I have

some strong sympathies with this writer.

Talking in Church: Where's the Fire?

"Reverence and courtesy should not be the first things to disappear after Ite missa est."

It really is a matter of reverence and courtesy.

However, having said that, I live in an area where, for 6 months of the year or so, the temperature and weather conditions outside preclude standing and chatting outside. As well, our parish church, being very old, has quite a small vestibule/entry way, compared to more recently designed churches that have much larger 'greeting areas'. While the Mass is the pinnacle of our worship of God, there could be an argument made for the need of the people to strengthen the bonds between them that actually make them the people of God. So, it's not always as simple as people would make out...

Here's the other article mentioned. The comments are quite interesting. It seems that every time an article is posted about something in the contemporary church the comments section is filled with conservative Catholics decrying how terrible the current Catholic Church is and proclaiming as lay canon lawyers the truth that everyone else fails to see...

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