Silence is golden

[moedom]

Marines:

Mercygate and moedom,
You would be doing the rest of the Church Militant a huge favor if you pleased tried to cut back on this. When us TLMers don’t have the opportunity to go to the Old Mass, it is at least comfoting to go to a somewhat ‘quiet’ Mass. BTW, about the cold weather, it does improve your circulation system!!

• Joe

Not if you get frost bitten. I’ve nearly lost my fingers once before and I don’t want to go down that street again. Winter is not my favorite time of year. But as far as silence in the church, that is the least of our concerns here. Heck, we are happy that the priest is still celebrating with out to many abuses compared to the other parishes around us. That though, is another kettle of fish from a whole different ocean.

 

[mercygate]

Marines:

Mercygate and moedom,
You would be doing the rest of the Church Militant a huge favor if you pleased tried to cut back on this. When us TLMers don’t have the opportunity to go to the Old Mass, it is at least comfoting to go to a somewhat ‘quiet’ Mass. BTW, about the cold weather, it does improve your circulation system!!

• Joe

Hey, Joe! I’m on YOUR side. My sins are sins of default. And I will henceforth DEFINITELY do whatever I reasonably can to relocate this.

 

[Dawn_VanName]

Our parish is going through a similiar situation. We blatantly disrupt the sacred silence with a “greet your neighbor” which leads into a brief chat time. We have had two parish council meetings over it.
I pointed out that it isn’t teaching my children sacred silence and respect for a priest who is in the person of Christ at the entrance rite because we have already been instructed to stand and greet our neighbor. Now 3 of my children, 4,5, and 6 are focused on their neighbor in front of them and behind them and are missing the entrance and reverence…so are my husband and I because we are now trying to redirect little kids focus onto what is important. The people who want it don’t seem to care…
A non-Catholic parent at the Church said that our entrance is a “liturgical drawl” :yawn: and needs to be “up beat”.:dancing: They want to keep it because there are visitors and the visitors like the friendliness. I pointed out that we can have a greeters at the door and still keep sacred silence, and that we are Catholics! We do what we do for a reason!
They seem to think that the Church is growing because of this newly introduced greeting connected with the entrance rite. However the Church started growing long before the “greet your neighbor”. I pointed out that it was not because we are a small country parish, nor because of the greeting that it is growing but because of the now reverent Mass being offered and the Eucharist. Christ is drawing people there. :yup: But they seem to want to keep the focus on themselves.
I pointed out to our priest the distractions it causes and that in the Committee on the Liturgy from the U.S. Catholic Bishops paragraph 45 states on Silence:
"***Sacred Silence also, as part of the celebration, is to be observed at the designated times…Even before the celebration itself, it is commendable that silence to be observed in the church, in the sacristy, in the vesting room, and in adjacent areas, so that all my dispose themselves to carry out the sacred action in a devout and fitting manner.’ ***
This still didn’t seem to make an impact because our priest said that he has talked with the diocese about it and it is o.k. The “loop hole” that he used is that *the bishops have not said that it cannot be done. :banghead: *
I asked how can the diocese say it is o.k when it causes a distraction and disruption? No answer other than the diocese said it is o.k. Fr. will make a decision at the end of this week on whether to keep it or not. He likes it, so my guess is it will stay.
Sadly, this greeting has caused division in the parish and has split family members (some like it-some don’t). I have tried finding looking up in the catechism for anything on keeping sacred silence, but haven’t found anything. Is it a sin as believed in years before? :tsktsk: Do we have anything maybe in the GIRM?
Anything other suggestions?
Dawn

 

[Joanne_ca]

It’s the same with my church, only it’s before mass and after. Before mass bothers me the most because I like to go early and say the rosary but with all the chatter at the back of the church and inside, it’s impossible to concentrate. I addressed this with the pastor and God love him, he tried. He put up notes everywhere to keep it down but to no avail. It’s a shame, but I think a lot of parishes are so afraid of losing some of their flock that they allow this. I go to a Latin Mass now where there is no need for discussion of the subject, it’s a given. I’ve even heard the priest tell people to take their children who are disrupting the mass to the crying room.:clapping: How many crying children do you hear at mass?

 

[Dawn_VanName]

Well… I’m not sure if taking children to a “crying room” is really the appropriate thing to do…in all sincerety, it brings to mind how the prostestants keep their kids downstairs in a Sunday School while the service is going on upstairs…The crying usually doesn’t last too long. :crying: Aren’t we all are crying in one form or another in our prayer petitions and at Mass? I will bring up though, that adults should know better than to disrupt with chatter :tsktsk: whereas babies can’t help themselves. :bounce: After all… Christ did say to His apostles: “Bring the children unto me”…:yup:
BTW…Does anyone else have a “greet your neighbor” connected to the entrance rite???
Dawn

 

[JimG]

Well, I’m often as guilty as anyone with respect to breaking the silence after Mass–in spite of the fact that our church does have an ample vestibule where conversation can take place. With the press of the crowd leaving Mass it’s often difficult to even genuflect up leaving the pew. Then, making my way up the aisle toward the back of the Church, I will spot a few individuals still in their pews trying to pray. I think maybe it doesn’t need to become a point of contention. Just a few gentle reminders in the bulletin or from the pulpit that the church should remain quiet before and after Mass might begin to have an effect.

 

[HumbleObedience]

There isn’t enough silence in this noisy world. We are a boisterous people, always busy, living in a society always on the go. We have so many machines to help us do our work. We never get a break from all the clamour. This characteristic of ours carries over to God’s holy sanctuary, and even there we get no respite.

I am thankful that I have a haven in my home, a place of retreat from the noisy world so I can hear his soft murmerings and feel his caresses.

 

[CD4]

mercygate:

Hey! I’m the only one on this thread who actually 'fessed up to being guilty, guilty, guilty, while acknowledging that I would accept an alternative in a heartbeat (btw, whoever suggested chatting in the parking lot doesn’t live in the north!). As a Convert, I sometimes miss the nuances of venial sin. But it seems perfectly reasonable that talking in church would be one. Can you give me a citation? Maybe the old Baltimore Catechism?

**I was raised in the Methodist Church, and woe be unto you if you talked in church…Can’t remember what happened after services, but I know we didn’t talk before church started. **

I’m still annoyed by conversations in church, unless one needs to speak to a child. However, I have to 'fess up too…I’ve been guilty of talking, too…but not often!

There is an old joke about the organist who played the organ before church started…As the noise level rose, he played louder…Suddenly he STOPPED. Can you imagine how that sounded?

 

[CD4]

Carolyn:

I am more bothered by the talk that goes on BEFORE and DURING Mass…Parents talking about all different subjects to their school-age children: what’s for dinner, can I go over to Brian’s, when are we going shopping etc…
Husbands and wives chit-chatting, children over age 3 crawling all over the pews, snacks in church, kid’s getting up and down to go to the bathroom…Augh!
And then I feel guilty for having these feelings!

Sounds like a parish near here that I know! Sometimes my own parish is like this, too.

I have been lucky to have attended some Latin Masses, and I really do appreicate the quiet there. The children are usualy very good, too. I don’t know how those parents do it!

 

[yinekka]

This is a reflection from Archbishop Denis Hart from Melbourne Australia. It was published in Kairos a bi-weekly magazine.
www.melbourne.catholic.org.au/kairos

A time to keep silence

According to the preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes, “There is a time to speak, and a time to keep silence.” (Ecc. 3:7) This is certainly true when we enter a church – a place that has been specifically consecrated for the worship of God.

In a church, there are times when it is right and proper to make a lot of noise. In fact, if we were to keep silence when we are called to sing our praise, the very stones of the church themselves may start to sing! (Luke 19:40) Singing is a true way of adoring God and we can learn from the angels in heaven who, as Saint John tells us in the Apocalypse, sing to God “day and night without ceasing.” (Rev. 4:8)

Yet Saint John also tells us at one point in his vision that “there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” (Rev. 8:1) Silence is also an authentic means of adoration and so very essential for us to learn in an age when the noise level has become overwhelming.

In silent adoration we can hear God speaking to us. The prophet, Elijah, in a moment of dejection, once retreated to Mount Sinai where God had spoken to the Israelites in thunder and lightening. This time too, he saw fire and heard thunder, but it was only when the wind had died down to a whisper that he heard the voice of God speaking to him in silence. (1 Kings 19:12)

Adoration can therefore be either silent or vocal, but there is one kind of noise that should never be found in our churches; that is, the noise of chatter and idle talk. We have our homes and offices and streets and back yards in which to conduct our conversations – but a church should be an oasis of silence in what otherwise is often a desert of noise.

The primary reason for silence when we enter a church is the presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. In all our churches, the tabernacle is placed in a prominent position so that all can see that this is the House of the Lord, God’s dwelling place on earth. In the Old Testament times, when God dwelt among his people in the temple in Jerusalem, the prophets frequently had to call the people to order. “The Lord is present in his holy temple: Let all the earth keep silence!” (Hab 2:20)

Jesus followed in the tradition of the prophets. He regarded the temple as the true dwelling place of his Father, a house of prayer, and he was angered when its outer court had become a place of trade and commerce. The place where God dwells is no place for market banter. “My house shall be a house of prayer,” Jesus declared. (Luke 19:46) And his disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” (Jn 2:17)

 

[yinekka]

When we come into the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, we are coming face to face with the living God. By quiet contemplation before the reserved sacrament, we extend and internalise the sacrificial prayer of the Liturgy. For many of the faithful, the only time they are able to enter a church is on Sunday, when they fulfil their obligation as Christians to participate in the liturgy. The Catechism tells us that “Sunday is a time for reflection, silence, cultivation of the mind, and meditation which furthers the growth of the Christian interior life.” (§2186) If, on this one day of the week, the church is filled with talk and noise from beginning to end, where are these people to find the silence they require for their prayer? This is a matter of charity. Even if we ourselves are not moved to join them in prayer, should we not be aware that our noise robs them of their opportunity for a quiet visit with Christ?

Many have been converted to the Faith after the experience of entering a Catholic church and seeing people quietly praying before the reserved sacrament. They have come to see that, in Jesus’ words, “Something greater than the temple is here.” (Matt 12:6) Let our silence in church be a witness to all the world that God has entered his noisy creation and called it to enter into his peace.

• Denis J. Hart,
  Archbishop of Melbourne.