Put up with noisy children in church, Catholic Church tells priests

Priests have been told to put up with noisy children as church leaders try to encourage more families to attend regular services.

A Roman Catholic bishop said he "strongly discouraged" priests from intervening to prevent children talking during services.

The Rt Rev Kieran Conry, the bishop of Arundel and Brighton and chairman of the Church's evangelisation committee in England and Wales, said it was "dreadful" that in some cases children had been ejected from services for being too noisy.

The bishop's comments came as the Church published research showing that "trivial obstacles" were preventing Catholics "reconnecting" with churches.

He said interviews with dozens of parents had shown that there were "clear and everyday things" that could be done to encourage people to attend services.

One of those factors was recognising that the sound of children was a "really good noise" to hear in church.

Interviews by the Church found that parents with children at Catholic primary schools were keen for them to experience the "richness" of their faith, though they did not attend services regularly.

Bishop Conry suggested that tolerating noisy children in church was in line with Pope Francis's emphasis on the importance of families.

Next month bishops from around the world will travel to Rome for a synod called by the Pope to discuss the family.

Bishop Conry, 63, said: "What we've got to do is say to an older generation: 'You were children once and it would be a very sad day if there isn't the noise of children in church – it would be a very sad day.'

"Church is not for my generation, it's for all generations, and I would never comment on children's noise in church and would discourage any priest to make any comment.

"I've heard awful stories of priests stopping the service and saying, in effect, remove that child. That's a dreadful message to give out.

"Pope Francis is saying that the family is at the heart of the church. The family is children – that's what families are for.

"It's a really good noise to hear in church – kids present. For children who are allowed to make noise – in other words they don't associate church with discipline and fear of punishment – church is a nice place to be. They have got to grow up feeling that."

Bishop Conry's intervention follows after a Mass at the London Oratory in Brompton Road, south west London, was stopped when Fr Ignatius Harrison, the Provost, said there was "no point" in him preaching against the noise of babies.

At the time, in 2010, some church figures defended his actions, saying parents should simply exert more discipline over their children during services.

As part of the Church's Crossing the Threshold national evangelisation project, officials have also been running a pilot project in the Nottingham diocese to explore what "outreach" activities could be used to reach those who have little or no contact with their parishes.

As a result of schemes including prayer initiatives and outreach events at Easter and Christmas, church attendance increased in all the participating parishes. In one case officials said a church doubled its Mass attendance at Easter.