to remind us where we are. Lately, however, the canter has been asking everyone to be silent for about 10 minutes before Mass, after we are finished with the rosary and a bit of Praise and Worship.
He has also reminded us that the Sanctuary is not the place to socialize.
After Good Friday Mass, he about yelled at us to stop visiting.

NOTE: I use “us” because I am part of the congregation to. And I am sure that at some point, I have been part of the problem 😊
 
My parish is very good about keeping silence in the sanctuary. We have a social hall next to the church. I love the reverence there. Iam a recent revert to my catholic faith. In protestant church’s the first thing I noticed was the irreverence, a lot visiting in the pews, its really Great to find a place where that doesn’t happen.:extrahappy:
 
Presumably the congregants have received Eucharist and Christ is present within them so the geographical location of the people when they begin to exchange greetings following the recessional hymn is irrelevant. The chatting up is being done in the presence of the Eucharist. If they are being irreverent, it won’t matter if they are in the nave or the vestibule.

Matthew
 
PKoucheravy said:
Has anyone else noticed that people talk A LOT after mass is over nowadays? I’m only 26, but I’ve noticed a definite change in tone after mass is over. When I was a kid, we all kept our mouths shut while we exited the church to shake Father’s hand, but now I’m finding myself the only closed-mouth in the church as we exit.

It strikes me as highly irreverent, just minutes after receiving the Body and Blood, to be chatting about soccer practice and next week’s party as you exit the sanctuary.

I think it would be more understandable if the Blessed Sacrament was kept in a separate side-chapel, but I find that people are just casually chatting it up even with the tabernacle right in front of them.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I view it as just a community getting together to socialize after Mass, it is a normal thing. All parishes are communities of people in the end. They are getting together to talk on their way out (just human nature), but do not continue it forever in the sancuraty. They start it insides sometimes but finish it outside.

Remember, being a member of a parish means more than just the masses, but you are part of a local community centered around their common faith.

Every church I have ever been at, no matter how modern or traditional the overall parish is does it. There is no harm done.
 
NewUlm1976_2000 said:
Every church I have ever been at, no matter how modern or traditional the overall parish is does it. There is no harm done.
Click to expand...
I disagree. I have found that more traditional parishes have less of a problem with irreverence within the sanctuary, and chatting in the sanctuary before/after Mass.

And there is no harm. Irreverence within the sanctuary further corrodes the teachings of the Real Presence.
Would you chat with your friends about things if Jesus were sitting in front of you? Oh wait! He is! Right there- Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity within the Tabernacle. THAT is where the harm is.
 
We had the same problem, an then the KoC started to offer breakfast in the parish hall to allow people to socialize there instead of interrupting prayers. We still had the same problem.

A new extension with a narthex, huge second chapel and small adoration chapel moved the noise fro the main chapel to the narthex. However, it is so frustrating being in the adoration chapel at the end of a Mass because of the noise. We have a thick closed door for the adoration chapel and a small glass enclosed area to allow access when the rest of the church is closed, and even with that the noise is distracting.

I feel bad about my prejudice, but I think that it is an American issue associated with the protestant cultural background of this country. I could be wrong and maybe it is due to poor catechesis of the people. I have seen terrible behaviors when the church was used for a Christmas function of the parochial school and inside the adoration chapel.

All of this happens despite the present of a very conservative clergy and hospitality ministers. People wrote nasty letters at our pastor because the ushers confronted misbehaved children and negligent parents. Being an hospitality minister is not for wimps.
 
Cristiano said:
All of this happens despite the present of a very conservative clergy and hospitality ministers. People wrote nasty letters at our pastor because the ushers confronted misbehaved children and negligent parents. Being an hospitality minister is not for wimps.
Click to expand...
It’s like being a Marine for Jesus.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top