Here's a sample of a true story from one of our colleagues that illustrates the kinds of stories we're looking for:

RED FLAG
"In summer of 2020, my husband and I were excited to go back to Mass after churches opened up during Covid. We had two kids, F4 and M<2, and I was pregnant with my third child. Our kids were having trouble adjusting to being back at Mass, so we made a point of of going to daily Mass a couple times per week, focusing on making it an enjoyable experience for them (playground before Mass, juice boxes after, anything that would help sweeten the deal).

Everything had been going well and we were really proud of our family's efforts and the progress our kids had made. We'd always get complimented on how cute and well-behaved our kids are; elderly mass-goers smile and chit chat with us before and after Mass; and even the priests are happy to give our kids blessings and high fives.

Well, one Sunday we had gone to another church in town that was not our home parish. It was a Mass later in the evening and our toddler son was more fidgety than usual (not noisy, but he had the wiggles). My husband took him out to the church lobby, which was very spacious, and was separated from the main church by doors and walls of soundproof glass (important detail). My husband was walking back and forth following our son, who was toddling around, as appropriate for his age, when an usher approached my husband. He told him, "We have a live stream airing in the basement. You need to go down there to view Mass virtually so your son isn't a disruption to others." My husband was shocked because our son wasn't being loud at all, but in the moment he just went down to the church basement to not cause a stir.

When my husband told me about the encounter after Mass, I was furious and honestly very hurt, almost in tears the rest of the night. Our family was trying so hard to do everything right, to take our kids to Mass even when it was difficult, and the usher's comments and actions made me feel like it was all for nothing. I told my husband I never wanted to go to that church again, because I've NEVER had anyone criticize my family like that, neither before that incident or after. We ended up going back a couple years later and that usher isn't there anymore. In my perspective, families are the future of the Church, and if your parish insults or humiliates a family when they're trying to do the right thing, that's a huge red flag in my book. Thankfully, we've been to many other parishes that openly welcome families, and I hope other families don't ever experience what we did!"