National Flags in Church

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My dad mentioned the other day that he was upset with a priest at the church he used to go to because the priest refused to place the American flag near the altar as he believed it should have been. The priest’s reason was that if he had an American flag up, he’d have to have a flag for every nation represented by it’s desendents of the parish to appease everyone, so no flag at all was a better thing to do.

So I was wondering, should there even be a flag of any kind displayed inside the church by the altar (usually behind where the priest sits)? I told him the Church was universal so no need for a flag, and chances are that most people are aware of what country they are in during mass anyways. So what do you guys think?
 
My opinion is that there should not be any national flags in the church.

The liturgical book “Order of Christian Funerals” has:

“132. Any national flags or the flags or insignia of associations to which the deceased belonged are to be removed from the coffin at the entrance of the church. They may be replaced after the coffin has been take from the church.”
(The Rites Volume One, Liturgical Press, 1990, ISBN: 0-8146-6015-0, page 968).
 
This is the tradition.

Sometimes when someone with a history of Military Service, the flag is allowed to remain on the coffin during Mass. I do not know if this is a local arrangement but it does happen…and in my humble view, rightly so.
 
Displaying the Stars and Stripes in Catholic churches in the US dates back to Francis Cardinal Spellman of New York, who thought it was a great idea to promote the notion that Catholics happen to be patriots at a time when this was still frequently doubted. Whether it is a custom more honored in the breach than in the observance, well, I’ll leave that judgment up to our posters.
 
As a convert to Catholicism, I really can’t stand the display of the Irish flag in a lot of Catholic Churches in the UK (especially in Scotland) - it makes it seem like Catholicism is just an Irish faith rather than the true and all-embracing Christian Church. It also could be seen to imply that Catholics are not loyal British citizens.
 
I have never seen a country flag in a Catholic church. In Protestant churches that have flags with their church symbol on it, I have often seen that flag and a US flag (or whatever country the church is in) on either side of the altar/pulpit.

I also see the Catholic Church as being universal (that’s what catholic means after all) and so “above” or “beyond” nationalism.
 
In our Church, we have the American flag and the Papal flag hanging from poles attached to the choir loft, in the back of the Church. Very nice.

Peace,
Linda
 
Patriotism done properly is a Catholic virtue, but placing flags in churches seems to conflict the universality of sacred space - part of the reason for Latin is that the minister is acting as a member not of human society but the perfect society of the Church; the same would seem to go for the physical plant of the church, which while built and used primarily by those of a particular nationality is used in such a way that in their worship they are Catholics, not Americans, Poles, Japanese, etc.

BTW - flags are allowed, but not in the sanctuary.
 
I do not believe ANY flag of ANY nationality should ever be displayed in The Holy Catholic Church.
The Church is a place to be free of predjudice, nationalism, dissention and secularism.
 
We have had a papal flag and a US flag in our gathering area for many years. In our old church they were on either side of the altar, but not on the top step. I would have to say that when a church is in a particular country, the flag of that country can be properly displayed, but not in the sanctuary.
 
xsuasox said:
My dad mentioned the other day that he was upset with a priest at the church he used to go to because the priest refused to place the American flag near the altar as he believed it should have been. The priest’s reason was that if he had an American flag up, he’d have to have a flag for every nation represented by it’s desendents of the parish to appease everyone, so no flag at all was a better thing to do.

So I was wondering, should there even be a flag of any kind displayed inside the church by the altar (usually behind where the priest sits)? I told him the Church was universal so no need for a flag, and chances are that most people are aware of what country they are in during mass anyways. So what do you guys think?
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“Traditionally”… NO FLAG OF ANY NATION, not even the Papal flag, is allowed to be in the Sanctuary. At my parish the American and Papal flags are in the back of the church. Then again we are not an “ordinary” parish.

(Hi Linda)

Ken
 
kleary said:
. At my parish the American and Papal flags are in the back of the church.
Click to expand...
Same here. At funerals, the American flag is always removed at the entrance and replaced at the entrance after Mass.
 
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