. . . That we try to balance the need of parishioners to ‘connect’ with each other and the need for reverent quiet before and after Mass?

There has been a gradual ‘erosion’ in the attention to silence, or at least ‘reverent quiet’, especially before the Mass begins.

However, a parish church is not a “private oratory” for a ‘few’ – it belongs to all of |the Faithful of the parish, and that means that there must be an accommodation to different styles of prayer and devotion; the need to acknowledge and greet other parishioners AND the need to prepare quietly for the Encounter with the Living God.

The Divine Mercy Chapel, which was designed as a place of greater quiet, Eucharistic Adoration and more ‘private prayer’, also welcomes, at different times: public Novenas (Our Lady of Perpetual Help – on Wednesdays), Monday evening Rosario, charismatic Prayer Groups, Men’s Prayer Group, the monthly Mass for our Korean Community, and, occasionally, even a wedding!

That’s the nature of a parish church, (as distinct from a monastery or a private oratory) – it must be open to all and welcoming of different spiritual needs, prayer styles, and devotions, with primary emphasis, of course, on the Sacred Liturgy. Catholic churches are not simply “houses of prayer”, they are a particular and unique location of the Divine Presence!

Because the community (not just ‘individuals’) gathers here, it is understood that there will be a certain amount of conversation and conviviality, as we greet and ‘connect’ with our sisters and brothers in Christ. The community itself, is, according to Catholic teaching, a place of the “Presence of the Lord”. And so, it is entirely appropriate to acknowledge the presence of one another and express our appreciation for the reality of this particular community. We need to reverence the Presence of God in the gathered Community – in each other. The ‘announcement time’, before Mass starts, is understood to be a moment when we can acknowledge one another – in the Lord’s Presence – and affirm the bonds of community, hence the announcements about those things which touch upon the spiritual health and well-being of the Community, now gathered. (In some parishes, this is done at the end of Mass, before the final Prayer or before the Dismissal – there is no ‘hard-and-fast’ rule on when announcements are to be made.)

Again, it is really about finding an appropriate balance between the genuine need of the Community to make person-to-person connection as an expression of the ‘Body of Christ’ AND the individual worshiper’s need to prayerfully prepare to enter the Presence of God – in Word and Sacrament! As with so much else in our Catholic Faith, it is not an “either/or” but a “both/and”! It’s really about finding the balance: of reverence for God AND of respect for others!