Usher duties question

[Agnus-Dei]

While reading “Usher duties” on the net I found something in the list that puzzles me:

• Placing of tissue boxes at every seating row.
• Catching people chewing gum and asking them politely to get rid of it.
• Politely asking for the removal of hats on the men and boys.
  *** Placing blankets on women who “rest in the Spirit.”***
  What does this last one refer to? (Falling asleep in church?)
  Dominus vobiscum
  After being an usher today, I came home and started researching the topic.

 

[Agnus-Dei]

General reading. I am thinking it was protestant now. I was going down the search result clicking in turn and reading. I’ll look.
Evangelismcoach(dot)org
Dominus vobiscum
(I saw no dancing in the church today)
Reading their site, there is no mention of the Catholic church, but it does mention the protestant denominations.
Same question if anyone can answer it.

 

[1ke]

Usher isn’t really any sort of official liturgical role, so they do whatever the pastor asks them to do locally.

Could be helping seat people, passing out bulletins or missals, taking up the collection, holding doors, giving visitors directions to the bathroom, etc.

That site is not Catholic and really isn’t the place to get information, your pastor is the person to talk to.

 

[Agnus-Dei]

That one was a site I visited. I found the others “in order” of search result.
Todays mass was conformation. I had not attended this type, and have never been an usher before. It was enjoyable. I was given the brief version concerning what to do out of necessity and things went well, mostly. (Thanks be)
Over the ear microphone cutting out after falling apart at the beginning. Swap out, apply tape and go on.
Dominus vobiscum

 

[Tis_Bearself]

*** Placing blankets on women who “rest in the Spirit.”***

It refers to people falling down or fainting during some type of Pentecostal/ charismatic service.

I agree that this doesn’t sound like a Catholic church. Even at Catholic charismatic services, which are relatively few in number, you do not tend to have large numbers of people “resting in the spirit” and it would not be a regular duty of a regular usher to tend to them. More likely, one or two able-bodied men from the charismatic community would be acting as “catchers” for the few people who might collapse, and would take care of any blanket duty if necessary as well.

Catholic church ushers usually have duties such as acting as greeters, helping people find seats if they need help, passing baskets for the collection, and often acting as an informal first response/ security team by helping anyone who needs help and dealing with any sort of disturbance in the church.

 

[Agnus-Dei]

Thank you. I was guessing that could be it. I’ve never found those services, attractive. (I started out heathen, then Southern Baptist, then nothing, then pagan, and now here I am.) If during a service, that type of thing starts, I would have left. Now, I think I would just observe.
Dominus vobiscum

 

[TheLittleLady]

Every parish, congregation, has their own duties for ushers.

It sounds as if you were reading the guides for a Pentecostal congregation. They are known for very emotional demonstrations in their services, sometimes resulting in people “falling out”/fainting due to extreme emotion.

 

[Agnus-Dei]

If I expressed myself, I would “get the talking-to”.
Dominus vobiscum

 

[FiveLinden]

I like the idea of blankets for those ‘resting in the Spirit’.

 

[ChuckB]

I like the idea of blankets for those ‘resting in the Spirit’.

If the homily starts running too long, I often find myself fighting to avoid “resting in the Spirit.” If it could be a legitimate thing with blankets, well, I’d sure be onboard with that.

 

[Agnus-Dei]

I don’t think a snore would qualify as “a joyful noise”, or could it?
Pews made by lay-zee-boy(spelled wrong on purpose) would be a no no.
Dominus vobiscum

 

[CelticWarlord]

For many years in my former church I was an usher. I never did any of the duties you found listed. My primary job was to help late-comers find a place to sit with as little interruption as possible. We also assisted folks with small kids get to the bathrooms if they needed help carrying all that baby stuff. Security, if needed, but it seldom was, if ever. I liked the job because it meant I didn’t have to “fellowship” with gossipy people since I considered ushering a full time job while I was on duty.

 

[Agnus-Dei]

Fashion a whip of cords and drive the rowdy’s to the cry room!
One can have ridiculous daydreams of “heroic” deeds full of danger and glory.
There were more in that list I chose to cut out of the post that I found odd.
Dominus vobiscum