Problem Getting A Seat At Mass

  • Thread starter Thread starter attaininggrace
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If I went to mass alone, I used to sit on the end. And I would stand in the aisle to let people pass through. One day our pastor announced before mass for everyone to scoot over to the middle. I was a bit miffed by that, but I did it. Now, I sit in the middle and I know that people are going to want me to scoot over, so I just start out there, moving either way if a family comes and needs more room.
 
Limoncello4021 said:
That’s completely opposite to my experience in my family oriented church. They all love each other to death apparently.
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After a quick peck with my husband, I spend my time ensuring my children don’t hurl themselves 3 pews down to get more handshakes than their siblings.

We do go to the Saturday evening Mass, however, so people tend to treat them like celebrities as there are few children at Mass.
 
On another thread about church seating a few weeks ago, I was surprised to find myself the only poster preferring plastic chairs to wooden pews. I find them an improvement in every way. They are more comfortable to sit on, it’s easier to kneel down and get up again, and—in particular—moving along the row is much less of an inconvenience, both for the people sitting down and for the people pushing past.
 
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Xanthippe_Voorhees said:
Nothing annoys me more than the “I own the pew” crowd. I get there with small kids 15 minutes early so we can have the end.

We NEED end pews for easy exits. Between screaming fits and poopy diapers you do not want us jumping over you a half a dozen times a mass.

We move over so people can go in the middle when the pews are large. At our church my family takes up 2/3 of the pew, so unless only one person is sitting at the other end, there really isn’t room.
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Not only do I agree with XV, but I will sit at the end and remain there due to the fact that I am on several medications for several different health problems, and if I have to leave in the middle of Mass, I want to do it as obtrusively as possible. I always get to Mass at least 20 minutes early.
 
Catholics would rather lose the hair off their chests than give up their end seats.

I’m not condoning it. I’m just warning you that it’s a weird Catholic thing.
 
Eh, definitely not just Catholics. I’ve seen it at every Protestant church, too. Just a human thing.

Also, I think a lot of men, especially those who are larger, like to be on the end and have more space. I’d wager most people like to have more space and not feel cramped.
 
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“attaininggrace said:
I was a bit late arriving at Mass and I wanted my usual seat on the end of the pew. No one wanted to move over -everyone wanted to sit on the edge and I doubt that they would have liked my stepping over them. One nice man moved over for me right at the bAck but I felt quite rejected and thought that they were quite rude! I have people who I talk to at tea afterwards so I am not keen on going to another church.

The answer is arriving early but I was a bit shocked. What do you think?
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You need to sit where there is an open spot.
 
I’ve always thought it was a weird Catholic thing too. At least, i never saw it happening at any of the protestant churches I attended growing up. People always moved to the middle and made room for those coming in.

I always get to mass 15 minutes early and go to the middle, and I still find it strange that just about everyone else takes up the end and either blocks seats or makes people crawl over them.
 
It happens at protestant churches, social events, sporting events, everywhere. Aisle seats are always preferable - breathing room. Variety of reasons - less closed in, not having someone on both sides of you. Look around at movie theaters, folks tend to leave an empty seat between those they don’t know.
 
The front pew is reserved for the elderly, the sick and disabled. Fr. comes directly from the alter to give them communion.
 
Even if you move for others, you shouldn’t expect others to move over for you. What other people do and think is not in within your control, so need to get into a tizzy about it.
 
Well maybe it’s a North/South thing rather than a Protestant/Catholic thing? I did grow up in the South. And I never noticed this anywhere until I started going to mass where I live now. Not that some people don’t prefer the aisle, sure that makes sense. But usually if they do they will make room for people to walk past them when needed.

Or maybe it’s that pews in Catholic Churches are more narrow, so it’s not as easy to walk by someone as it is in a movie theater. That would make it more noticeable. (And some non-denominational Churches I’ve been to look more like movie theaters anyway…)
 
Nobody would let you get past them to go to the middle of the pew? That is certainly odd.
 
The safe assumption (morally) would be to grant those who sit on the end and do not move over the benefit of the doubt. They may well have a reason that you do not know and never know. This is not something I often have to deal with, but I always prefer sitting on the end, but my wife likes to sin in the middle. We compromise and always sit in the middle.

Visiting a Church once, I heard an announcer(?) say a minute or two before Mass that everyone needed to scoot to the middle to make room for late comers. I noticed there were a lot of people arriving late. It occurred to me that by doing this, that parish has cultivated a mentality of it is best to come late to Mass for better seating. at least for a lot of people.
 
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