Christening family avoided Church ceremony

Doddy

Christening we have just christened my baby boy however I was dismayed when some relatives avoided the church ceremony and then just attended the meal we had arranged for afterwards. The excuse was that their children would be put out of their routine and hard to control in the church. Is this a valid excuses or just plain rude?

catbear

Perhaps they were uncomfortable with christenings and thought is better to make an excuse than creating an argument. If what they think is really important to you then talk to them about it rather than to anonymous websites.

antiskeptic

Doddy wrote: »

Christening we have just christened my baby boy however I was dismayed when some relatives avoided the church ceremony and then just attended the meal we had arranged for afterwards. The excuse was that their children would be put out of their routine and hard to control in the church. Is this a valid excuses or just plain rude?

'Church' isn't a neutral issue - people might have very strong feelings about it this way or that. You only have to think about revelations over the last number of years in the Roman Catholic church to consider why some wouldn't dream of setting foot over that particular threshold.

I'd take the excuse with good grace. Folk might be wanting to spare you getting into their own personal reasons for not wanting to partake of that element of things.

Zombrex

It does seem a bit rude to not go to the actual event and then just turn of for the food afterwards.

Children in a church can be a nightmare. But it was a christening, not a wedding or funeral. You already have screaming children at the top of the church, so noisy children in the rest of the church isn't going to be that much of a distraction.

I would tend to go with the rude/ignorant bit.

tipptom

Bit rude and what is wrong with people that they cannot control their children anymore.

homer911

I'd put this in the inconsiderate/bad manners category myself. People have many reasons for not stepping inside a church - but the least they could have done was to let you know about this in advance (or even discussed it to see if it would be an issue)

Sometimes people do things that seem right at the time, but dont consider how those actions may be viewed by others and therefore cause offense

I'm sure this is a scenario we will see more of in the future

JimiTime

TBH, these type of questions tend to baffle me on these kind of forums. None of us know the people in question, so any references to rudeness or in fact the opposite is just plucked out of the air.

Their motives are what will define their actions, and tbh, only you are in a position to discover this. If its important for you to find out, then why not just communicate with the people in question. Only you are in a position to find this out, everyone else is just wildly speculating about people they haven't a clue about.

Michael G

Doddy wrote: »

Christening we have just christened my baby boy however I was dismayed when some relatives avoided the church ceremony and then just attended the meal we had arranged for afterwards. The excuse was that their children would be put out of their routine and hard to control in the church. Is this a valid excuses or just plain rude?

Did they know that you and your wife considered the ceremony to be an important event in your child's spiritual life?