Too much chatter in the Sanctuary

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Prairie_Rose

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Maybe I’m being too critical, but in YOUR parish, do people start chatting with fellow parishioners as they are exiting the pews, instead of waiting until they reach the vestibule or outside???

In my parish, it is becoming more noisy all the time. As our Priest processes out and we finish up the rececessional hymn, the minute Father reaches the vestibule, all semblence of reverence seems to fly out the window!! It’s a free-for-all to see who can find the most number of people to talk to 😦

Is it old fashioned to wish for some quiet time in the sanctuary??
When I first started attending Mass 25 yrs ago, there was this aura of reverence and quiet from the minute you entered the front door and it continued until Mass was completely over and parishioners filed out in hushed tones until they reached the vestibule or even outside.

I prefer to kneel down before leaving the pew to pray for a few minutes, as a “wrap up” to my time with the Lord, but there’s so much chatter going on it’s hard to concentrate. Sadly I’ve developed a bad attitude about this and I find myself apologizing to God for my frustration over this very thing, when I’m kneeling after Mass :eek:

Am I wrong to wish for more reverence from my fellow parishioners and is there anything I can do to change this trend??

And if you think I’m being too critical, you can say so - maybe I’m being an old fuddy-duddy
 
Prairie Rose,

You are not alone in your observation and frustration. In fact our father recently spoke scout the overall lack of reverence for the holy place we are in. When I first began attending mass, that reverence is what blew me out of the water and made the true presence of our Lord. I was raised as a protestant and it soon became apparent that people were there fire each other and not for Christ.

Try talking to your priest about it, but moreover pray pray pray.

NM Native
 
I think it’s about a lack of understanding regarding the Eucharist. If people really understood the concept of the Real Presence, there would be a different attitude about the sanctuary and our behavior in it. We need to recapture our sense of sacred space, which is something we lost during what my religion professor used to call the “warm, fuzzy Jesus” years.
 
Yes talk to your priest. Maybe he can add a little something to the bulletin or even even make a brief comment before mass.
 
The priest in my parish had to put out a specific request for this to stop a couple of weeks ago… there’s been no noticible improvement.
 
Prairie_Rose said:
Maybe I’m being too critical, but in YOUR parish, do people start chatting with fellow parishioners as they are exiting the pews, instead of waiting until they reach the vestibule or outside???

In my parish, it is becoming more noisy all the time. As our Priest processes out and we finish up the rececessional hymn, the minute Father reaches the vestibule, all semblence of reverence seems to fly out the window!! It’s a free-for-all to see who can find the most number of people to talk to 😦

Is it old fashioned to wish for some quiet time in the sanctuary??
When I first started attending Mass 25 yrs ago, there was this aura of reverence and quiet from the minute you entered the front door and it continued until Mass was completely over and parishioners filed out in hushed tones until they reached the vestibule or even outside.

I prefer to kneel down before leaving the pew to pray for a few minutes, as a “wrap up” to my time with the Lord, but there’s so much chatter going on it’s hard to concentrate. Sadly I’ve developed a bad attitude about this and I find myself apologizing to God for my frustration over this very thing, when I’m kneeling after Mass :eek:

Am I wrong to wish for more reverence from my fellow parishioners and is there anything I can do to change this trend??

And if you think I’m being too critical, you can say so - maybe I’m being an old fuddy-duddy
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Yes, and it is bad.
 
anruari said:
The priest in my parish had to put out a specific request for this to stop a couple of weeks ago… there’s been no noticible improvement.
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If people disregard the bulletin announcement, then he needs to say so during the announcements and/or the homily.

I went to one local church and it was so loud before Mass, you wonder if people thought it was social hour at a hall not a church. I’ve not been back to that parish since.
 
When I was a kid [pre V-II], the motto was, “Speak little; speak low.”
 
It’s not the noise after Mass that bothers me as much as that before. For the Mass of the Feast of the Assumption, we arrived in plenty of time to hear a very animated discussion of the techniques for preparing pickles. It took place three rows back.

Maybe the topic was unusual, but the conversation was not. It happens every Mass. Because of our schedules, we tend to be outside our parish on quite a few weekends. The talking seems to heard more often than not, no matter where we happen to be.
 
I attend the EF Mass, which this isn’t a problem for, but the OF Mass is getting out as we start arriving. There’s a real problem with people loitering after Mass in the back area visiting and laughing quite loudly, which makes it very difficult for us to recite the rosary before Mass. I literally have to strain to hear the guy who is leading, despite him being literally less than ten feet from me. The pastor stands at the back of the church while this is going on, but doesn’t seem to take notice of it, or he doesn’t care. I am often tempted to go to the back and politely request that they continue to converse out in the hall part of the parish. The only thing keeping me from doing so is the fear of disrupting any of harmony between the two Mass communities. Our priest knows about the disruptive noise, so I will leave the issue in his hands to bring up to the pastor if he sees fit. This really boils down to fraternal charity.
 
We have these signs displayed in the areas most prone to chatter.
 
NM_Native said:
Prairie Rose,

You are not alone in your observation and frustration. In fact our father recently spoke scout the overall lack of reverence for the holy place we are in. When I first began attending mass, that reverence is what blew me out of the water and made the true presence of our Lord. I was raised as a protestant and it soon became apparent that people were there fire each other and not for Christ.

Try talking to your priest about it, but moreover pray pray pray.

NM Native
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What part of NM are you in? I have noticed this at some parishes in the Albuquerque area, but some are great. Even the Mass time you attend can make a difference.
 
Prairie Rose, I was going to start a thread about this today, only I was waiting because I did not feel I could word it as politely as you did.

I live in England and no matter which church I go to, sometimes the priest has not even left when chatter “explodes”, people greeting and shrieking and talking about dishwashers (today’s experience, although it was before Mass, not after), they yell to each other across the church, laugh aloud, etc.

I agree with the poster who said it is down to people not understanding about the Real Presence. Also not understanding what happens when you receive the Lord in the Holy Eucharist. When the Mass has ended I (would) like to pray a bit silently, talk to the Lord who has just come and embraced me, enjoy His presence, talk to Him. But people easily talk “across you” (two people sitting on either side of you), discuss dishwashers in your immediate vicinity and generally behave like in an outdoor market.

I have also been thinking that it feels almost like the vent on a pressure cooker: people who during the previous hour sat silently, stood up or kneeled when they were supposed to, then formed an orderly queue when the time came for that appear to suddenly be “freed”, almost as if they had done their bit in behaving nicely for an hour and now they are finally allowed to do what they wanted all along. Which raises the question of why people come to Mass at all. Sometimes I wish the Church would lift the Sunday Mass obligation, so people who only go to fulfill it would not need to go any more…
 
Georgia said:
It’s not the noise after Mass that bothers me as much as that before. For the Mass of the Feast of the Assumption, we arrived in plenty of time to hear a very animated discussion of the techniques for preparing pickles. It took place three rows back. …
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One of the reasons for making the extra effort to get to midnight Mass early on Christmas Eve is to listen to the choir’s presentation that they worked so hard to prepare. But not for the two women behind me who chatted incessantly throughout the whole performance. They didn’t appear the least interested in it.
 
I call it the “Babbling of the Faithful.” For us it starts 15 minutes prior to Mass and ends 20 minutes after it’s over.
 
Jesus Divine Mercy to St. Faustina.

1717 Today, I was talking with the Lord, and He said to me, There are souls with whom I can do nothing. They are souls that are continuously observing others, but know nothing of what is going on within their own selves. They talk about others continually, even during times of grand silence, which is reserved for speaking only with Me. Poor souls, they do not hear My words; their interior remains empty. They do not look for Me within their own hearts, but in idle talk, where I am never to be found. They sense their emptiness, but they do not recognize their own guilt, while souls in whom I reign completely are a constant source of remorse to them. Instead of correcting themselves, their hearts swell with envy, and if they do not come to their senses, they plunge in even deeper. A heart, which thus far is envious, now begins to be filled with hate. And they are already at the edge of the precipice. They are jealous of my gifts in other souls, but they themselves are unable and unwilling to accept them.
 
sedonaman said:
One of the reasons for making the extra effort to get to midnight Mass early on Christmas Eve is to listen to the choir’s presentation that they worked so hard to prepare. But not for the two women behind me who chatted incessantly throughout the whole performance. They didn’t appear the least interested in it.
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Reminds me of the time I went to Mass some place else. I arrived early so I could pray my rosary silently. I was knelt down, and it was completely obvious that I was praying. Some woman comes in, sits down next to me and starts loudly yacking with the woman behind her. I couldn’t even keep track of what I was praying it was such a distraction.
 
My FSSP parish has me so spoiled - there are rarely any conversations in the sanctuary, and minimal noise from parents talking to children. It’s always so jarring to visit the OF parish in my mother’s town, as they start to chatter away as soon as Mass is over. The church has an (unused) altar rail, and normally after Mass I’ll spend a few moments kneeling in front of the altar in reparation for the coldness that people in that church seem to have to the real presence in their tabernacle. There is a nun there who also stays, and she obliviously sinks deep into mental prayer and thanksgiving for her God within her. Oh, that I could be that patient and holy! God Bless that nun.
 
sedonaman said:
When I was a kid [pre V-II], the motto was, “Speak little; speak low.”
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My great grandmother had another one: " what could you possibly have to say to your neighbor that is more important than talking to Jesus!".

When the noise level in the sanctuary is at a level that others cannot concentrate on their prayer, then it’s those making that noise that are being inconsiderate of others. For many, this is their only opportunity to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. Unless there is blood or fire, there is NO reason for loud conversation.
 
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