Should carpet be allowed in Catholic churches?

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Califman831 said:
carpet is a luxury and does not convey the need of humility before God. I would prefer it if the floors were dirt or cobblestone as is the case in many missions and churches in poor countries.
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You can always move to a church that suits you.

Our church has both carpeting and wood. Once during an icy winter I nearly killed myself slipping on the wooden part of our church’s floors. I vote carpet.
 
Take it from someone who has been a superior. Cost, climate and weather factor into what kind of floor you put into a church.

In places where it rains a lot, a carpet is a horrible idea. In very hot climates, it’s also a horrible idea. A carpet is an inexpensive way to do a floor when you’re in a temperate zone where you don’t have six months of rain.

Sometimes, if you can’t afford marble, ceramic tile or some other type of flooring can look very nice and be easy to clean.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
Sailor_Kenshin said:
You can always move to a church that suits you.

Our church has both carpeting and wood. Once during an icy winter I nearly killed myself slipping on the wooden part of our church’s floors. I vote carpet.
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No need to move several Missions are in my area including carmel, san antonio, san juan baptista. Saturday I’ll be down in mission san antonio for the fiesta day. Last week i was touring carmel where his holiness John Paul II knelt in prayer before our holy mother.

carmelmission.org/
missionsanantonio.net/
 
I oppose carpets! If hardpacked, dirt floors were good enough for Jesus, they’re good enough for us!
 
unfortunately its a too often occurrence here which volunteers take care of every friday. The stuff on the pathways have to be scraped off with a knife and a lot of elbow grease.
 
Tsuwano said:
I oppose carpets! If hardpacked, dirt floors were good enough for Jesus, they’re good enough for us!
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I’ll call the Pope and tell him to get started tearing up the floor of St. Peter’s Basilica. 😉

Churches with more than one floor are going to be a bit rough…
 
Carpet:
It typically problematic and is not good to have in the sanctuary because of the Blessed Sacrament. However, it may look nice to have an Oriental style carpet (moveable).
As far as safety is concerned, I have seen people trip on it. Carpet is also a problem in this regard when coals are used for incense, it is a fire hazard.
Carpet can also ruin the aesthetics of a church and mess up the acoustics.

In general carpet is difficult to clean. Carpet is infested with dirt, bacteria and things most of us would find disgusting. Even for home use carpet is generally unsanitary.

This is meant to be a simple practical consideration.
 
I live way up here in the frozen Northeast, where we have four seasons: Hard winter, poor skiing, mud, and construction. Nobody wants to destroy their acoustics, but nobody wants the risk of falls on a hard surface when a few hundred people track in water, snow, slush, slop, road salt, and mud.

Practicality seems to win out. This is what seems to work best around here:

Hard flooring of whatever sort throughout the church (limestone and granite composites, or terrazzo tile, seem to be the most popular around here,) with industrial carpet mats laid over the floors in the narthex and entryways. The mats are rented from floor maintenance services, They are rolled up and removed for cleaning by the service, and clean ones are put down when the dirty ones are taken up. The churches contract for specific mat replacement intervals. From what I understand, the service is expensive, but worth it in terms of ensuring reduced risk of falls and thus lower insurance liability rates.

Also, at my parish, anyways, I’ve seen the janitor use a shop vacuum to pick up water from mats and floors alike after the end of the last Mass on Sundays if the weather is particularly foul that weekend.
 
odile53 said:
I live way up here in the frozen Northeast, where we have four seasons: Hard winter, poor skiing, mud, and construction. Nobody wants to destroy their acoustics, but nobody wants the risk of falls on a hard surface when a few hundred people track in water, snow, slush, slop, road salt, and mud.

Practicality seems to win out. This is what seems to work best around here:

Hard flooring of whatever sort throughout the church (limestone and granite composites, or terrazzo tile, seem to be the most popular around here,) with industrial carpet mats laid over the floors in the narthex and entryways. The mats are rented from floor maintenance services, They are rolled up and removed for cleaning by the service, and clean ones are put down when the dirty ones are taken up. The churches contract for specific mat replacement intervals. From what I understand, the service is expensive, but worth it in terms of ensuring reduced risk of falls and thus lower insurance liability rates.

Also, at my parish, anyways, I’ve seen the janitor use a shop vacuum to pick up water from mats and floors alike after the end of the last Mass on Sundays if the weather is particularly foul that weekend.
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Thanks, you seem to have completed what I should have.
Carpet is very useful in this situation.
The best answer seems to be to have it if needed, but a minimal amount as to not to interfere with other practical reasons.
 
We haave carpet on the sanctuary and for the aisles but not in the pews etc.

The thundering of little hooves from the little ones and the enormous noise skinny young ladies make is astounding, so yes I am for it.

It is a nuisance for the cleaners because when it is wet a lot of folk are not as considerate as they could be about wiping their feet before entering.
 
Califman831 said:
unfortunately its a too often occurrence here which volunteers take care of every friday. The stuff on the pathways have to be scraped off with a knife and a lot of elbow grease.
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And I’ve lost count of how many wads we’ve had to scape off the bottom of pews. Many gum chewers show no respect for the space they’re in when they’re done chewing.
 
odile53 said:
I live way up here in the frozen Northeast, where we have four seasons: Hard winter, poor skiing, mud, and construction. Nobody wants to destroy their acoustics, but nobody wants the risk of falls on a hard surface when a few hundred people track in water, snow, slush, slop, road salt, and mud.

.
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Exactly.

Do people in this thread REALLY want to see old people flying through the air and breaking their hips? If it happened to me it could easily, easily happen to someone older.
 
purplesunshine said:
:eek: WOW:rolleyes: did someone really ask this???

Ugly carpet covering marble…may be distastefully but certinally not wrong. Not every church can afford marble, and in many placese industrial carpet is much cheaper than anything and is put down directly on the plywood and sealer. Would you rather lenolium tile?

I have seen ugly churches WITH lenionum tile. Carpet is certinally a step up. And it’s easier to replace a section of well trafficed carpet than ceremic tile (another popular and VERY tasteful floor covering.

I once went to a church with a beautiful and detailed carpet on the on the sancutury, I think it was more wonderful than any marble.
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I was married (42 years ago) in a small, beautifully decorated historic church with a gorgeous altar, lovely statues, stained glass windows, etc…and the ugliest brown and beige linoleum-tiled floor you ever saw. Didn’t match the marble sanctuary floor at all. They would have been better off with a carpet.

But I don’t thnk carpeting has much to do with Christianity or traditional Catholicism.
 
CB_Catholic said:
I was married (42 years ago) in a small, beautifully decorated historic church with a gorgeous altar, lovely statues, stained glass windows, etc…and the ugliest brown and beige linoleum-tiled floor you ever saw. Didn’t match the marble sanctuary floor at all. They would have been better off with a carpet.

But I don’t thnk carpeting has much to do with Christianity or traditional Catholicism.
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Traditional Catholicism would be worshiping in Catacombs. Don’t think they had carpets. 😉
 
nickybr38 said:
Traditional Catholicism would be worshiping in Catacombs. Don’t think they had carpets. 😉
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Actually, that would be iconoclasm and mythology all rolled into one. The number of Catholics and the number of times has been greatly exagerated. Yes, they did celebrate the mass over the tombs of the martyrs. That’s how we get the custom of the relics on the altar.

No, most Christians did not celebrate mass in cemetaries. That was very particular to Rome and only done under certain circumstances. The other Churches celebrated mass in homes until the first churches were built. Actually, some of those homes may have had carpeting. It was very common in the homes of the wealthy as a source of warmth. Even in Asia Minor, nights can be very cold.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF 🙂
 
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