February 10, 2010

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

On crying babies at Mass

I found George Weigel’s column “Rediscovering the sounds of silence” (Feb. 3 DCR) distressing. As a mother of three small children, my husband and I constantly struggle with Mass-time behavior. We find our strength in the mercy of Jesus and the Eucharist. We find consolation in the kind old ladies who come over after Mass to pinch our babies’ cheeks and make us feel welcome. When our baby “squawks” (as Weigel so delicately puts it) we bring him to the cry room, but otherwise we prefer to be closer to the altar with the rest of our parish community.

I was thinking that the communal nature of our faith is an integral part of the Mass and that children are members of the community. Now I will be all the more self-conscious, worried about whether there are George Weigels in my parish who wish I had stayed home with the kids while my husband went to Mass. Instead of spending Sunday together as a family, I will go to a later Mass all by myself. Or else I will heed the advice of Jesus, who said “Let the children come to me" (Lk 18:16).

Rachel Elley Knight
Denver