Smoke before Mass

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Our pastor prohibits chewing gum WITH CAPITAL LETTERS on signboards and handouts. And for good cause, too. Every couple of weeks, the Sodality lady turns in a permanent pew missal which is utterly defaced with a wad of chewing gum stuck to it, the pew, and a response card. It is up to me at the front desk to spray it with de-gumming spray and restore it to usable condition. This is, as you might expect, extremely annoying to all of us, especially the pastor who paid good money as an investment for the pew missals and has already made it clear just how verboten chewing gum is in the church.
 
CB_Catholic said:
They already know it’s bad for them. They’ve heard it over and over and over and over and over and over. At some point they will either tune it out or rebel. That’s all nagging about anything accomplishes.

The OP asked a question, he deserves the courtesy of a simple answer, not a lecture.

And no, I don’t smoke.
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You and I both know that smoking runs some serious risks of cancer - and not just lung cancer; I had transitional cell carcinoma and one of the first questions was “Do you smoke?” (answer - no).

Does nagging work? Ask my mother - she will tell you it does.

Sorry, the OP asked a question; if they have not figured out by now that they run a health risk, then telling them so is important. And I disagree with you that telling them unsolicited, is wrong. I have found, in 65+ years, that the Holy Spirit works where the Holy Spirit will. Somewhere along the line, in my experience, there is a tipping point, and the person getting "nagged’ gets it. Not all do, but many (if not most) do. And I have heard more than one person say thank you for caring enough to speak plainly and openly.

And by the way, you are not the only person with a stubborn streak; I had one too. My mother nagged, and in spite of my stubbornness, I got the message eventually. Would I have gotten the message if she had not nagged? Most likely, not.
 
otjm said:
You and I both know that smoking runs some serious risks of cancer - and not just lung cancer; I had transitional cell carcinoma and one of the first questions was “Do you smoke?” (answer - no).

Does nagging work? Ask my mother - she will tell you it does.

Sorry, the OP asked a question; if they have not figured out by now that they run a health risk, then telling them so is important. And I disagree with you that telling them unsolicited, is wrong. I have found, in 65+ years, that the Holy Spirit works where the Holy Spirit will. Somewhere along the line, in my experience, there is a tipping point, and the person getting "nagged’ gets it. Not all do, but many (if not most) do. And I have heard more than one person say thank you for caring enough to speak plainly and openly.

And by the way, you are not the only person with a stubborn streak; I had one too. My mother nagged, and in spite of my stubbornness, I got the message eventually. Would I have gotten the message if she had not nagged? Most likely, not.
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I beg your pardon? I have a stubborn streak? You can tell that without meeting me?? I write from experience at trying to get others to quit doing things that aren’t good for them. I simply disagree with you, from my experience. Now if yours is different, so be it.

In any case, I hope the poster had his question answered and is not thoroughly confused by now.
 
CB_Catholic said:
I beg your pardon? I have a stubborn streak? You can tell that without meeting me??
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Sorry, I think otjm got confused. It was me that said I was stubborn.

BTW, what I said was that I have never met or heard of someone that responded to nagging by strangers. Mothers, spouses, children, etc. are different, but I didn’t think the OP’s mother was on this thread.

–Jen
 
My missal mentions fasting from food and alcohol 3 hours before receiving the Eucharist. This was the norm in 1962 anyways and I know before that it was fasting from midnight the night before mass. Doesn’t mention anything about cigarettes. I used to smoke on the drive to mass though I decided last night I don’t want another cigarette ever again. I agree though that NO ONE should EVER tell someone else not to smoke. Smokers do not need this added stress that at no other time in history they’ve had to deal with. This is more likely to kill them than the smoking.
 
The EMHC’s at my parish have been told by the pastor that the only time we are allowed to refuse communion is if someone is clearly chewing gum when they present themselves.

For whatever the reason, chewing gum = no reception in at least one parish in the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

-Tim-
 
Well, I should hope it does! I should hope that chewing gum as you present yourself for communion would equal no reception everywhere. This wouldn’t need to have anything to do with the fast, but with Jesus getting mixed up in the gum and thrown away. How horrible!

–Jen
 
robwar said:
another thought to this is to be considerate of those around you. I can’t stand the smell of smoking and someone who has just smoked smells and has that nasty cigarette smell. It can make me nauseous. Maybe the thought would be that if I don’t smoke one hour before, I’ll smell better to those around me at Church. You should really quit anyway for your own health and well being.
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I get a reaction to strong perfume or after shave. Maybe we should do something about it? :eek: Body odor can be annoying also. Should a bath be required before going to mass? Maybe we could segregate by pews. A smoker pew, a perfume-after shave pew a body odor pew. We could set up detectors to make sure everyone complies. 😛
 
My father died of lung cancer, and my mom of emphasema. My mom continued smoking as dad lay dieing from cancer her addiction was so powerful.

It is a tragedy that it took smoking becoming socially unacceptable, that is what got most people to stop not health concerns.

I think there is a group about %23 that stubbornly continue smoking. They will not stop no matter what. Often these same people talk about their ‘right to smoke’ any and everywhere regardless of the health of those around them. I can smell their ‘aroma’ many feet away, it’s like they are proud to smell bad.

Honestly I HATE smoking, it took both of my parents. :mad:

I grew up with asthma with both of them chain smoking around me from the day I was born and now I have COPD.
 
The only smoke we need:


Seriously, stop smoking, it’s terrible for you and does nothing good for you.
 
andrewstx said:
I think there is a group about %23 that stubbornly continue smoking. They will not stop no matter what. Often these same people talk about their ‘right to smoke’ any and everywhere regardless of the health of those around them. I can smell their ‘aroma’ many feet away, it’s like they are proud to smell bad.
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Smokers certainly don’t have a right to smoke anywhere and everywhere. But you most certainly don’t have the right to be spared their odour.
 
Why is it that nicotine is the only addictive drug that is permitted to use in public? You don’t se heroin users shooting up on the street, or coke heads snorting In public. etc

Not only do not smokers have disregard for their own health (if they did they would not smoke to begin with) they have even less regard for the health of others apparently.

The stench I can live with, but in my case it is more serious than just that. I have COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease which eventually kills by making it impossible to breathe.

Sorry but I’m not prepared to die so that someone can get their drug fix.

:eek:
 
Well, alcohol and caffeine are also legal drugs that can affect a person’s health especially should they become addicted to them. Nicotine is much easier to get addicted to compared to the other two, but the risk is there for all of them. Caffeine tends not to harm the person or others all that much (although excessive amounts aren’t good for you), but excessive alcohol also causes many deaths.

Either way, whether they’re legal or not, people need to learn how to live without these drugs. Anything that causes us to do something in which we have an extremely difficult time saying “no” to is an issue. We should be able to live without any kind of vice, drug or anything else controlling us.
 
This should clear up those treading the line of “Catholics cant smoke” or “Catholics cant drink” or “Is it a sin to do either” and “When does it actually become sinful - grave or what??”

youtube.com/watch?v=nCGjlrtY0sg
 
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