Well of course some of parishioners are, err.., unique. If you enjoy a good rant try The Bones, who seems to have taken up my fleeting thought, no sooner had I pressed the keys than it had evaporated, of not having pews. He has started a "Lose the Pew Campaign", it seems to come close to a jihad.
The young, the young, how much they crave the ascetic way.
Pews are of course "people pens", they do tend to to make people passive observers rather than participants. Maybe they tempt preachers to go on too long, I am sure I do not preach for 20 minutes, unless of course I really have something important to say.
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Well, it makes it easier to amble on out for a smoke if you do go on too long, Father.
I have to say there was sparse attendence at todays 7:15 am EF Mass. [There's another mass at 9 in the a.m. and the 3rd Mond of the month there's a "thing" for Fr. Pio with a Mass and devotions.]
Father slowpoke said the Mass. There were 5 of us pew sitters, father, and 2 servers.
2 of us bailed before the end of the Leonine prayers. It's the first time I remember bailing from Mass in a long, long, long time.
One guy was smart enough to bail at the ite missa est, and I soldiered on through the Last Gospel. He had to catch a bus for work, I also had to make sure to hit my window for free parking downtown and walk to work. I had to negotiate being "late" to work 2 days of the week. Otherwise I'd have been WAY late, and that's not good. So for people who need to "bail" you'd be doing them a favor.
Am I right in thinking that pews are really a Protestant invention, designed for the hearing of long sermons?
The pews are hideously uncomfortable and clutter the space. And they are made of very nice pitch pine, almost unobtainable now, which could be recycled into something more useful or sold to an antiques company. So as long as they do not end up in a skip or on a bonfire, good riddance. Nice chairs round the side, with slatted backs and proper lumbar support
I disagree. I hate churches which have replaced benches with seats, especially if there is no kneeler.
Take a look at St Simeon Piccolo in previous post to see how tatty a motley assortment of seats looks.
Strictly, I believe that the word pew refers to the medieval arrangement, the squire and his family had their own private pen with a gate. What we are more used to are benches.
I've been to a couple of rural-ish Greek Catholic churches in the Ukraine, and there are only benches around the edges for the creaky.
The thing to bear in mind is the cultural difference. In Poland, kneeling is from the epiclesis to the "mysterium fidei" - and you kneel even if you're hearing Mass from outside the church and you're standing in mud. In Britain, if there are no kneelers, no-one kneels.
"no pews but except a few around the side of the Church for the elderly and infirm"
Well, that's the medieval way, so I approve.
Trouble is, most Masses these days there's hardly anyone there who isn't elderly or infirm. The middle part of the nave could get rather empty!
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