FINDING A SEAT: CHURCH-GOERS FIND COMFORT IN FAMILIAR SPOTS

Much like sports fans want the best seat in the arena, area church-goers want to get the best seat in the sanctuary when attending worship services.

But the definition of the best seat varies from person to person. Regardless of where they sit in the church, everyone has a favorite spot. For some it is near the front of the church, others like the back rows and still others like to sit on the side nearest the piano or organ.

Part of the reason people are attracted to the same seat, whether in a church, classroom or meeting room, is familiarity, said Dr. Jack Snowman, professor of educational psychology at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

"It has to do with people being comfortable and imitating others," he said. When the first few people enter a room and choose a seat, others will naturally fall into place.

"Students do it all the time," he said. "When an individual will come into a room early and sit in another person's seat and that person comes in to see their seat occupied they are taken aback for about 10 seconds. They don't quite know what to do, then gradually they will find another open seat."

The same happens in a church, pastors say.

"I laugh about it and say they must think God can't find them to bless them unless they sit in the same spot," said the Rev. Bill Burke of First Church of the Nazarene.

"I have one elderly couple who sat on the opposite side and closer to the front than usual. They laughed and said they were just trying to confuse me."

Most pastors notice when someone isn't in their usual seat. One couple at Shawnee Hills Baptist Church just happened to sit on the opposite side of the sanctuary one Sunday, and the Rev. Jeff Militti couldn't find them during the service.

"Sometimes I think they do it just to trip me up," he said. "I've always wondered why people wanted to sit in the same seat. I used to enjoy moving around a bit."

Militti remembered past fund-raising campaigns when churches asked members to contribute the amount needed to pay for a pew. "People literally paid for the pew. Although it was not the intention, some people took it so personally they claimed it for their family."

But not everybody has a regular spot in the church, Burke said. "Not everybody has their pew. I don't know anybody who feels ownership of a pew but possession of a spot."

However, some churches did have parishioners who "owned" a spot in the pew.

In researching the history of Old St. Vincent's Catholic Church, Loretta Schneider discovered that parishioners had once rented pews. Each pew is still numbered, although the practice ended years ago.

Pew rental was similar to collecting a tithe and allowed the family to sit in the same pew each week for Mass. Although there is not a definite record of the amounts charged for rental, Schneider guessed it to be near $50 per year.

When there were any major repairs to be done to the church, each family that had rented a pew was assessed for the bill, Schneider said.

"The families who rented pews were considered to be the members of the church," she said. "They didn't keep lists like we do now."

With the exception of gates and partitions, all the pews in the church are the same as those used when Old St. Vincent's was built in the 1850s, Schneider said.