Our Local Catholic Church Doesn't Make Us Feel Welcome

[BlueMediterranean]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share an issue my partner and I have been facing at our local Catholic church and get your thoughts on it. We moved to a new city about a year and a half ago and bought a house here. The schools in the area are somewhat average, and the best one by far is a Catholic school. Being Catholics ourselves, we thought we wouldn't have any issues.

Initially, we didn't attend church because I was heavily pregnant, and after that, I experienced postpartum depression, which made it difficult for me to feel comfortable leaving the house with my baby. However, my partner started going to the evening mass on Sundays instead of the morning one. We officially registered with the church when we moved here.

After about 6-7 months, I joined him at the evening mass. From the very beginning, we found it strange that the priest never greeted anyone. As soon as he finished his sermon, he would disappear. Everyone would leave, and there was no socializing whatsoever.

One day, we went to talk to him about baptizing our baby, but he told us that he didn't know us well enough and asked us to continue attending the mass. We found this odd but decided to keep going. A few months later, we asked again, and he gave us the same response. In fact, he didn't remember us and thought we wanted to register as new members.

That's when we started to worry. If the priest never greets anyone and leaves immediately after the sermon, how can he get to know anyone? We could attend mass for years, and he wouldn't even know our names.

We had to rearrange some personal commitments to attend the Sunday morning mass to see if things were different, but he still doesn't greet anyone. We persisted in asking about the baptism and were given the contact information of a church volunteer who organizes the baptism course. Unfortunately, our emails to this person have gone unanswered, and when we asked in person, they claimed not to have received them.

I am truly baffled by all of this. Why does the church ignore us in this manner? I am now worried about how we'll obtain the necessary paperwork to register our daughter at the Catholic school if they won't even baptize her.

There must be a reason behind all of this, but I honestly can't comprehend it. I have considered volunteering, but both my partner and I work full-time jobs, which makes it challenging.

If anyone has any insights or suggestions, please share them. We would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

Is there an alternative RC church you could start attending?

I would look to move to another Catholic Church. I am sorry you have had this experience it does seem a bit strange. Have you thought to speak to any of the other families at that church and ask how they managed to get their children baptised there?

Go to a different church. They sound shit.

There are very few (no?!) Catholic churches packed to the rafters with young families. A Priest (from the altar alone) would 100% know whether youve been attending Mass. He wouldn't need to be at the back of the Church at the end of Mass to have noticed you.

Also, I would like to know more about the Priest finishing his sermon and disappearing. That is not the order of how things are done at Mass.

This is a duplicate thread - I've answered in your other one.

I agree. The sermon/homily comes about half way through Mass, so quite a time before the Consecration and Holy Communion. The priest would not just leave at that point, unless he was helping the main celebrant or a visitor (appealing for the Missions, for instance).

It took six months for anyone at my parish to speak to me. The priest did. But no one else did. Though mine is a a cathedral so the population is very transient. The former Dean was excellent at making people welcome. I very much doubt the current one is. And his curate literally only speaks to people from his own culture.

My parish also has a lot of young families.

Duplicate thread. Why post again with the exact same post? Why are you still claiming the priest disappears after the sermon — who then finishes Mass?