Where have the bells gone?

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Why don’t all Catholic Church’s use bells to signify the beginning of Mass? I’ve heard this done at the cathedral in our area, but seriously, you could get some loud speakers and have recorded bells at any church.

Why do so few do it, or is it just my area that has a famine of bells? Or is this not even a traditional practice?
 
Where I grew up, all of the Churches, Protestant and Catholic, had bells that peeled on Sunday mornings (I used to pull the rope for one of the churches). Sadly, I don’t think any of the bells are in use anymore. There are churches out there that do indeed use electronic bells, carillons, etc. In some areas, where churches are more in the middle of neighborhoods, I wonder if ordinances haven’t been passed that have cut down on noise level allowances—this could part of the reason we don’t have as many bells. Also, maintenance of bell systems can be expensive. That might be part of the reason. I do know that it is wonderful to be in Europe where bells still are heard wonderfully each Sunday. And, in fact, I’m currently in Seville, Spain and the bells at the Cathedral were in full peel last night at midnight as we welcomed the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. They have no problems with bells and religion being front and center in this city.
 
crumblymunky said:
Why don’t all Catholic Church’s use bells to signify the beginning of Mass? I’ve heard this done at the cathedral in our area, but seriously, you could get some loud speakers and have recorded bells at any church.

Why do so few do it, or is it just my area that has a famine of bells? Or is this not even a traditional practice?
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Our parish (Holy Family in Rockford, IL ) has bells to signify the beginning of Mass. Don’t know if they are real or recorded but they have them. What’s weird is that at our house we have a door bell that is “radio controlled” between the door button and the actual “bell” and every once in a while a Lutheran Church down the street rings their bells and it sets off our door bell! We contacted them and they said they had never heard of that!🤷
 
I’m not sure about the other Catholic church I know of, but the one I attend Mass at uses bells to signify the beginning and end of Mass. I love hearing them. 🙂
 
In my City there are 5 Catholic Churches and one, St Mary’s which is a beautiful I might add,
rings bells at 12:00 Noon M-F before the 12:10 Mass and also before weekend Masses.

Mary.
 
Okay awesome. I haven’t been around to many churches in my area for mass, but of 4, 3 didn’t have bells, so I was just wondering. Thanks for the responses!
 
Ours even uses the bells at the belfry during consecration.
 
I live in the East Village section of Manhattan and attend St. Stanislaus Church on East 7th Street. All Masses are announced by our Church Bells - real bells, not a recording.
This is a treat for me because as a boy in Miami, Fla. during WW II, our parish had no bells. The Parish Church bells had been donated in a government scrap metal drive as a patriotic gesture!
This was before there were such things as PA amplifiers and recorded church bells. The church has never replaced the bells to this day. It is a Jesuit parish and I asked one Pastor, years ago about raising money for new bells and the reply was that it would be better to donate the money to a mission or to the poor rather than waste it on bells.
 
Older parishes may have the bells but not the money to maintain them. Newer parishes probably don’t have real or electric bells because of the noise ordinance issue.
 
We have bells to start the mass and during the consecration we have 2 bells rung one form the altar server and also the actual church bell ( not a recording ).
 
In my parish, there was a bell and cord at the doorway leading from the sacristy to the sanctuary. The first altar server in line would give it a yank for signal to the rest of us.

The old building has two tall bell towers. There’s one bell so large, it has one tower all to itself. But, now, over 100 years old, the tower is considered too unsound to actually swing the bell. So, an electric hammer has been installed to strike the bell – but even still, I haven’t heard that in years.

here’s a youtube video of the bells tolling in one parish in my diocese

youtube.com/watch?v=fghJgMZunv0
 
I don’t believe I have ever been in a Catholic Church that failed to ring bells at the beginning of Mass.
 
1ke—I do a lot of traveling. I can’t remember the last time I heard the bells rung, at the beginning of Mass, in any Church I’ve attended for Mass. It’s been a long time.
 
We have a mix in our area - the older churches tend to ring their bells, but the newer parishes (built in the 60s/70s) don’t even have bells to ring if they wanted to.

~Liza
 
crumblymunky said:
Why don’t all Catholic Church’s use bells to signify the beginning of Mass? I’ve heard this done at the cathedral in our area, but seriously, you could get some loud speakers and have recorded bells at any church.

Why do so few do it, or is it just my area that has a famine of bells? Or is this not even a traditional practice?
Click to expand...
Catholics who used to live in the Northeast US took all the bells with them when they moved to the South.

All the bells are in Raleigh, Charlotte and Atlanta. 😃

-Tim-
 
I likewise, cannot recall going to a Mass where the Bells were not rung beforehand.
All the Churches where I live ring them.
Our Parish has only 3 working bells out of 5, or something like that.
We decided to put off fixing the bells and getting a new controller due to the cost, which was estimated at about $20K.
 
I think we may be talking about two different kinds of bells here. There are the exterior bells (in the belfry or steeple or even exposed in a yard)–I hear these in some locales–some are rung manually and some electronically—some are electronically produced recordings. There are also the interior bells rang when a Priest enters for Mass–this seems to be rare in my experience (at least these days). And, of course, there are bells rung by the altar servers during Mass at the Consecration. I’m finding several Churches doing this these days–more than just a few years back. I wish it were happening in all churches.
 
Operalan said:
1ke—I do a lot of traveling. I can’t remember the last time I heard the bells rung, at the beginning of Mass, in any Church I’ve attended for Mass. It’s been a long time.
Click to expand...
I too travel extensively, domestic and international. I always hear bells.
 
My parish was built in the 1970’s but there is these speakers that emit a bell sound every hour. The “bells” are actually quite loud and can be heard from far away.
 
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