Why no coat racks in Catholic churches?

[Al_Masetti]

The point is not about people who leave Mass early, it is about why most people do not hang around for hours afterward.

[When did the title of this thread get changed …???]

Because Catholic churches usually have four or more Masses on Sunday. There is no place for them to hang around until after the last Mass on Sunday afternoon. And sometimes there ARE meetings and presentations after the last Mass, so if they want to hang out after the last Mass, they can.

Most parishes have so many groups that meet, sometimes on a weekday evening, you have difficulty finding a place to park.

Some years ago, someone complained about … I forget … lack of stuff to get involved with or some silly thing … so the pastor asked for an “inventory” of the various groups.

We were all shocked. There were more than fifty. The list went on and on. So the pastor called a parish-wide meeting and hundreds and hundreds of people showed up.

The complainer was present and we asked him to volunteer for something specific that needed attention and he agreed. And we never saw him again.

 

[Greg72]

[When did the title of this thread get changed …???]

I changed it, Al, in response to the very reason that you give in your post. I question the idea that people stampede out of the Church to make room for people attending the next Mass so I raised the fact that people often leave early in response to that.

I know that it isn’t a place to hang around but I have enough time for 5 or 10 minutes of prayer after the postlude to thank Our Lord without putting anybody out.

 

[Sarabande]

Has this always been a problem, or is this a newer phenomenon? My experience only consisted from the 1980s forward, so I don’t know what it was like prior to that. I understand that this is a major problem in some parishes. What has been or can be done to rectify it? What sparked the practice in the first place?

My parents did this twice when I was a little girl. The first time, my mother was having an asthma attack, so we had to leave. A woman had really strong perfume. She wasn’t near us prior to communion, but when she came back, she was right in front of my mother. Before she could actually move to another end of the pew to avoid the strong aroma, the attack came on extremely quickly. Luckily, my father is a doctor so he could help her out in the vestibule and they got it under control. Another time it was really a weakness on my parents’ part. They got their priorities mixed up and wanted to leave early after communion for some reason. Even as a little girl I remember being very upset with them and actually voiced it to them. Both my brother and I were embarrassed and upset by it. Our sister was still too young to realize anything. I think seeing us being disappointed and upset with them made them realize that they were in the wrong and were putting other priorities first. They never did it again. Actually, after that, we were always one of the last to leave the church. My Dad would always say, “Why bother sitting? Let’s just sit here and pray until the crowds clear out.”

 

[lak611]

Then the ones who receive Our Lord in the Eucharist and head straight out the nearest door are really being terribly considerate

The pastor of my mother’s church addressed this issue. He printed something in the bulletin stating that the Mass is not over at that time, and people should stay until the conclusion of Mass.

 

[lak611]

Has this always been a problem, or is this a newer phenomenon? My experience only consisted from the 1980s forward, so I don’t know what it was like prior to that. I understand that this is a major problem in some parishes. What has been or can be done to rectify it? What sparked the practice in the first place?

My guess is that this is probably a more recent phenomenon. Up until the late 70’s, Communion was received kneeling at the rail, not standing in a line. It is much easier to walk up to receive and then walk out the door instead of returning to one’s pew to stand. It would have been much more obvious in the past if one walked up to the rail, knelt to receive then walked out instead of returning to kneel in the pew.

 

[Jean_Anthony]

This thread is closed.