Saint Joseph Catholic Church — Local services in Saint Joseph

As a less than lucky tenant of the apartment next door, I’d like to share publicly my story of frustration with the administration and values that this church employs. When touring this rustic apartment, I came by during the day to find that it was nice and in a nice area. After moving in and living here for some time, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

All night long, every hour on the hour, I’m awakened to the sound of the LOUDEST bell man has ever encountered. It rings corresponding to the time, so naturally, at midnight we’re awakened to 12 loud gongs. This trend continues until 6am when the bell rings 30 times (for some reason). I wondered if I was the only one disturbed by this, so I asked my neighbors who all agreed that it was inhibiting their sleep.

I decided to reach out to the church. The email read;

Dear Congregation Leader, I am a new resident in a neighboring building and I was hoping to ask you a kind request. I wouldn't consider myself a light sleeper, but periodically I'm awaken in the middle of the night and early morning to the bell in the sanctuary. I've heard similar anecdotes from other neighbors and nearby residents as well. If it isn't too much to ask, I was wondering if you could adjust the controller to only ring during the day? If possible, after 9am until 9pm. I would really appreciate it if you might be able to help facilitate this adjustment. Kind Regards, Ryan

The response I got back was, let’s say, not so accommodating. The cliffnotes:

Dear Ryan, Unfortunately, we can not set the stop and start times for those. The hourly bells are a simple reminder of how thankful we are to God for every hour of our life. I wonder if there is a noise machine that maybe you could use at night that would have some background sounds to help you sleep. I'll pray for your peaceful nights. Best Regards, Cersei

It’s not her name but, let’s call the respondent: Cersei Lannister

I’ll ignore the fact that the reply came back in comic sans, but the last time I checked, the ten commandments read something along the lines of thou shalt not lie. Recently I learned that they just changed the times of the bells to move Sunday mass from 7:30 to 8. So it appears as though someone wasn’t being completely honest. Also, thanks for the prayers, but they’re not working.

I replied:

Cersei, Thank you for the kind reply. I was speaking with some other residents nearby and they also had similar anecdotes about being woken up in the middle of the night by the bell. Seeing as this was of concern for many, I wondered if other churches operated their bells at night. Talking with some other churchgoers, many said that their parishes will only ring their bells during the day. I really don't wish for your parish to stop ringing the bell as I understand tradition and faith is important. I would only hope that perhaps there would be a way to stop them in the night when everyone is sleeping. This would be a blessing to both myself and my neighbors who all seem to be awaken time and time again. The bible states "No one should seek their own good, but the good of others." Perhaps I am the spokesperson for the neighbors who share the same night time experiences, but on behalf of all of your neighbors, good deeds are often met with kind responses. The bible commands that we love our neighbor as ourselves. I see this as a way to demonstrate to the congregation how respect and love can lead us all down a path of righteousness. Again, I appreciate your cooperation on this simple request Best Regards, Ryan

We had 1 more email exchange. After this, I was ghosted.

I expected more from a church. Afterall I thought these types of organizations are all about caring and values but it seems like this church cares about the wrong things. To this day, The bell is still ringing at night and I haven’t heard anything from Cersei since my latest email.

To the church: I’m not asking you to move heaven and earth, I’m only asking for you to stop ringing your...

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