Sunday, May 27, 2007

Dear God, please forgive me for........

Today we went to mass in Baton Rouge. We decided to go to St. Joseph Cathedral in the downtown area. We were rushing to get there since we aren't too familiar with it. Using mapquest instructions, it was rather concrete.

So, we get there and mass has just started. It is packed. We did not realize it was Pentecost Sunday. In addition, it was a new priest's first mass as a priest. It was very formal. The usher seats us in the 3rd row. Normally this would not be a problem, but you have to factor in my children. They are in an unfamiliar place and are expected to be quiet for 1 hour and 15 minutes. That is asking a lot for my 2 girls.

There are 2 nuns sitting behind us. They were 2 very old school nuns. I was waiting for one of them to pull out a ruler and swat Sofia's bottom. You kept hearing "geez" and "oh goodness". One of them did tell Sofia to "sit down" a couple of times and "you are going to drop that bottle".

If anyone has insight on how to keep a very energetic 2 year old and 10 month old to sit still and stay quite in church, please tell me the secret. I wanted to turn around to the nuns and say, "hey, give me a break! You were once a baby and toddler." I even thought to say, "do you expect me to leave the kids at home alone while I go to mass?"

This church and our regular church, St. Anthony of Padua (on Canal St. in New Orleans) are both old churches without this new thing called crying rooms. I was raised going to church with my parents. You go as a family. I feel like going to church is a family thing and we should all go to celebrate together.

I feel like the older people have a problem with families and their young children. It is very important to me to be there as a family. I had an old man whisper under his breath to me that children do not belong in church. What hogwash! I feel like this is the foundation to my children's spirituality and religous roots.

So, just warning you; My children will be with me in mass. I may be the one peeling someone off the wall or sticking crackers in another one's mouth to stop the chatter, but we will be there as a family.

1 comment:

Holly said...

Good for you for taking your kids to church! Screaming and running around the sanctuary is one thing, but a little baby chatter and toddler squirming never hurt anyone. You are doing your family a great service by providing this religious foundation so early. And how are our children ever to learn "church etiquette" if we parents never take them to church?! I am the nursery director at our church, and I love it when parents keep their kids in service with them for as long as they can...not because we don't want them in the nursery, but because I think it is a good experience for the kids. We have several families who will bring their kids to the nursery for the last 15 minutes or so. So I say never mind the under-the-breath grumblings and the stern nuns. Do what's best for your family.