When does a child "deserve" a seat at Mass

  • Thread starter Thread starter Xanthippe_Voorhees
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I’d turn to them and say, “You can sit in my child’s seat if you keep them on YOUR lap the whole time.”

Or part of the time, the kids sit on your lap; part of the time they walk in front of the old lady who took their seat.
 
PaulfromIowa said:
You mean this is a regular occurrence? Does your church fill up so completely that there are no seats left?
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This isn’t so unusual, especially in areas where several parishes have merged into one church that was relatively recently built (i.e. fewer seats).

I was in a church a couple weekends back that was formed from three merged parishes and built within the last few decades. I went to the 7:30 am Sunday Mass - this was a normal Sunday, not Easter, not Palm Sunday, etc. - and arrived a few minutes late as I do not live in that area and underestimated the time it would take to drive from where I was staying over to the church. When I arrived at the start of the first reading, I found it to be so full there was no pew space and just a couple of empty temporary chairs that had been placed at the ends of pews (most of those chairs were also occupied).

If the 7:30 am Sunday Mass is that full, I’m pretty sure the 10 am is even more jammed. I suspect the church was built for a smaller crowd back in the days when there were four churches serving the immediate area instead of 1.
 
Deditus_Domina said:
At least a third of those will be young kids and their moms who run out whenever toddler or baby make noise and only come back in for communion.
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Yikes… those women should be encouraged not to leave because of child noise… child noise is a sign of vitality and life at a parish…
 
Surely a lot depends on individuals. I’m a short woman with a tall husband and his tall offspring could look pretty daft sat on me even if they are “young enough not to need a seat”
 
This reminds me of a Christmas morning when I was 7 or 8 years old. The service started I think at about 6 or 7am. My family walked there with the rest of the people from the area. Very cold winter morning with lots of snow and we carried torches and could see other people joining when we passed where they lived. Children wore winter clothes made of a material so that snow could easily be brushed off. Slippery but water proof. The church was packed full and I had to sit on mom´s lap and my younger brother sat on dad´s. There was no place where we could hang our thick winter clothes so we had to wear them. Several times during the service mom would whisper “Sit still! Now you have to sit still!” as we were sliding off our parents laps. I don’t remember how many times I slid off mom’s lap but there were several. I wouldn’t have minded sitting on a dirty floor or stayed in bed asleep.

That was the last time we went to a Christmas day early morning service. We started going to Christmas prayer in the afternoon the next year.
 
I haven’t read all these posts, but I’m just wondering where Mass is so crowded (aside from Christmas and Easter) that there is not room for a small child to sit in a pew? Sounds like a good problem to have.
 
I addressed that earlier.

It’s a small, rural Church. These are front, isle seats they want. Middle seats are available in pews further back.
 
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