Cell phone calls eliminated during Mass!

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I LIKE IT.

I got a chuckle druing a mass as the priest broke the bread a cell phone went off. “WOW” I thought, “God is really calling.”
 
Sounds like a great idea. My only reservation is for medical people like me who are on call and have to have a pager and cell phone on them 24/7. I attend Mass daily and I would hate for that to stop just because I’m on call.
 
Hi LabChick,

I thought about that, too, but I wasn’t aware that some people were on call 24/7. I thought they could just go to Mass when they weren’t on call.

I’m sure there’s a compromise somewhere.

Of course, none of this would be a problem if people would be responsible and have their phones in vibrate mode if they had to have them on. But it only takes one person to forget…
 
Pagers have a vibrate cycle and some cell phones have a similar device that lights flash. If you can shut off your cell phone in a movie theater for 2 hours or more than the least we can expect is courtesy for the Lord for one hour.
 
Keep in mind that if you are in the US these tools are illegal and the FCC will come after you if they find out.
 
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jmacclure:
Keep in mind that if you are in the US these tools are illegal and the FCC will come after you if they find out.
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That’s true, and it’s also unfortunate. The law ought to be re-written to allow approval for such devices on a case-by-case basis. Some people are totally oblivious to the signs banning cellphones in the hospitals around here and just walk in talking like their conversations are the most important things in the world. On the other hand, in the three months that I’ve been attending Mass, I haven’t heard a cellphone once.

DaveBj
 
Its odd because when someones phone goes off in Mass, half of me feels sorry for them - its so embarrasing, but the other half gets annoyed because ive been distracted from Mass, and the fact i always check about 5 times that my phone is off, or if i can not take it in at all.

I think a lot can be said just for a little poster on the church door, to remind people. Like at the cinema, where there may be a little announcement. No need for massive Israel phone blocks 🙂
 
Its odd because when someones phone goes off in Mass, half of me feels sorry for them - its so embarrasing, but the other half gets annoyed because ive been distracted from Mass, and the fact i always check about 5 times that my phone is off, or if i can not take it in at all.

I think a lot can be said just for a little poster on the church door, to remind people. Like at the cinema, where there may be a little announcement. No need for massive Israel phone blocks 🙂
 
So what did everybody do before there were cell phones? Will the world end if we’re out of contact for one hour?
 
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jmacclure:
Keep in mind that if you are in the US these tools are illegal and the FCC will come after you if they find out.
Click to expand...
The jamming equipment wouldn’t be illegal if it was limited to a church – much like a unlicensed radio station that can only be heard on private property – like at a drive-in.

Even if it were illegal, as long as it was limited to the church, the FCC wouldn’t dare make a stink.
 
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JimG:
So what did everybody do before there were cell phones? Will the world end if we’re out of contact for one hour?
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No kidding. How did those who are “on call 24/7” ever buy groceries or gasoline prior to cell phones? Most certainly did not have the ultra expensive radio phones of years past…

All a matter of priorities…
 
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Gem:
I thought about that, too, but I wasn’t aware that some people were on call 24/7. I thought they could just go to Mass when they weren’t on call.
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My normal workday is from 6am to 6pm for four days, off two, on four, off two, and so on. Every other weekend, I am on service call from Friday 6pm to Monday 6am. On my days off, I must be available and ready to come to the hospital in the event of emergency. That is the downside of being only one of a handful of surgeons in the US with my expertise.
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stbruno:
Pagers have a vibrate cycle and some cell phones have a similar device that lights flash. If you can shut off your cell phone in a movie theater for 2 hours or more than the least we can expect is courtesy for the Lord for one hour.
Click to expand...
I never go to the movie theater. My pager has a vibrate mode but it is so subtle that I could never feel it unless I keep it tightly clasped in my hand the entire time.

The original post was not about turning cell phones/pagers off, but about blocking reception all together.
 
Any device used in the United States to jam a radio signal is a violation of Federal law.

Several years ago a police department was using a device to jam radar detectors, so the drivers wouldn’t detect the police radar. Since the radar dector is, in effect, a radio transmitter, the police were violating a Federal law and were made to stop.
 
The original poster’s idea may appear good in an abstract sense, but real life happens.

I have been criticized in the past for the fact that my cell phone is always in my purse and turned on during Mass, although after an embarrassing incident several years ago, the ringer is always turned off when I am at Mass, work, or anywhere else a ringing phone would be a rude interruption. I have been told rather rudely that I should leave the phone in the car, because I’m not important enough to need 24/7 access (which is true, but that’s off topic).

At Mass this morning, one of my fellow choir members had a heart attack, just after the Our Father. I was the only one in the choir with a cell phone that was turned on, and thus my phone was used to dial 911. The EMTs arrived within minutes and started hooking the man up to life support. They were able to stabilize him and wheel him out on a stretcher by the time Mass was ended. If I didn’t have the phone, we would have wasted precious time either getting a phone from someone in the congregation or leaving the church altogether and unlocking the parish office to use that phone. If cell reception was blocked to the church during Mass, calling 911 immediately would have been impossible.

Please pray for this man. He was already not in good health. Pray that the Lord will take care of him.
 
I have heard that in other countries these jamming devices are used in movie theaters. However the FCC has so far declined to allow them here, largely for the reasons that LabChick mentioned.
 
I was at morning mass on a Saturday and someone’s cell phone went off during the preparation of gifts, a silent period. He actually took the call from the pew. “Hello, I’m at church right now. What’s up …”
 
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LabChick:
Sounds like a great idea. My only reservation is for medical people like me who are on call and have to have a pager and cell phone on them 24/7. I attend Mass daily and I would hate for that to stop just because I’m on call.
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Good point. There must be some middle ground. Yesterday, I heard cell phones twice during Sunday Mass. Either both phones had the same ring or the same person’s phone rang twice!! —KCT
 
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