Using a Missal at Mass

[marytk]

It’s a reaction to what others are doing and nothing more. If one does not want to be glarred at, one should not do something that makes them stand out for others to glare at them.

So it is OK to glare at the glares who are not paying attention to the Mass but looking at someone else???

I wouldn’t be doing anything other than reacting to what others are inappropriately doing. I can’t believe I even have to argue about this; don’t teachers still confiscate this kind of junk in class? If I were the priest I would do the same, or at the very least anounce to shut them off. Again, there’s a time and a place to have such things out and the Sacrifice of the Mass is not one of them. It gives a very bad impression.

But who decides that is inappropiate. Schools do take phones((esp if being used in class) but students now use devices to read books, to use as a planner,and to type assigments They will email assigments home to finish if they don’t have a flashdrive. They may get permission in the middle of class to use it to do research. Some use it for a dictionary to look up words.

 

[pianistclare]

I would love it if our parish used Missalettes. It would be helpful for both the Spanish and English populations.
But, Pastors around here tend to disapprove. They say they want people paying attention, not with their noses in a book. (the “proclaiming” that so many here have mentioned.)To that end, we spend ALOT of time properly training the lectors and they do a great job.
Also, there is the issue of paper, recycling, etc. Many parishes don’t like the disposable aspect of the Missalettes.
If I bought a Missal the first thing I would do is lose it.

 

[agnes_therese]

It’s a reaction to what others are doing and nothing more. If one does not want to be glarred at, one should not do something that makes them stand out for others to glare at them.

So you won’t mind a bit if I glare at you because you’re glaring at others – after all, you’re the one who’s making me do it, because you’re “standing out” by glaring instead of worshiping. And then, of course, someone will glare at me for glaring at you, and someone will glare at them for glaring at me, and none of us will be at fault for not paying attention to Holy Mass.

Got it. And thank you for not living in my parish.

 

[ServusHumilis]

So you won’t mind a bit if I glare at you because you’re glaring at others – after all, you’re the one who’s making me do it, because you’re “standing out” by glaring instead of worshiping. And then, of course, someone will glare at me for glaring at you, and someone will glare at them for glaring at me, and none of us will be at fault for not paying attention to Holy Mass.

Got it. And thank you for not living in my parish.

Even if what you’re describing happens, it would still all stem from the original agitator, the one using the device. I don’t know why you’re saying you’re to me confused… I’m not doing anything other than busily singing in the schola upstairs. What I’m doing is describing something that is no dobut already happening and will continue to happen as long as people have the gall to use such things during the Sacrifice of the Mass. How could anyone worship while being needlessly distracted?

And I’m also quite glad you and others who want to use their phones during Mass aren’t in my parish either, thank-you very much!

 

[ServusHumilis]

So you won’t mind a bit if I glare at you because you’re glaring at others – after all, you’re the one who’s making me do it, because you’re “standing out” by glaring instead of worshiping. And then, of course, someone will glare at me for glaring at you, and someone will glare at them for glaring at me, and none of us will be at fault for not paying attention to Holy Mass.

Got it. And thank you for not living in my parish.

You have a flawed argument since even if what you’re describing were to happen, it would still all stem from the original agitator which would be the one using the device. I don’t know why you’re saying you’re to me confused… I wouldn’t be doing anything other than busily singing in the schola upstairs. All I’ve done is described something that is no dobut already happening in some parishes and will continue to happen as long as people have the gall to use such things during the Sacrifice of the Mass. How could anyone worship while being needlessly distracted?

And I’m also quite glad you and others who want to use their phones during Mass aren’t in my parish either, thank-you very much!

 

[agnes_therese]

You have a flawed argument since even if what you’re describing were to happen, it would still all stem from the original agitator which would be the one using the device. I don’t know why you’re saying you’re to me confused

I don’t care about the person using the missal on their iPad. You are the one I find offensive with your glaring. And you said it’s acceptable to glare at people who offend us.

You can’t have it both ways – if you can glare at others because you don’t like what they’re doing during Mass, I can glare at you if I don’t like what you’re doing during Mass. It’s not the tiniest bit confusing, unless you’re asking for a double standard.

And I’m also quite glad you and others who want to use their phones during Mass aren’t in my parish either, thank-you very much!

Where did I say I use my phone during Mass? Would you point that out to me please? I can’t find it. Thank you so much.

 

[ServusHumilis]

I don’t care about the person using the missal on their iPad. You are the one I find offensive with your glaring. And you said it’s acceptable to glare at people who offend us.

You can’t have it both ways – if you can glare at others because you don’t like what they’re doing during Mass, I can glare at you if I don’t like what you’re doing during Mass. It’s not the tiniest bit confusing, unless you’re asking for a double standard.

Where did I say I was ever glarring? Again, I’m far too busy filling the church with beautiful (or so I’m told) baritonal sounds of Gregorian Chant that are definately not being heard in your parish. Here I’m simply pointing out something that is already happening and why that’s the case. How could anyone possibly blame those simply reacting to atypical churchgoing behavior and not the true offenders? Go ahead and glare at the glarers… just realize why it’s happening in the first place.

Where did I say I use my phone during Mass? Would you point that out to me please? I can’t find it. Thank you so much.

Smart phones, iPad, Kindle… whatever your favor. They’re all the same; not appropriate for church. Continue to be thankful you’re not in my parish because you would definitely be in the minority and most likely lose your “right.” :yup:

 

[SMHW]

This whole thread reminds me of something I find humorous.

When I was a child attending Catholic school back in the 1960s I remember reading a story. I don’t remember if it was in our religion text book, our literature book, or somewhere else. The story was about a girl who used to get in trouble for fidgeting during Mass. She eventually got her own missal and it solved her problem by giving her something to concentrate on so she wouldn’t fidget.

Fast forward to the 1990s when my children were making their First Communions. The RE teachers told us that on their First Communion day the children were to have absolutely nothing in their hands: no missals, no rosaries, no metals, no gloves… They didn’t want the children fingering rosaries or paging through books because it would be too distracting to everyone.

 

[agnes_therese]

Smart phones, iPad, Kindle… whatever your favor. They’re all the same; not appropriate for church. Continue to be thankful you’re not in my parish because you would definitely be in the minority and most likely lose your “right.” :yup:

I used your own wording, so you use that as an excuse not to answer my question? Fine, I’ll rephrase it for you – where did I say I use anything electronic at Mass?

 

[agnes_therese]

I’m far too busy filling the church with beautiful (or so I’m told) baritonal sounds of Gregorian Chant that are definately not being heard in your parish.

It’s not? When was the last time you visited my parish?

Smart phones, iPad, Kindle… whatever your favor. They’re all the same; not appropriate for church. Continue to be thankful you’re not in my parish because you would definitely be in the minority and most likely lose your “right.” :yup:

I used your own phrasing, and you use that as an excuse not to answer my question? Fine, I’ll re-phrase it for you – where did I say I use anything electronic (there, does that cover the bases for you?) at Mass?

 

[johnmann]

I can’t believe I even have to argue about this; don’t teachers still confiscate this kind of junk in class?

No. They’re required for class. Though it’s telling that you refer to them as “junk.”

Again, there’s a time and a place to have such things out and the Sacrifice of the Mass is not one of them.

And yet you don’t feel the same way about paper missals. Seems like you have a bias against electricity. You cite glare as an excuse but I suspect that’s not it. You would be fine with e-ink Kindles?

 

[felsguy]

Uh… manuscripts and books have been used in the liturgy since almost the beginning.

Overheard coming out of church sometime in the first 15 centuries: “Hey Titus, I see you traded in your clay tablet missal for one of those newfangled parchment ones.” “Yeh, Sophia, I was thinking about going to vellum but the parchment is much lighter and not nearly as expensive. The only problem is so many people have been glaring at me since I started using it.”

.

 

[ProVobis]

“… The only problem is so many people have been glaring at me since I started using it.”
.

Yes, but were they disgusted?

 

[agnes_therese]

I have to wonder whether, when printed Missal books were first introduced for the laity to use at Mass, there were complaints about people paying more attention to their Missal than to Mass/the rustling of the pages bothers me/why can’t they act just like I do at Mass/etc.

 

[SMHW]

I have to wonder whether, when printed Missal books were first introduced for the laity to use at Mass, there were complaints about people paying more attention to their Missal than to Mass/the rustling of the pages bothers me/why can’t they act just like I do at Mass/etc.

I suspect the activities of the laity during Mass varied from culture to culture.

Many of us remember seeing (and some of us probably still see) individuals who prayed the rosary or engaged in other personal devotions through the Mass. There have certainly always been those who used missals during Mass. I’m guessing that for many people a missal was a once in a lifetime purchase, not because the Mass never changed, but because of the cost of the missal. I don’t recall my parents having individual missals with readings. They might have had some of those children’s missals which had snippets from the Gospel readings of the major Church feasts.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my children weren’t allowed to have missals at their First Communion Mass because the teachers were concerned that the children would use the missals to distract others.

 

[nickybr38]

I would never use my phone at Mass, but neither would I look around and judge my fellow parishioners for using theirs.

This is ridiculous. I think people need to stop focusing on what everyone else is doing and start focusing on what THEY’RE doing.

 

[maryjk]

Smart phones, iPad, Kindle… whatever your favor. They’re all the same; not appropriate for church. Continue to be thankful you’re not in my parish because you would definitely be in the minority and most likely lose your “right.” :yup:

There are vast differences between a smart phone and iPad and a Kindle. Just so you know.

Why would you have a problem with someone reading from an electronic device? What difference does it make? A book is a book is a book, whether it is on paper or as a file on an e-reader.

 

[nickybr38]

There are vast differences between a smart phone and iPad and a Kindle. Just so you know.

Why would you have a problem with someone reading from an electronic device? What difference does it make? A book is a book is a book, whether it is on paper or as a file on an e-reader.

They’re not articulating it well but I think the problem is that such devices can be an opportunity for scandal. When you see someone holding up a missal you know they are reading THE missal. … but when someone is on their phone they could be playing a game, texting, browsing the internet… anything, really, and there’s no way to know with one quick glance. This could lead to people making unfair judgments about the phone user and thus scandal!

BUT instead of teaching people they mustn’t use their handheld device as a missal, I think it would be better to teach people NOT TO JUDGE UNFAIRLY.

I take notes during Mass and people have presumed I was doodling, writing letters, etc. They judged unfairly, when in fact I was taking notes so I could remember the homily later (when I needed to remember it). Because these same people approached me I was able to clear up the misconception but how would I have felt if I’d noticed them glaring at me because I DARED to do something as unconventional as PAY ATTENTION to the homily! GASP

 

[SMHW]

I would never use my phone at Mass, but neither would I look around and judge my fellow parishioners for using theirs.

This is ridiculous. I think people need to stop focusing on what everyone else is doing and start focusing on what THEY’RE doing.

I dare say that many people who chance to pick up a phone during Mass are simply looking at it to see the time.

I have seen my pastor looking at his phone during his homily. I don’t know if he uses it for notes or if he just wants to keep track of the time. Perhaps it’s both. I really don’t care.

People do all kinds of things during Mass that are not, strictly speaking, related to the Mass. They adjust clothing, they look through purses, they read bulletins, they look at parts of the missalettes/missals/hymnals that are unrelated to what is currently happening, they fumble with items in their pockets. All of those sorts of things must be distracting to me because I’ve seen them and am reporting them here. But then again I’ve been distracted by watching how people fold their hands when praying.
It’s my job to pay attention to the Mass. Yes, I notice if someone uses an electronic device to follow along at the Mass. But I’d notice if they were using a regular missal because around here a missal of any sort is very uncommon.

 

[Waynec]

I also have my won missal for both of the Masses . I usually the NO on Saturday evening and the EF on Sunday afternoon.

I am lucky enough to have both not to far from home.

I prefer to read the missal because I get distracted very easily at the NO Mass so reading keeps me focused.

God Bless