Water bottles, cups of coffee, juice boxes at Mass. What's next...beer?

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Sarabande said:
But in other circumstances where the priests are not ok with bringing coffee and other things, the ushers could do some gentle advising as to what is permitted during the Mass.
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“Would you like me to put that in a safe place for you until Mass is over?”

Betsy
 
Palmas85:
Yes Holy Mass is a “communal meal” and a “celebration”, but it is also the solemn Holy Sacrifice of Our Lord. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is literally and mystically made present on the altar. The Mass is a celebration in that we recall the resurrection of the Lord, but we must not forget that it is also a solemn sacrifice. Drinking Starbucks coffee immediately before, or even worse (as you suggest!) during, Holy Communion is not only inappropriate, it is an explicit violation of Church law which requires us to abstain from food and drink (besides water) for at least one hour before receiving. We are receiving the King of Kings…the Creator of the Universe…it is a humbling experience, and one that requires some spiritual, mental, and physical preparation.
 
Not only a few weeks ago, I was going to a week day mass for a funeral. Because of the time element and other circumstances, I had something to eat about 15 minutes past the one hour mass time. I refrained from receiving. I think posters are correct in their conclusion that there is not enough respect and adoration for The Most Holy Eucharist. Actually even being in the state of grace and although this is The Lord’s gift to us, I don’t ever feel entirely worthy to receive Him. Are any of us really worthy to receive the King of Kings, the Lord God Almighty? I think we need to do everything possible to prepare for such a Divine Gift.
Just my:twocents: 🙂
 
pnewton said:
Not a problem for me. I always keep my beer in a paper bag when inside the Church.

Although your statement is meant to be funny, this year at a church not far from here for Father’s Day, the Priest had cold beer and had the kids go up and get dad a beer for Father’s Day, but, he did tell them not to drink it until they got home, not the best message and image to be sending to kids, in my opinion. God Bless.
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All excellent, excellent advice!
THurifer2 said:
I have 4 well adjusted Catholic CHildren who often times pray the rosary and lead the rosary with the audults at our multi family rosary on Sunday Evenings. With all 4 of them it was forbidden to take Anything to Mass besides a Catholic childrens book…and yes that was from infancy to the Late gradschool to junior high age now.

4 suggestions for parents
  1. Go to Mass as often as possible…if you are not working and there is a Mass availible and you have children then you should be there if you do not have an engagement…AND OF COURSE NEVER miss Mass on Sundays
  2. Sit in the front Row or as far in the front as possible (you would be surprised at how much more even the little ones watch whats going on)
  3. Try to sit in the same area (this provides a familiarity for children)
  4. IMPORTANT Feed the children a big hearty breakfast…and I mean the Works eggs bacon cereal waffles juice etc etc…try to avoid sugary quick bkfsts.( I can almost guarantee this will make a quieter calmer child at Mass)
If you can do 2, 3 and 4 above consistently your children will be happy church goers If you can add #1 above to that list you will have Saints in the making.
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<<That made sense until THurifer2 said that this doesn’t hold true for deacons.>>

I don’t think Deacons normally serve in their order at two masses, but I could be mistaken.
 
palmas85 said:
I think you are just being legalistic here. Come on now its a celebration right? Its a communal meal right? The whole thing is put on for our benefit right? So the lady needed a Starbucks. Big deal. Christ will surely understand and since it is from an eco- friendly company like Starbucks she might even get extra points, Besides that you know as well as I do that at times that Host can be mighty difficult to swallow. Nothing that a good double belt of a double latte frappucino wouldn’t take care of. Stop being a pharisee and relax dude. Its all good.👍

Remember its the new springtime!!!
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Sorry if I am being slow and you are joking. If so, this is a very toungue in cheek post :D. You are joking right? :ehh:
 
At my church, there is an announcement before Mass reminding people not to eat or drink in the Church. They add that if parents need to feed their children, they should take their children outside of the church to do this. The announcement is very polite, and children of all ages are able to “survive” for one hour without a problem. On occassion people do need to step out to tend to the needs of their children, and no one feels Mass is intrupted when they get up to do this.

I am grateful for this rule. After Church at the Mass I attended in the States, the pews would be littered with cheerios and other snacks that were accidently dropped by children. Here we don`t have that problem, yet children are still very welcome at Mass, still feel at home, and are none “worse off” because of it.

Many parishoners carry water bottles in their purses/bags, but do not drink during Mass unless they need to due to illness.

Sincerely,

Maria1212
 
Bubble said:
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with toddlers (three and under) eating goldfish crackers or cheerios, etc., during Mass. And, what’s the big deal if they’re given a sippy cup instead of a bottle?

The people who are shocked by this are probably the same one’s complaining when the children cry and act up. Whatever keeps the children quiet at Mass – I’m all for it.

Adults are another matter.

A priest at my former parish would stand out in the hall, sipping coffee just before Mass began. He’d partake the Eucharist usually about 45 mintues later and not the required hour. BTW, he was and is a very traditional and most excellent priest. So, I really wondered about this one seeming discretion. A lot of people seem to think that coffee somehow on expempt status. Is it?
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I think there is a rule that if a priest has to say more than one mass in a day, he is not required to keep the 1 hour fast each time, but I’m afraid I don’t know the specifics… :confused:
 
My mother used to drink bottles of water at Mass,because she was a diabetic and would have felt weak otherwise.In cases like this,I think its OK to drink in church.But if people drink just because they want to,then that is not really being respectful to God,and it might distract them from worshipping Him properly.Besides,the focus of the Mass is supposed to be Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrement,not somebodys beverage.So maybe you could ask the priest to do something about it?Hope this helps.
 
JMJ_coder said:
Hello,

Coffee cups, juice boxes, etc. should not be in the Church. And I think that if the Priest sees that, it could be grounds for that Priest to refuse Communion, since the person isn’t properly disposed (breaking the fast). Pastorally, this should be handled probably by allowing it the first time, but after Mass instructing the individual privately that it was not proper and then possibly denying them after that. If it is a widespread problem, then the Priest could mention it during the homily that this was not allowable.

As for water bottles. Water doesn’t break the fast, so there is no problem. Just be sure to not slurp too loud. In fact, I take a bottle of water with me when I go to Mass (I have a medical reason). I do my best to not distract others by it - I keep the bottle out of sight and do my best to drink (when the need arises) without calling attention to myself.
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ANYTHING by mouth without a medical condition, an hour before communion, is breaking the fast. To the best of my knowledge this includes water. Unless, like I said, it is for medical reasons. Cmon people! Its only ONE hour! The only thing you sould be bringing with you is an open heart to recieve our Lord. My 2 cents.
 
Tom_Lyon said:
ANYTHING by mouth without a medical condition, an hour before communion, is breaking the fast. To the best of my knowledge this includes water. Unless, like I said, it is for medical reasons. Cmon people! Its only ONE hour! The only thing you sould be bringing with you is an open heart to recieve our Lord. My 2 cents.
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Water and medication DO NOT BREAK THE FAST according to Canon Law.
Here’s a link that outlines the rules of fasting and abstinence
fisheaters.com/fasting.html

Jennifer
 
Joannm said:
Might I add make sure they go to the bathroom before you leave the house. It is like an epidemic in our church that all these kids have to go to the bathroom during mass.
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Perhaps they go to the bathroom to use their cellphones.
 
lepanto said:
Well it’s pretty tough to “fast” for an hour from cellphones! 😉
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Apparently, it’s something that the writers or the GIRM never considered. Hmm, now that would be a meaningful fast: no food or drink or cellphones for an hour before (or during) Mass!
 
Just about all of us in the choir brought water bottles with us today for our Mass of Ordination. Practice started at 9:30 and Mass ended at 1:00 PM. The catherdral has no water fountains and we did a lot of singing in that time.

We were mostly unseen in the loft and it was more of a necessity than a party atmosphere.

For a regional confirmation last month and our Eucharistic Congress in August, we were encouraged to use straws so we could be more discrete. Both celebrations had about 10,000 participants, so they took a while.

It sounds old fashioned, but common sense solves a lot of problems. We should be reverent at all liturgies.
 
Trader said:
Just about all of us in the choir brought water bottles with us today for our Mass of Ordination. Practice started at 9:30 and Mass ended at 1:00 PM. The catherdral has no water fountains and we did a lot of singing in that time.

We were mostly unseen in the loft and it was more of a necessity than a party atmosphere.

For a regional confirmation last month and our Eucharistic Congress in August, we were encouraged to use straws so we could be more discrete. Both celebrations had about 10,000 participants, so they took a while.

It sounds old fashioned, but common sense solves a lot of problems. We should be reverent at all liturgies.
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I absolutely think you did the right thing. You drank water out of necessity for health, yet you went out of your way to be discreet so as not to give the wrong idea to those who don’t know any better.

Kudos to you! 👍
 
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