Our parish has about 400 families, and 500 children. And, as our pastor put it yesterday morning, sometimes we can all tell. He made a point of addressing the subject of children in Mass, emphasizing that children are welcome and that it's necessary for parents to bring their children, not leave them at home or keep them in the cry room where they won't bother anyone. Parents should be bringing their children and only taking them out when they need to be calmed down, he said, and all of the adults in the parish need to make sure they are modeling appropriate Mass behavior so that children will not have poor examples. He encouraged parishioners without young children to be aware of the difficulties parents may be having and offer help instead of becoming annoyed; many young families come from the Air Force base, and he reminded people that it is absurd to frown upon a mom bringing four little ones to Mass by herself while Dad is deployed and not being able to keep them all silent all the time.
Little Bear was an excellent example of a kid having trouble being good and quiet... All through this homily, he was crawling around the narthex and playing on the stairs because every time I picked him up, the piercing shrieks began again. I apologized to Father after Mass, and he just laughed and said that illustrations are always good. Little Bear gets a B this week, because other than our time in the narthex during the homily, he was quiet and well-behaved enough to stay in the pew. Well, until the tambourine during the recessional, but I didn't mind him expressing my feelings about that. ;-)
What did you do for the solemnity of the Sacred Heart on Friday? Little Bear and I made it to Mass at my parents' parish, which is echoey and lacking in small children, so we spent most of Mass in the cry room to avoid bothering people. He was very happy about that, because there was a little girl about his size to make faces at. In the evening, after picking Matt up from work, we visited my family and enjoyed these feast day-appropriate treats:
Aren't they fun? My mom is so good at coming up with things like that!
And finally, the point of the linkup: the outfit. I have no idea what I was looking at here...
Top: grey lightweight sweater, thrifted
Skirt: navy pencil skirt with white polkadots, thrifted
Shoes: black wedge Mary Janes, thrifted
Looking at the photo, I don't think the sweater was the best choice. What kind of top could I pair with this skirt to make it work better? There is a thin red band about two inches below the waist, currently hidden by the sweater, which would have to be taken into account if I tucked something in... I'd love suggestions!
1. That's so cool of your parish priest to make that announcement. I think it's sad that sometimes we parents are the recipients of dirty looks when we're doing everything we can to keep our little ones quiet and focused on the Mass (and in a Catholic church, no less! These are the children we promised to welcome into our lives on our wedding day!).
ReplyDelete2. I like your outfit a lot, especially your skirt! As far as another top, what about a ruffled white or cream blouse? (I can't tell if your skirt has white dots on it, or if that's just my imagination). I've had good luck with pretty blouses at NY&Company.
A ruffled blouse would be fun! Yes, the skirt does have white dots. I'll have to check out NY&Co's website. Thanks!
DeleteYay for that homily! I think my husband is still working on his patience for little ones in Mass, but he hasn't lived it yet- so we'll see how that changes with time :-)
ReplyDeleteI like the sweater- but if you're not comfortable in it, I'd suggest trying it tucked into a flowy, a-line skirt with a belt, or maybe try throwing a nice, structured vest over it for some more coverage!
We made Sacred Heart sundaes...strawberry ice cream shaped into a heart, peach slices as the flames, and chocolate sprinkles for the cross and crown of thorns.
ReplyDeleteOoh, that sounds fun! It's too bad neither of us likes strawberry ice cream... Maybe I could find some raspberry that wasn't too purple to try that next year.
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