During every Sunday Mass there is a woman who lets her 4-year-old run around all over. For example, he lays on the floor in the middle of the aisle up at the front of the church, he runs up to be first for a blessing during Communion, and just overall is a distraction. The mother follows the child all over the church, which is an even greater distraction. During the consecration at the Easter Sunday Mass, this child was once again lying in the middle of the aisle at the front of the church.

After the consecration, my 17-year-old son took the child back to his mother and asked her to keep her child with her as it was being a distraction to everyone else. After Mass, a woman (not the child's mother) came up to my son and told him he was nasty and that Jesus would have been upset and disappointed that he judged the woman and her child, and that it was only my son's opinion that the child was a distraction (three other people came and shook my son's hand and thanked him). What would be Jesus' thoughts? What should we as parishioners do in situations like this? I want to be a good parent and teach my children to follow Jesus but in this situation I'm not sure what to teach them. What would you advise?

Monique--

Unless your son is an usher deputized by the pastor to monitor congregant conduct, it was not his place to correct the child or the child's mother. At most, he (or you) could have approached an usher and asked the usher to intervene, pointing out that it is a safety hazard to the child and others for the child to be allowed to lie in the middle of an aisle. For a long-term solution, concerned parishioners could approach the pastor and ask the pastor to counsel the woman to keep her son under better control during Mass.

As for Jesus' thoughts on the matter, I have no idea and could only say that the woman who corrected your son should not have presumed to speak for Jesus. She had no more right to correct your son than your son had the right to correct another woman's minor child.

Michelle Arnold
Catholic Answers

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