February 21, 2026 
by M. Regina Cram
If you’re not in the mood for a rant, you may want to skip this column. If you read any further, you’re going to get an earful.
When my husband, four children, and I became Catholic, I immediately noticed something peculiar. It’s what I call Catholic seating. When Glastonbury Catholics enter the church and slip into a pew, they don’t typically move to the center. In most cases, they sit along the aisle.
This may seem innocuous, but as the church fills up, the only way for arriving worshipers to take a seat is to climb over you. This doesn’t strike me as very welcoming. We might as well hold up a sign saying, “Don’t even THINK of sitting here!”
On a recent Sunday, an elderly woman was looking for a seat. All the aisle seats were taken, and she was far too frail to crawl over people. No one offered help. So, after looking throughout the church, she left. How is this being charitable members of the Body of Christ?
Not long ago I was the lector at a Sunday Mass. The lector sits up front in the sanctuary during the readings, then returns to the pew for the remainder of Mass. Before Mass, I’d placed my coat and a pillow at the end of a pew so I could quietly slip in after reading. I had four badly broken ribs, so it was necessary to sit on the aisle in order to cushion my back. When I returned to my seat after lectoring, however, my pillow had been pushed to the center of a very crowded pew, leaving no space for me. That’s okay, I thought. I’ll find another seat. I looked throughout the crowded church, but there was not a single aisle seat available. None. Plenty of pews had seats in the center, but the only way I could manage the pain was to sit in an aisle.
I spent Mass in the sacristy.
If we wish to be kind, scoot to the middle of the pew.
Before you send hate mail, let me assure you that there are clear reasons why someone might need or want an aisle seat. There are physical and emotional issues, and small children. You may be serving as Lector or Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion. If this describes you, we’re so glad you’re here, and if I have to climb over you, it’s well worth it.
For most of us, however, it’s just a habit. We plop down on the aisle rather than move to the middle, and we probably consider this perfectly normal.
It’s not normal. I have visited scores, maybe hundreds of churches in my life, and I’ve never seen this practice anywhere else. In other churches, people move to the center so arriving worshipers can slip in next to them.
A simple sacrifice on our part can make a big difference to our brethren.
I warned you that you may not like it.
M. Regina Cram is a published author and a parishioner of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish.
