Why no coat racks in Catholic churches?

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jssaxon said:
It smells like responses that are grasping at straws for an explanation of the inhospitality to be found in Catholic churches… :rolleyes:
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I’ve never experienced any inhospitality at a Catholic Church. They are just as welcoming as non-catholic places. The only difference is Catholics focus on God and worshiping Him and not on each other. The only reason people feel not welcomed is because visitors go to Mass expecting to be social, and Mass is about God not us. Why are you so insecure in your own faith that you must bash fellow Christians with no basis?

My family would make the same stupid claims, having never even been inside of a Catholic Church.:rolleyes:
 
homewardbound said:
I’ve never experienced any inhospitality at a Catholic Church. They are just as welcoming as non-catholic places. The only difference is Catholics focus on God and worshiping Him and not on each other. The only reason people feel not welcomed is because visitors go to Mass expecting to be social, and Mass is about God not us. Why are you so insecure in your own faith that you must bash fellow Christians with no basis?

My family would make the same stupid claims, having never even been inside of a Catholic Church.:rolleyes:
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Ha! What do you know about what other Christians focus on? And, reading the threads here about how other people behave in church, how their children behave, what bad parents they are if their children don’t behave well, I think that Catholics are very concerned with what others are doing in church.
 
Cathryn said:
I understand what you are saying, but Catholics with coats on are commited to staying and want to be there too. Let’s face it, Catholics are a hearty lot. We don’t mind it being chilly in Church because we can just keep our coats on. No one ever minded until Protestants started becoming Catholics, for which we are all grateful. My Irish ancestors had our Churches confiscated and were lucky to have any place to have Mass. Heating Churches so all were comfortable wasn’t an option. Ireland sent thousands of good sisters and priests to the US and instilled this no heat mindset into millions of children in the US. We are all better for it. I doubt if many Churches in Europe are heated so that people take off their coats in winter. Maybe some of our European brothers and sisters can let us know. 🙂
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I doubt there are that many faithful Catholics left in Europe, sad to say.

We don’t live in Europe. We don’t live in ancient times. We don’t attend 500 year-old cathedrals. We live in the U.S.A., and it is 2007, almost 2008, and most of our churches were built within the last 100 years, and most of our churches were built with modern conveniences. Let’s live in the time and place instead of living in the past.

Warmth is not an extravagence or a luxury here in the U.S. Most cities and towns in the U.S. make charitable provision for the poor to receive heat as part of the bare necessities of life, along with food, shelter, clothing, and basic health care.
 
Not everyone here lives in the US. Asking what Catholics do in Europe is valid in a universal Church. Keeping the thermostat down makes sense in a whole lot of ways. 🙂
 
I don’t recall seeing a coatrack in any church, of any denomination. Or in Jewish houses of worship where I’ve been a guest.
I do remember in one parish there were spring clips on the backs of the pews above the kneelers. Some people used them to hang coats, hats, purses instead of having their belongings in the pew.
But in some of the modern parish churches, and most if not all Eastern Rite churches, there are no kneelers, either.
 
jssaxon said:
You actually think Catholics are heartier than people of other religions!!! ??:rotfl: That’s a new one! That explains everything, of course!:rolleyes:
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Not new at all! Surely the reputed dourness of protestants is legion.
Hilair Belloc said nearly 100 years ago:
“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine,
There’s laughter and dancing and good red wine,
At least I’ve always found it so.
Benedicamus Domino!”
 
Having been to both Catholic and Protestant Churches (of various denoms) this is what I see to be the difference. Most protestant churches have a large narthex? (is that a Lutheran term) or reception hall, kitchen or whatever. You come in and hang up your coat, put on a name tag if you are a visitor, look around, chat up friends and when the service starts you pop in to the sanctuary. When the service is over you go back out to the reception area, pour a cup of coffee, grab a donut and socialize, shake hands, head off to Adult Sunday School etc. You may be there for 2-3 hours.

At the Catholic Churches, the social hour and reception hall don’t exist. You are there for Mass, period. Socializing is done at school, sports, evening Parish social events etc. You may have 5000 households registered to one parish so you have 3, 4, 5 masses on Sunday some right on top of each other. So you have 1000 people at Mass at 9 am and another 1000 coming in at 10:15. It would be a mad scramble trying to get find your coats while others are trying to hang theirs up.

I’m not critical of either way. 🙂
 
JimmyJeff said:
Having been to both Catholic and Protestant Churches (of various denoms) this is what I see to be the difference. Most protestant churches have a large narthex? (is that a Lutheran term) or reception hall, kitchen or whatever. You come in and hang up your coat, put on a name tag if you are a visitor, look around, chat up friends and when the service starts you pop in to the sanctuary. When the service is over you go back out to the reception area, pour a cup of coffee, grab a donut and socialize, shake hands, head off to Adult Sunday School etc. You may be there for 2-3 hours.

At the Catholic Churches, the social hour and reception hall don’t exist. You are there for Mass, period. Socializing is done at school, sports, evening Parish social events etc. You may have 5000 households registered to one parish so you have 3, 4, 5 masses on Sunday some right on top of each other. So you have 1000 people at Mass at 9 am and another 1000 coming in at 10:15. It would be a mad scramble trying to get find your coats while others are trying to hang theirs up.

I’m not critical of either way. 🙂
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I have been to Lutheran and Methodist churches, and none of them had coat racks. Some of the people kept their coats on at these churches and others took their coats off. Maybe it is a regional thing.
 
JimmyJeff said:
Having been to both Catholic and Protestant Churches (of various denoms) this is what I see to be the difference. Most protestant churches have a large narthex? (is that a Lutheran term) or reception hall, kitchen or whatever. You come in and hang up your coat, put on a name tag if you are a visitor, look around, chat up friends and when the service starts you pop in to the sanctuary. When the service is over you go back out to the reception area, pour a cup of coffee, grab a donut and socialize, shake hands, head off to Adult Sunday School etc. You may be there for 2-3 hours.

At the Catholic Churches, the social hour and reception hall don’t exist. You are there for Mass, period. Socializing is done at school, sports, evening Parish social events etc. You may have 5000 households registered to one parish so you have 3, 4, 5 masses on Sunday some right on top of each other. So you have 1000 people at Mass at 9 am and another 1000 coming in at 10:15. It would be a mad scramble trying to get find your coats while others are trying to hang theirs up.

I’m not critical of either way. 🙂
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So, true with all you say.

In addition to what you say with Catholic masses, not only do you have to scramble to get out for the next group, but you have to make room in the parking lot for the next group of worshippers. Our 11:00 in the Cathedral will sometimes go over when the 12:15 starts in the Chapel. When that happens, it’s very hard finding parking in the small lot, especially since it’s in the city. Many of the Protestant services I’ve performed at only have one or two services on Sunday, whereas most Catholic churches have 4-5 masses on a Sunday.

And you are right, there is nothing wrong with either practice. It’s a cultural thing as well, on both sides, which needs to be understood by each.

I sometimes perform for Protestant services (actually will be working at the Lutheran church Christmas Eve service - doing really beautiful Catholic music), and have worked exclusively for Protestant churches in the past when most Catholic churches didn’t pay for church musicians, so I have seen both - and actually, come to think of it, none of the Protestant churches I’ve ever worked in had coat racks - but then again these were older churches. The Protestants are “friendlier” sometimes, but it doesn’t make me think any less or more of Catholics or Protestants - I understand it’s cultural in many ways and that they’re all the same as people, negatively and positively.
 
My parish - no coat racks. People either leave their coat on OR sit on them (my choice) or put them next to them.

I’m not going to judge people who leave on their coats. I can’t see it as a big deal. Is it really a good indicator of the friendliness of any given parish? I doubt it.

Is my parish all that friendly? Well, it’s over 100 years old and many of the people grew up in it. If you aren’t from around here, or have kids in the school, it probably isn’t that friendly.

I’m not from here, nor do I have kids. I volunteer as an EHMC to feel more part of the parish. There have been discussions to try to get people more involved, but nothing concrete has happened.
 
Perhaps I am phrasing my thoughts badly, and that’s why so many of you seem to think I’m advocating the happy clappy Catholic church.

Taking off a coat does not make you friendly. Leaving a coat on does not make you unfriendly. I understand this and I agree.

However when someone takes off a coat, it is a way of saying, “I’m comfortable here. I feel safe and at ease with you and I would like to stay for a while.”

Leaving on a coat is a way of saying, “I’m cold and I don’t feel comfortable about staying here with you for any length of time because I am so cold.”

If you disagree, then I would ask you to try an experiment. Next time you visit someone’s house, leave your coat on and see how your hosts and the other guests react. Or if you don’t visit, then try leaving your coat on at work.

In the U.S., taking off a coat inside a building is definitely a friendly gesture, while leaving a coat on inside a building conveys a message that is not as friendly.
 
I think our church doesn’t have a coat rack because it would slow people down on the rush out to the parking lot after mass. It may delay them 30 or 40 seconds if they had to stop and grab a coat off of the coat rack.
 
mommyof4 said:
I think our church doesn’t have a coat rack because it would slow people down on the rush out to the parking lot after mass. It may delay them 30 or 40 seconds if they had to stop and grab a coat off of the coat rack.
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:rotfl: i believe you are referring to the catholic grand prix
 
Cat, maybe I’m just a simple bloke, but the only “message” which leaving a coat on conveys to me is “I’m cold”, and taking a coat off only conveys the message “I’m hot.”
 
Cat said:
However when someone takes off a coat, it is a way of saying, “I’m comfortable here. I feel safe and at ease with you and I would like to stay for a while.”

Leaving on a coat is a way of saying, “I’m cold and I don’t feel comfortable about staying here with you for any length of time because I am so cold.”
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As a cradle Catholic, I am thinking this may in fact be a cultural thing that I’ve never actually really even considered until I read your thread. Because here’s how I would interpret these same coat situations:

When I take off a coat, it is my way of saying one of the following:

A) “There’s so much room in the pew today that I have the luxury of taking off my coat. It is in fact getting just a bit warm in here today.”

B) “Mass is crowded today, but I’m in a mood where I really need personal space right about now, so I’m taking off my coat and placing it behind me. Nobody had better sit close enough to touch my coat because it’s kind of cramped like sardines in this pew already and if just one more person squeezes in, it feels like I’m gonna be pushed out and fall on the floor!”

When I keep my coat on, it is my way of saying one of the following:

A) “It’s good manners to make sure that everyone who comes to Mass has a place to sit, so I’ll keep my coat on as an indication that people are welcome to sit near me.”

B) “With my coat on, I am at a comfortable temperature as well as following the commonly accepted dress code inside a Catholic church.”

As an aside, a few weeks ago I discovered at the Latin Mass parish that wearing a mantilla while wearing a suede leather jacket just does not feel right and must have looked even worse 🙂 … Either the mantilla has to go (it can easily be replaced with a regular winter hat as a head covering), or the coat/jacket has to go and I take a chance on being cold.

As another aside, as an unmarried single conservative, I have in fact found in my experience that Protestants often treat me friendlier than Catholics do. The Lord has sent me a Methodist who considers me a best friend and another Methodist who considers me an adopted daughter, for example, and now another newer friend, also a Protestant. That said, at no time did I base the friendliness factor on whether or not someone was wearing a coat or not. The thought about coats never even crossed my mind.

~~ the phoenix
 
Petergee said:
Cat, maybe I’m just a simple bloke, but the only “message” which leaving a coat on conveys to me is “I’m cold”, and taking a coat off only conveys the message “I’m hot.”
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Yes, same here, and since I’m going through menopause I often convey both messages several times during the same Mass. 😃
 
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