I am not trying to sound elitist. I know that making the effort to attend is what counts.
My gripe is that people just do not make a strong effort to be undistracted—their cell phones go off all the time or the kids cannot sit for an hour without eating or drawing in a coloring book or walking up and down the aisle. Some women dress in tank tops with exposed bra straps and daisy mae shorts.
It’s been so significant at this church that the pastor makes an announcement each week and posts a notice in the bulletin each week about how to act.
You know what, it may be that they don’t know HOW to be undistracted. It’s a huge problem. I’ve worked very, very hard to try to learn to avoid distraction. Multitasking was being CELEBRATED for a while, but I think people mostly have realized what a bill of goods that was.
Maybe the priest should start saying the Latin mass, or at least say the Mass as if he really believed that Christ was present in church and the bread and wine really did become Jesus.
A little reverence might make people respect God’s presence at church. And if you have a prayer group, maybe they should pray for God’s inspiration to come down on all those attending church.
As for clothing: The bad dress is a sign of spiritual dryness, a symptom, not the disease. The answer is to pray for them.