As Long As We're On The Anglicanorum Coetibus Society,

a visitor raised a worthwhile question about this post there, entitled "A Little Distraction During Mass". It seems to me that there are three issues:

1. The photo is of two toddlers interacting over the back of a pew. The first question that came to mind for me was whether both mothers in the photo had signed releases giving permission to publish their children's photo on social media. However, even if this were the case, another issue is whether this is even a good idea. This article in Today's Parent makes several good points:

   For my part, I just don’t want my kid on social media until she’s old enough to put herself on there (and maybe not even then, given the rampant cyber-bullying and judgment kids are subjected to at the click-happy hands of their peers nowadays). Maybe it’s because I’ve watched too much Law & Order SVU, or I’m feeling comfortably critical in my pre-procreation phase, but I don’t think kids need to be exposed quite so much from such a young age. . . .

   Fundamentally, I have an issue with overexposing children to the opinions of other people. Will it affect the way my child sees herself if she’s expecting likes and responses to her every action and facial expression? Maybe it’ll make her stronger, or maybe it’ll make self-awareness next to impossible. What if sharing her life with acquaintances and strangers before she even knows who she is somehow makes her unable to figure it out for herself without a constant stream of feedback? It’s hard enough being a kid. Why subject her to scrutiny-well-meaning or otherwise-right from birth?

   I don’t even think I’m the only one subscribing to this approach. More and more friends are choosing to keep their babies’ lives off social media, instead finding more private ways to share their kids’ images with friends and family. Though I can’t say what effect putting a child’s images on the Internet will have in the long run, maybe there’s something to be said about not taking the risk.

   A visitor suggests that the photo may in fact violate OCSP's own guidelines on posting photos of children on social media, although these apparently aren't published on the OCSP site.
2. Second, the title of the photo uses the term "distraction". Two toddlers being toddlers may count as a distraction, but wait a moment: somebody else stood up and turned around to snap this photo. Wasn't that also a distraction? I simply don't know in what part of the mass this took place, but the photographer was clearly preoccupied with something other than the mass him/herself and decided that a little social interaction (oh, how cuuuuute!) should take precedence over the canon or whatever. My first correspondent even asked if the photographer's purpose was to shame the ladies and toddlers, and I don't have an answer to that. But the toddler-distraction was clearly less than the photographer-distraction, which was ill-advised in any case, even if the mommies' judgment was poor enough to allow the photo.
3. But finally: wow, what a small venue, and it isn't even full! There's lots of room for toddlers to play. I compare that to our diocesan parish, where the pews are routinely packed -- of the four short pews visible in the photo, 12-14 people would be seated in them on any of three Sunday morning masses at our parish. Here there's two mommies (where's dad?), two toddlers, another face half-visible in back, and lots of available seats. Sorry, doesn't say much for the parish, and I'd be ashamed to have that sparse attendance made public, frankly. But another point I've come to recognize is that if the pews are full, the toddlers are in parents' laps, reined in by older siblings, or at least somewhat constrained by having more people in the pews. That with a good PA system greatly minimizes any distractions, cute or not.

As I say, I don't visit the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society blog normally, and that probably suits them as well as it suits me. But what I see on display is remarkably poor judgment, potentially to the point of being harmful to kids -- even if the mommies think it's great that boopsie and poopsie are playing for the camera (and by the way, they're in the picture too), nobody's giving the slightest thought beyond their narcissism to the kids' welfare, or whether their social priorities over and above the toddlers' play are also damaging the reverent atmosphere of the mass. And nobody seems to think scraggly attendance worthy of TEC is odd.

Not to mention that apparently the bloggers think their audience will think it's great as well.