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Edited on Mon Mar-17-08 01:40 PM by CBHagman
1. Make the homilies more interesting than the bulletin.
Let me give you some context. The priest who made the observation that it drives him crazy when people look at the bulletin during his homilies made that comment in a humorous way, but I do think he meant it. I should also add that his masses are well-attended, his homilies are clear and audible (which is more than I can say for some I've caught in 49 years of attending services) and, more importantly, appear to engage the congregation, many, many of which want to talk to him personally after mass. So if you think it's Father Boring Droner I'm talking about, you would be mistaken, although Father Boring Droner and some of his scarier brethren have often been assigned to parishes I've belonged to.
As for the idea to fill people in on how to maintain a prayerful atmosphere, that's a great idea. The request to silence cell phones and pagers is made every week at my parish, as it is in theaters and movie houses, and in none of those places is the entreaty honored.
Saturday I went to the movies with a friend. At least twice during the film a person directly in front of us looked at the lighted screen (or keypad or whatever) on a cellphone. My friend said afterwards that she wondered why this particular moviegoer had even bothered to come out to the cinema.
If you were having dinner with a friend and he spent the evening looking at a TV or laptop, or using his cell phone, would your first thought be, "My, I must be a terribly boring person deserving of utter contempt," or "Maybe he wasn't interested in getting together tonight"?
I would submit that as with driving, a number of badly behaved people make it rough for the majority who are behaving well.
On edit: A friend of mine swears his parish in Richmond, VA, used to have an annual Mass etiquette homily, including admonitions not to indulge in my friend's personal pet peeve, the act of chasing the priest down the aisle -- i.e., by leaving as the celebrant, deacon, and servers attempt to process down the aisle at the last verse of the closing hymn.
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