You worry that your little ones will disturb others or prevent us from “getting anything out of Mass.” While we do need to be sensitive to people around us and it can sometimes be hard to attend to what is going on when we are trying to manage a crying baby or squirming toddler, the truth is, our children are a valuable member of the faith community. As baptized members of the Body of Christ, it is not only good that infants and toddlers come to Mass, they have a right to be there. As Pope Francis once put it, “Babies cry, make noise, go here and there. But it annoys me when a baby cries in church and there are those who say he needs to go out. The cry of a baby is God’s voice: never drive them away from the church!
