[MarineBrat]

It’s sad how times have changed. I don’t believe that Catholic churches had to lock their doors when I was growing up in the 1960’s. Back then it would never have occurred to me that someone would vandalize a church. Talk about the fast-track to hell.

Which reminds me of a great old episode of Dragnet, the TV show. (Paraphrased from aging memory)

In the show there was a theft at a church on Christmas Eve. Detectives Friday and Gannon go to speak to the priest. The priest tells them the he had presided over midnight Mass the night before (Christmas Eve), and then he returned to the rectory. When he returned to the church the next morning he found that the baby Jesus was taken from the church’s Nativity display.

Friday asks how the burglars gained entry.

The priest explains that the doors to the church are never locked.

Friday says “You never lock the doors? Even to thieves?”

The priest says “ESPECIALLY TO THIEVES!”

[SamuraiScot]

I don’t believe that Catholic churches had to lock their doors when I was growing up in the 1960’s. . . “ESPECIALLY TO THIEVES!”

Neat quote from "Dragnet." From my observation, most Catholic churches in Midtown Manhattan today are open all day from about 6 a.m. till at least 6 or 7 p.m., regardless of whether Mass is being said.

Maybe it's because in Midtown, the daytime population is so big that there are almost always people praying in any given church. The Catholic custom is that it's good to visit every day for a time, to keep Our Lord company. It may have the unconscious effect of discouraging crime for at least half the hours of the day.