Fr. Kyle Doustou

The new (old) windows are going in at our new Newman Center today. Even as they depict the Lord’s suffering and death, they simultaneously blaze with color, light, and harmony. Hope breaks into gloom, beauty into chaos, life into death. A fitting allegory for our dark times...

They couldn't find a hat that said "Father." 😂 Very grateful for our team of extraordinary FOCUS missionaries!

@RobertH1947 @eequlsmcc42_ Yes. I apologize, although it wasn't what I meant to convey. I just sensed anger and frustration without a desire to engage. I can see how my response came across as snarky and condescending. Mea culpa!

I was informed this evening that a healthy, curious, rambunctious child from one of our large faithful families knocked over one of our statues in our entryway this morning. His parents are mortified and embarrassed. I get it. But I'm smiling from ear to ear. Why? Because our parish is alive! I love that we have children running around! More and more I'm competing with loud, fussy kiddos at Mass, and I love it! I don't rejoice in broken statues, of course, but if I'm going to have iconoclasts I'd rather them be children! And homes with kids have broken things. Friends, our churches are *not* school houses or lecture halls. They are homes and hospitals. Sometimes they are quiet and prayerful, other times they are messy and loud. People clog our toilets, children break our statues, and others cry or cough so loud no one can hear the priest. I *don't* care. These walls and roofs exist for you to encounter your Eucharistic Lord, and for Him to encounter you...not so that we can all have a pristine Sunday experience. Bring me your tired, your poor, your marginalized, your prayerful, your rambunctious. Bring them, without hestitation. The church is theirs, not mine!

@JohnZwicker1 Brilliant suggestion!

@FrKyleDoustou Well said Father Also, reverence, respect & proper conduct must be lovingly learned as our children grow in His Church, where He is present in the #BlessedSacrament. BTW, when positioning statues, a bead of silicone between the statue and the base provides a good bond.

@santinavitalis @eequlsmcc42_ These are insane takes. Who's admiring disruptive behavior? Clearly you folks are triggered by something not happening.

@eequlsmcc42_ @FrKyleDoustou There is something really passive aggressive about people who use their children as instruments of torment for others. It is the dishonesty and hypocrisy which irritates. They want to put anyone who objects in the wrong. Only the very stupid admire disruptive behaviour.

@eequlsmcc42_ Wow. You've got the prayers anyway. Have a nice day.

I appreciate the prayers, but there is no need to pray for me in this regard. I'm not troubled by children but troubled by a church so desperate for attendance that they allow parents to shirk their responsibility in proper parenting. The broken statue may not have been intentional, but the *rambunctious* behavior was, and the lack of parental awareness was also. What if every time we sinned, we could just say.....it was an accident, I didn't mean for my bad behavior to cause damage. That would take mass attendance to zero because we'd have no need of Christ. Rambunctious behavior belongs on the church lawn, not at mass or even inside the church. Mass is not a party....it is a supper. You sit out of respect to your host..... you don't dance around the table. Those parents should have been ashamed, not embarrassed, and hopefully, through prayerful contemplation, they reevaluate how to lovingly teach their children a proper way to act whilst in God's house and if that is not possible for sake of age that they humbley remove themselves to the crying room as we confess and worship as a community who should have the opportunity to worship with appropriate reverence and not defer to people who refuse to withdraw to a more appropriate place when their children go ballistic. I attend another church in the same parish, and every Sunday, there is a message on the overhead reminding people that others are praying and to respect that. A church that has children in attendance but parents who get it. A place that even shushes people who try to talk during the rosary. It is an accountable community in Christ who is leading/teaching children by example. Now, we just need to get booty shorts and logo team shirts out of the wardrobe rotation.

@eequlsmcc42_ Prayers for you. I can tell you're going through something.

This is ridiculous. This gentle parenting is ridiculous. I left a church just recently because there were children running around during mass. Parents twirling their children during mass. One kid screamed bloody murder the entire mass. Parents who feel entitled to sit in mass with their screaming kids because it's *biblical * are a problem. It is sad I spend half my spiritual energy praying for God to give me the emotional strength to get through the mass because of all the distractions. Yes, we want children in our churches....no... we don't want parents to absolve themselves of any responsibility to contribute to a reverent environment to worship God because it's *biblical*. Jesus admonished people all the time. He corrected people all the time. Just because a family comes to church every Sunday does not give them free rein to set their children upon the mass or inconvenience other people. Oh, and you Catholic mothers need to send your daughters back to their closets..... I'm sick of seeing mini skirts, booty shorts, and half shirts at mass. And no, the boys don't get a pass with their athletic shorts and logo team t-shirts.

@MRYdemd @RealTimHarris @upwardcalling The teen entered the seminary. I'd consider the statue more than replaced!

Certainly don’t loose it because of a broken statue. However the teen (not a toddler) needs to be more careful and actually should have to help replace the statue. And, unless it was a mere trip and fall into the statue, the teen neds to be act more respectful and mature indoors at least

@sapphirefinch @lttlefoot He's very much okay!

@DoubtingDeacon I don't feel people are unable to be catechized into treating Mass reverently; quite the opposite. I do feel however there's precious little to be done about a catechizing a crying 2 year old or a coughing 80 year old.

@SoMuchGreef Easy. They come every week for Mass and show up at everything else

@FrKyleDoustou What does the adjective "faithful" in "large faithful families" mean to you. In good faith I'm trying to understand

@RealTimHarris @upwardcalling I don't know you sir, but it seems like it's been a long time since you were a teenager. Calm down with the "effete" stuff and lighten up

@FrKyleDoustou @upwardcalling I remember as a teenager pleading "I didn't try to" and my father saying "yes but you didn't try not to." He was right. This effete indulgence is not healthy.

@upwardcalling Your teenager is worth more to the Church than all the statues in the world! I'd rather have a broken statue than a broken teen. Go do something special for him!

@FrKyleDoustou My teenager knocked over a statue and I absolutely lost my mind. He was being careless, but of course he didn't do it on purpose or anything. I probably shouldn't have been so hard on him. :(

@lttlefoot Of course there is. We didn't do that ahead of time. Now we will!

@FrKyleDoustou Ok but isn’t there some way to secure statues? Rope them to the wall, glue them to the floor?

@FrHilderbrand 100% Been through it once. Waiting it out is agonizing at best, deadly at worst. There's joy and life on the other side

Starting off Allhallowtide with a stark reminder. If I'm late for things, I'll just blame my mortality.

@crousselle The answer is yes. Unhesitatingly, yes!

Becoming an aunt for the first time this week and debating if I should make the non-Quebecois baby call me Matante Christine

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced for love of us, have mercy on us poor sinners. All of us. Each of us.

@RichRaho Like clockwork, Rich.