Have you ever heard this line before? I’ve heard some really sweet priests and pastors use this line to comfort parents who feel uncomfortable when their babies cry during mass or worship service. Fundamentally, I agree. We want families to feel welcomed and we want children to grow up going to church, and babies and small toddlers are just loud by nature, and they have a hard time sitting still for sixty to ninety minutes straight. When I’m in church and a baby starts crying that doesn’t upset me. Sure, it’s kind of annoying because I’m trying to pray and focus. But the baby has as much right to be there as I do and it’s just being a baby. My own daughter was a baby once, and I brought her to church and I’m glad no one was unkind. If she needed to cry, and of course, I would bring her out of the sanctuary.
Where I draw the line is when people’s school aged or almost school aged, kids will not be quiet and be still and behave. A six month old and a six year old should have dramatically different behavior in the pews. I understand that teaching kids discipline is a process and it doesn’t happen overnight, but if you don’t bother to work at it with every church service, you’re going to end up with loud rambuctious kids who are not a blessing to the church, but rather a distraction to the faithful. Past a certain age children should be taught to respect Jesus and respect the adults around them and respect the environment they are in while they are at church.
So in a way, the phrase, if a church isn’t crying, it’s dying, is kind of a mixed bag. If you are one year old is crying, carry on sister. I know it’s hard. If your four year old is pitching a fit in the pew, on the other hand, it’s time to enact some discipline.
Life at Home 