The May 2010 Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Newsletter can now be found at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/Newsletters/Newsletter108(May2010)(RGB).pdf Bill C-384 was soundly defeated by a vote of 228 to 59. Check how the Members of Parliament voted at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/HowTheyVoted.pdf On June 5, 2010, we are co-hosting the US/Canda Push-Back Seminar at the Radisson Gateway Hotel at the Seattle/Tacoma Airport. The overwhelming defeat of Bill C-384 proved that we can Push-Back the euthanasia lobby in the US and Canada and convince people that euthanasia and assisted suicide are a dangerous public policy. Register for the Seminar at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/2010SeminarFlyer(RGB)(LetterFormat).pdf The Schindler family are being attacked by a Florida television station and Michael Schiavo. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is standing in solidarity with the Schindler family. My blog comments: http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2010/05/att
It is this kind of thing that keeps young families from attending Mass. Parents need to bring their children to church so that they learn how to behave during Mass. If they are not welcome they will never learn. I'm not bothered by crying babies at church or chatty toddlers. It bothers me much more when I look around my church on Saturday night or Sunday morning and see that everyone who attends Mass is either bald or has white hair. When the age 50+ crowd has passed on, there will be no one attending Mass. This kind of unwelcoming attitude towards babies and children doesn't do anything to convince young families to start coming to church!
ReplyDeleteI agree the priest probably should have stayed silent on the matter during mass but I can sympathize with him and he would have been within his rights to approach the parents after mass to kindly suggest they take screaming baby out in the future. They really should have known better.
ReplyDeleteI remember a Christmas Eve service where the exact same thing happened in our church. I was never so happy to see the end of mass and never more disconnected from the celebration of the Eucharist. It was torture and I don't know how our Priest managed to get through it. Everyone in the congregation was irritated, distracted and happy to leave.
As the author suggested, if a handful of cheerios or some books don't tame the situation, a walk to the back or a retreat to a quiet area does the job. Its how we dealt with our children when they became a distraction at mass. I would think its simple common courtesy to remove a screaming child from a Church or any other occasion where their screams would interfere with or distract from the event.
As the author also noted, screaming babies are not the only poor judgment calls you can see in church these days on the part of the congregation.
Cheers
Paul