Should Catholic churches be on Yelp?

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Noticing an increase of Catholic churches on Yelp.

Good thing when it good reviews from users.
Not so good when it gets bad reviews.

Should a Catholic parish really be “rated” by users like it’s a restaurant? 🤷
 
Terrible idea. As is known from restaurant reviews, it’s possible for one person with a grudge to do real damage. Plus, the whole idea makes no sense. Church isn’t a service or commodity one is purchasing.
 
Helps when travelling…find a church you might like in a different town. I just ignore the snobbery reviews and ax to grinds…other than that, I see where it could be a troll call!
 
The idea could be helpful to find out if a particular parish holds Mass in the style that one prefers and is completely orthodox. However, as mentioned above, Yelp in and of itself is just awkward because some people can say they love a business and some can say they hate it. Supposedly they have a special algorithm that only chooses the best, most authentic reviews, but I don’t even understand what that means.

Also, usually the people who are the happiest with a business’ service (especially the elderly) are not going to Yelp to write reviews. Only the people that for some reason or another have a grudge against the business run to Yelp to vent. The algorithm is supposed to shield the reviews that it deems are vents, but it can easily miss stuff. I know this stuff firsthand from my family’s business, and I think that it actually ends up netting negatively on it.

So, no, we should probably keep churches off Yelp. Although some sort of alternative for comparing parishes might be in order in this age when there is so much difference between one parish and another and just so much confusion out there.

May God bless you all! 🙂
 
Its really up to the people at Yelp, its their private business.

But church reviews- both for Protestant and Catholic are already on the internet, so eliminating them from Yelp isn’t going to change reality.
 
I see a few things that might happen as a result:

“2 stars. Wouldn’t recommend. Can you believe these people don’t accept SSM? And what’s the deal with not letting females be priests? Get with the times!”

Or,

“1 Star. Female altar servers? Communion in the hand? Come on!”

Or, alternatively,

“3 stars. I couldn’t even understand the pastor! Did I end up at a Spanish parish by accident?”
 
I voted No, but not because it might lead to bad reviews. I voted No because the Mass is not about whether we like who’s “preaching,” or how friendly the greeters are.

I personally know people of other “Faith Traditions” who shop around to find a worship service they like better than the others.

That’s not what we do.
 
Kielbasi said:
Its really up to the people at Yelp, its their private business.

But church reviews- both for Protestant and Catholic are already on the internet, so eliminating them from Yelp isn’t going to change reality.
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Exactly. If I’m not mistaken the establishment, be it restaurant, church, etc… has no say in whether it’s on Yelp. It’s solely a user based service unless the establishment “claims” the page. And even then they have minimal control.
 
on_the_hill said:
I voted No, but not because it might lead to bad reviews. I voted No because the Mass is not about whether we like who’s “preaching,” or how friendly the greeters are.

I personally know people of other “Faith Traditions” who shop around to find a worship service they like better than the others.

That’s not what we do.
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I agree. This is why I could not cast a vote. There was no selection for no other than because of possible bad reviews. Lots of other reasons. A simple no choice would have been better.
 
The only plus might be that if people vent online, the poor Bishop won’t have to deal with so many letters of complaint about an assortment of trivial issues. 😉
 
Thom18 said:
I see a few things that might happen as a result:

“2 stars. Wouldn’t recommend. Can you believe these people don’t accept SSM? And what’s the deal with not letting females be priests? Get with the times!”

Or,

“1 Star. Female altar servers? Communion in the hand? Come on!”

Or, alternatively,

“3 stars. I couldn’t even understand the pastor! Did I end up at a Spanish parish by accident?”
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Not seeing that being the case on most of the churches I’ve seen. Take the Cathedral of San Diego for example has a 4.5 star review average after 25 reviews.

yelp.com/biz/saint-joseph-cathedral-san-diego?osq=St.+Joseph%27s+Cathedral

And the only two bad reviews were actual reviews of how the mass was conducted and how the parishioners conducted themselves. No comment on OF v EF or Catholic social positions that I can see.
 
I don’t have a problem with it. You can already rate churches on google. I think that being said I’m often the first person on Yelp to rate one.
 
No. Because then foodies will come in and post photos of the hosts to instagram and asking for the wine menu. Churches in any given area are a simple google search away. There’s no reason to lower a church to Yelp.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Terrible idea. As is known from restaurant reviews, it’s possible for one person with a grudge to do real damage. Plus, the whole idea makes no sense. Church isn’t a service or commodity one is purchasing.
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+1
 
Yes. You have to gauge the reviews in order to get a glimpse of what the parish/congregation is like. I like to know where the more traditional - faithful - churches are. One church has a review from a woman complaining the church was too orthodox (it was a Latin mass church), saying it was backwards. This of course is a poor critique, Another said it was a great church because of its devotion to the Latin mass and how women wear mantillas. In many ways yelp is great for searching reverent Novus Ordo masses, Latin mass congregations and more modern parishes. Those who do not like the “spirit of VII” will most likely disapprove of modern parishes and vice versa.
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
Terrible idea. As is known from restaurant reviews, it’s possible for one person with a grudge to do real damage. Plus, the whole idea makes no sense. Church isn’t a service or commodity one is purchasing.
Click to expand...
+1
 
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