Refreshments during Mass?

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MarcoPolo said:
As others said, there could be legitimate reasons from person to person, although it sounds like a social phenomenon where you are. The Big Gulp certainly seems unnecessary.
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Thank You. I can appreciate and understand the choir and the readers. I have been attending Mass for more than 60 years and remember a time…

Well, lets just say that I had to kneel on pencils afterward.
 
Oneofthewomen said:
Well said, Ke, well said! 👍

Justkid, have you ever sung with a choir? Sometimes a sip of water is necessary if you want sound to actually come out of your mouth.🤷
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I sing in Church all the time! I never felt the need to have to have water to get me through the rough spots. If we are asked to suffer or fast before communion, then why should you get a dispensation just because you sing in the choir? :rolleyes:
 
I confess the whole thing puzzles me a little. I grew up in a fairly large urban parish. There was no restroom and no water fountain in the church.

The children’s choir sang at weekday Masses and nobody carried water bottles. Nobody went to the bathroom. The adult choir sang at Sunday Mass and none of them carried water bottles or went to the bathroom. Somehow, everyone managed to survive for one hour without leaving our pews except to go up for communion. I’m guessing that there are many times outside of church that people can exist for one hour without these amenities, but maybe not—I see people carrying water bottles everywhere now.

That said, I really haven’t seen much of this at my own parish. There are always kids that leave the pews to go to the bathroom, but I think that they do it just because they are bored. Or maybe thery’re meeting other kids in there.

Oh, and recall that for a long time, the Eucharist fast was no food or water from midnight until after Mass.
 
I get esophageal spasms, and I never know when they will strike. They actually strongly resemble the symptoms of a heart attack, severe chest pain, like someone is pounding a stake through my chest, my teeth hurt and I can’t stand up straight. Making my esophagus do what it’s supposed to do for me, swallow, helps eliminate the spasms before they get really bad. So yes, I always have water with me. Thankfully the only time I was at mass without water it and it happened was as the priest was recessing when they struck, and I RAN to the ladies room to get water.
But not many people know this and I suppose someone there thinks it’s terrible that I carry and occasionally drink water at mass, but hey, it beats getting up during the homily and running out of mass to get to water and enduring horrible pain.
And quite honestly I don’t care if anyone else likes it or not. And no, I don’t leave my water bottle under the pew, I take it home with me.

So, yes, people may need water and you may never know why.
 
I’ve been in churches (and they were not especially new ones) where there was a drinking fountain in the choir loft.

As someone who sings in a choir I can assure you that drinking water during or immediately before Mass can often result in a need to use the restroom during Mass so it’s not something we do unthinkingly.

But some of us would prefer to take an occasion sip of water over making a noisy production of coughing or clearing our throat (which is not good for the voice) or taking a chance on croaking out an off-key note. Our “job” is to produce a particular sound in a particular way. Sometimes a sip of water helps us do so.

If it was merely a matter of having a scratchy feeling in our throats we would endure it.
 
I quite often take a water bottle to mass. Mass is a 40 minute walk away and especially in Summer, as it is now, that’s a long time. And I figure, when I’ve got a bad throat, I’m better to take a swig of water every now or then, than coughing my way through mass. Certainly, when reading, it always helps.
 
What about chewing gum during Mass? Is there a medical reason one might need to do this?

There is a Eucharistic Minister at my parish that chews gum throughout Mass up until the time she is to distribute Our Lord. She also brings water with her. She is really the only person I’ve seen do this. If anyone in the choir does I have not noticed it but then again my thoughts are on other things during Mass.
 
Oh dear, I’m in the choir and take a pink plastic water bottle every time. If I don’t drink some water during mass my throat gets clogged up and sometimes my voice breaks while singing. I did not know there was anything wrong with this. I hope people weren’t offended–I meant no harm. I think I will ask my priest about this. 😊

But I also agree that it’s a far cry to go from a sip of water to hot dog vendors. They aren’t even in the same ballpark (pun intended).
 
AnneTeresa said:
Oh dear, I’m in the choir and take a pink plastic water bottle every time. If I don’t drink some water during mass my throat gets clogged up and sometimes my voice breaks while singing. I did not know there was anything wrong with this. I hope people weren’t offended–I meant no harm. I think I will ask my priest about this. 😊

But I also agree that it’s a far cry to go from a sip of water to hot dog vendors. They aren’t even in the same ballpark (pun intended).
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Really, there is nothing wrong with it at all. Don’t worry. I was just musing about a period in my youth when no one took water bottles and the church had no water fountain, because, for one thing, drinking water broke the Eucharistic fast! But times change! It’s no sin to sip water at Mass.
 
Just more laxity and a lack of understanding of what is happening during the Mass. I hope something drastic changes soon.
 
JimG said:
I confess the whole thing puzzles me a little. I grew up in a fairly large urban parish. There was no restroom and no water fountain in the church.

The children’s choir sang at weekday Masses and nobody carried water bottles. Nobody went to the bathroom. The adult choir sang at Sunday Mass and none of them carried water bottles or went to the bathroom. Somehow, everyone managed to survive for one hour without leaving our pews except to go up for communion. I’m guessing that there are many times outside of church that people can exist for one hour without these amenities, but maybe not—I see people carrying water bottles everywhere now.

That said, I really haven’t seen much of this at my own parish. There are always kids that leave the pews to go to the bathroom, but I think that they do it just because they are bored. Or maybe thery’re meeting other kids in there.

Oh, and recall that for a long time, the Eucharist fast was no food or water from midnight until after Mass.
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I would be willing to bet cash that in the olden days, people who needed water for various health reasons, and people who suffered from bladder spasms, enlarged prostate, irritable bowel syndrome or other bathroom issues, simply stayed home from Mass, and THAT’S why you never saw anyone drinking water or getting up to go to the bathroom.

Have you all noticed the number of people using canes, walkers, or other mobility devices these days? In the olden days, a lot of people with mobility problems just stayed home–we used to call them “shut-ins.” But now people get up and out using any means possible, and that’s a GOOD thing.

Or how about all the men and women who are bald from chemotherapy? Again, in the past, people with cancer just stayed home out of sight until they died. Now we see them all the time. Hooray!

I think we should all just mind our own business, think the best of people, and look out for our own souls. Rather than we sheep trying to look after other sheep, why not just let our shepherds take care of us and fix our flaws?

And take heed–the ones who are quickest to condemn may very well soon find themselves saddled with a medical condition that necessitates water and frequent visits to the bathroom. Treat others the way YOU will want to be treated when that happens to YOU!
 
Cat said:
I would be willing to bet cash that in the olden days, people who needed water for various health reasons, and people who suffered from bladder spasms, enlarged prostate, irritable bowel syndrome or other bathroom issues, simply stayed home from Mass, and THAT’S why you never saw anyone drinking water or getting up to go to the bathroom.

Have you all noticed the number of people using canes, walkers, or other mobility devices these days? In the olden days, a lot of people with mobility problems just stayed home–we used to call them “shut-ins.” But now people get up and out using any means possible, and that’s a GOOD thing.

Or how about all the men and women who are bald from chemotherapy? Again, in the past, people with cancer just stayed home out of sight until they died. Now we see them all the time. Hooray!

I think we should all just mind our own business, think the best of people, and look out for our own souls. Rather than we sheep trying to look after other sheep, why not just let our shepherds take care of us and fix our flaws?

And take heed–the ones who are quickest to condemn may very well soon find themselves saddled with a medical condition that necessitates water and frequent visits to the bathroom. Treat others the way YOU will want to be treated when that happens to YOU!
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Persons who were sick, or shut ins,of course, did stay home. But it was also quite customary to attend Mass and not receive communion. Receiving communion was never a requirement. The Eucharistic fast from both water and food often provided an innocuous excuse for say, a teen who did not want to receive communion without first going to confession, being conscious of mortal sin. He simply broke his fast by having a sip of water and then mentioned that he couldn’t receive communion.

As for going to the bathroom, believe me, all the kids in my elementary school would have trekked to and from the bathroom, if there had been one, whether or not they needed to, just because they could. They do the same thing with substitute teachers in the classroom. In my own parish I don’t see a lot of adults trekking back and forth to the bathroom, but I do see a lot of kids do it.
 
justkid said:
I sing in Church all the time! I never felt the need to have to have water to get me through the rough spots. If we are asked to suffer or fast before communion, then why should you get a dispensation just because you sing in the choir? :rolleyes:
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No one wants to hear the sound I make to clear my throat. And I’m not even in the choir standing near microphones.
 
sarah_g said:
What about chewing gum during Mass? Is there a medical reason one might need to do this?

There is a Eucharistic Minister at my parish that chews gum throughout Mass up until the time she is to distribute Our Lord.
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I have ADHD. I chew gum during Mass. It’s less distracting than silly putty or rapid foot tapping. I have the inability to sit still for more than 10-15 minutes at a time, even while medicated.

I choose the least distracting option to get me through Mass without disturbing others.
 
How is it I wonder that we managed to sit, stand or kneel for a full hour without bringing water or cushions with us. What has changed about the human condition that we have to drink water for that hour when not that long ago we would have fasted from food and all drink if we wanted to go to communion. Again we demand that we pamper and cosset ourselves. It’s pure self indulgence. Unless you are quite ill I see no earthly reason for self administration of sips of fluid.
 
Jimmygill88 said:
How is it I wonder that we managed to sit, stand or kneel for a full hour without bringing water or cushions with us. What has changed about the human condition that we have to drink water for that hour when not that long ago we would have fasted from food and all drink if we wanted to go to communion. Again we demand that we pamper and cosset ourselves. It’s pure self indulgence. Unless you are quite ill I see no earthly reason for self administration of sips of fluid.
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Not that long ago, those with significant physical or mental impairments were institutionalized. Those who were chronically ill spent much more time in hospitals.

I don’t judge another for a sip of water during Mass, nor the employment of a seat cushion. I don’t judge those who do not kneel. You don’t know someone else’s condition, nor their reasons for needing water/snacks/cushions. The girl eating M&Ms in the back may be a diabetic. The gentleman drinking water next to you may need water due to his cancer.

They’re at Mass. That’s the important part.
 
UnCatholicBride said:
Not that long ago, those with significant physical or mental impairments were institutionalized. Those who were chronically ill spent much more time in hospitals.

I don’t judge another for a sip of water during Mass, nor the employment of a seat cushion. I don’t judge those who do not kneel. You don’t know someone else’s condition, nor their reasons for needing water/snacks/cushions. The girl eating M&Ms in the back may be a diabetic. The gentleman drinking water next to you may need water due to his cancer.

They’re at Mass. That’s the important part.
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I am not suggesting that ill people should not medicate I am clearly saying that no one should be drinking water or chewing air eating in church let alone at mass unless they are ill. Glucose in whatever preferred form is medicine for a diabetic. Likewise cancer sufferers my I assume gain some comfort from liquids. However a child over 7 or a heathy adult should not be drinking chewing or eating they shouldn’t be talking or looking around. They should behave with decorum. End of story. No one in good health will become so dehydrated during the time it takes to attend mass that it becomes life threatening.
 
Jimmygill88 said:
I am not suggesting that ill people should not medicate I am clearly saying that no one should be drinking water or chewing air eating in church let alone at mass unless they are ill. Glucose in whatever preferred form is medicine for a diabetic. Likewise cancer sufferers my I assume gain some comfort from liquids. However a child over 7 or a heathy adult should not be drinking chewing or eating they shouldn’t be talking or looking around. They should behave with decorum. End of story. No one in good health will become so dehydrated during the time it takes to attend mass that it becomes life threatening.
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Many people who have some huge medical problems do not appear, to the average non-medical person’s eye, to be anything other than a healthy adult. You don’t know what people have going on in their lives health wise, and quite frankly, it’s not any of your business.

Would you prefer that someone like me stay home and never attend mass because I might have some spasms? If I don’t drink, they become a huge deal and cause terrible pain and I can’t sit, can’t stand, can’t lay down, it’s really not fun and would be a huge disruption in mass. But if I have my water, I can take 4 or 5 swallows and they dissipate and no one is the wiser.

I find it crazy that someone swallowing some water would upset someone so badly that they want them to stay away from mass so that they aren’t offended by them.
 
One of the medicines I was on for for a long time caused super dry mouth so I would chew gum a lot during the Mass. I really wanted to bring in some water but thought that would be weird. I have only seen one person with a water bottle and they were clearing sick and needed that water. I try and not pay attention to what others are doing or not doing during Mass. I can only imagine what someone thought of me chewing my gum. Although I never chewed it like a cow I was very quiet but still.
 
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