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Cat
Guest
Or texting their parents to say that the line for Confession is longer than they thought it would be, so can you please come a half hour later so you don’t have to sit outside and wait for me? Thanks Mom/Dad!
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revert_jen
Guest
If so, the confession app requires a lot of typing.
I’d like to agree with the points that UpUpAndAway made. Unless you have some urgent need (you are a doctor on call, you have a sick relative at home that may need to contact you or whatever), please do NOT just put your phone on vibrate. It’s distracting to those of use with good hearing. (What is that? Is it some sort of a bug or is it just a phone on vibrate? Where is it coming from, then I could see if it’s a wasp or something (I’m allergic).)
And yes, the bright backlit screen can be distracting as well. Dimmer is better.
EXCEPT for the first part of the Easter Vigil, if the church is in darkness except the lectern. Please don’t use your electronic devices then at all, because then instead of a community in darkness waiting for the light of Christ, we have a community in darkness punctuated by the occasional fully-lit ghostly-blue-looking face. It’s extremely distracting, not to mention creepy.
–Jen
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revert_jen
Guest
I’m with you in the four-part harmony thing (assuming most of the congregation can read music), but I’m never in favor of plans that require people to be connected to the internet (or at least to electronic gadgets) at all times. I’m not saying that people can’t use devices if they want to (if they are silent and not-too-bright), but if you don’t have the missalettes, you’re saying people have to have the devices, or have to buy their own missals and hymnals and lug them along every week, or just not follow along.
First there is the poor, who might not have the correct devices, then there are Luddites like myself who refuse to get a smart phone, and shouldn’t have to get one just to follow along in Mass.
And from an environmental standpoint, if the missalettes are printed on paper from responsibly managed forests and the missalettes are recycled (two big ifs, but these are things that can happen) the environmental impact may well be less than that of the electricity and the discarded devices. It may not, I’m just saying it’s not clear-cut.
–Jen
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Lormar
Guest
I’m with you, and personally I think this reliance on and attachment to cell phones for every little thing has gotten out of hand.
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brigid12
Guest
I definitely agree with you that our dependence on cell phone technology has gotten out of hand. I’m old school and feel that iPads/iPhones have no place in the Mass anymore than big screens with the words to songs and the responses on them do. Yes, there is poverty - and I’m one - and the many reasons that cell phones (the sacredness, people that don’t understand cell phones like the elderly, etc) aren’t in full use in the Mass. If I could afford an iPad/iPhone I wouldn’t have one (if possible) because to me cell phones are simply an easy way/portable way to communicate with someone, like a landline that you can text on.
I’m glad an earlier poster mentioned smelling the pages of a book. I love that!
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Tigg
Guest
Oh we wish…a deacon took two of them out of line last weekend and sat them in chairs for the disruption they were causing to others. Religious ed had to make a policy that you place your phone in a basket as you enter the classroom to be retrieved after class is over.
Excellent points!
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ProVobis
Guest
Most of us would miss it on the altar.
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Cat
Guest
So you think printed books are OK in the Mass? I’m guessing there was a time when these were considered inappropriate for the Mass.
Sigh. An I Pad or I Phone is just a way of conveying information. It’s just like a book, only it’s in a machine. There is no evil in it. It isn’t any less sacred than a printed book.
As for poverty–I don’t understand this argument! It seems to me that if people can’t use IPads or IPhones in Mass because poor people can’t afford them, then people shouldn’t be allowed to wear expensive clothing in the Mass because poor people can’t afford them, or people shouldn’t be allowed to come to Mass with hair that has been styled in a beauty salon because people can’t afford that or…c’mon! This makes no sense!–unless you believe that everyone in the Mass should be dressed exactly the same way and wearing the same hair and most importantly earning the same income, and that no one is allowed to spend more than anyone else…hopefully you don’t believe that.
As for saying that the elderly don’t understand cell phones and IPads-- I don’t buy that. I see as many elderly people with these devices as young people. To the elderly, the online world is a GOD-send! It connects them with life, the world, and most importantly, other people! If they can’t read the small print, they can enlarge it. If they can’t hear the speaker on a youtube video, they can amplify it! I only wish these devices had been around while my dear mother was still alive–she would have LOVED it! She hated being isolated by her arthritis, and she would have travelled all over the world on that computer!
Anyway, I think this is much ado about nothing, and I predict that in the next five years, almost everyone, including the poor, will have an IPhone, IPad, or some other device that with a touch of a finger can keep them in touch with the world, past, and present.
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CB_Catholic
Guest
Really, how distracting is an iPhone at Mass used to follow the Mass, not making any noise? Less distracting than shuffling through the pages of the Missalette. And I am considered old, and every one of my friends and aquaintances has a cell phone and/or a tablet, including my 88 year old mother. The idea that the elderly have trouble using these devices is rather insulting.
It is absolutely much ado about nothing, and I recently attended Mass where the Bishop used his iPhone for reference during his homily, and did so unashamedly. There was no distraction, and better than shuffling through notes.
Some people just can’t get used to the idea of electronic devices and come up with all sorts of excuses about them, when in reality, the Pope is leading the way, having a Twitter account! Mass is not less reverent when people use their devices to follow along. That is an illusion. Reverence comes from the heart, not using books.
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SilverAvenger
Guest
For all that matters, a few years ago when I was still a boyscout, our chaplan once prayed mass with his missale in his tablet. I was dumbfoded.
I later went to check with him, and turns out that there’s even an app [IBreviary] for that.
I later went to check with him, and turns out that there’s even an app [IBreviary] for that.
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Selah_KY
Guest
I would love to use a missal, but it’s not possible. Until I’m familiar, I need to see the entire order of the service printed out for me. It’s so frustrating jumping between missalette, pew card, and hymnals. And I can’t sing many of the responses because I still haven’t found out where they are printed. Especially the Latin ones. Then, there are the responses where I know the words (very similar to the LCMS), but don’t know the tune. Sometimes my frustration interferes with my ability to participate in Mass.
This made me smile because that’s another of the petty things that annoys me every once in a while. I came from a tradition where 4-part harmony was almost as sacred as the Eucharist. 
Same here. I also put it away if I start thinking too much about sticking out than I am about Mass.But I figure if it helps me get closer to God, I should definitely use it.
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Isaiah45_9
Guest
Yup, I use this app as well. With the full notes!
I have it so my youngest one can read along with me.
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ProVobis
Guest
Not inappropriate as much as unavailable would be my guess. It was only after Gutenberg that the Bible and handmissals were more widespread. However, the Mass was always read from paper, parchment, papyrus, etc. But the Mass is more than verbal communication, or at least it used to be more than that.
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G_S
Guest
I have seen people using cell phones during Mass but ONLY for playing games and texting. What are they doing with their cell phones during the homily? Taking notes? Doing something that floats their spiritual boat more than the homily? The “they’ll get over it approach” to others’ feelings is really reprehensible. Should that really be our attitude? Is not worship congregational and corporate? Are you really saying that it doesn’t matter if you are offending others? Even if you think people who are disapproving are weak in faith, consider what Paul wrote in Romans 14:21 “it is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.” It’s not all about me. Worship, especially at Mass is different than anything else we do and it should seem that way. An example would be the collection. On-line giving is popular and needs to be available but the collection, especially the bringing up of the people’s offering is an important liturgical act and should not be eliminated. If all the hymnals were Kindles, that would be okay because it is still a congregate act. The choir has a special function and, if it helps the quality of the leading of sacred song, a smart phone might be acceptable. The readings should be listened to with recourse to a written text only used when a person is hard of hearing or the lector is difficult to understand. There is the other factor that is present in our culture of how having a particular phone or device is a status symbol. Often (I can give you names!) people are embarrassed because they have an ordinary cell phone, or an old model of a smart phone. Some phones, sad to say, carry an “I’m better than you message.” Do we not all know people who are proud of their phone and do we want that pride fostered at Mass? In the matter of a priest using a tablet instead of an altar missal, there is a different problem. (I’m not talking about his saying Mass during a camping trip.) An altar missal is dedicated solely to divine worship. It is ornamented, ribboned, gilded, large, and heavy. It is “set apart” for worship. It’s use also indicates that we pray in the context of tradition not innovation and personal taste. You can be almost certain that the priest’s tablet is also used for playing games, checking e-mails, surfing the net, and the like. There are some good arguments for using electronics in a limited way at Mass. There are better, maybe even excellent, ones for private devotions. The attitude that it doesn’t matter what others are thinking and they’ll just get over it might be, if anything, a good reason for banning electronic devices from church.
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ProVobis
Guest
My Kindle talks. Maybe if everyone uses them, we could eliminate human readers altogether.
Yup, I use this app as well. With the full notes!
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revert_jen
Guest
I don’t think anyone has said that. I think I brought up poverty, and I certainly didn’t say it. I said you couldn’t make everyone use devices and take away the missalettes. I didn’t say nobody could use them for that reason.
What a nightmare picture. It may be true, but those devices don’t put people in touch with the world, they put people in touch with the non-world of the internet and out of touch with the world of people around them, trees, buildings, animals, everything that is real around them. My whole career has been in software and telecom, so I’m not speaking from ignorance.
They’re fine if you use them as tools (even in Mass), but when you start seeing them as necessary, you are going down a bad road.
–Jen
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Cat
Guest
Of course it matters that we offend others. The Bible is not kind to those who put stumbling blocks in the way of others.
Yes, the Mass is corporate worship. We need to be doing the work of the Mass together, not separately.
But the cell phone or I-Pad doesn’t cause a person to disregard the Mass, any more than a parish bulletin causes people to write out their grocery list instead of paying attention to the homily.
This is a personal discipline issue, not a technology issue.
You say, “The attitude that it doesn’t matter what others are thinking and they’ll just get over it might be, if anything, a good reason for banning electronic devices from church.”
That sentence doesn’t make sense. We can’t just ban everything that might distract others from Mass, or we would have vast empty rooms with no noise, no smells, no art, nothing! (Some of the Carmelite chapels are like this.) And most of all, no people, because humans are most distracted by fellow human beings and their appearance, mannerisms, actions, etc.
I personally have a hard time watching parents who are ignoring their children’s misbehavior (not childish irresponsibility, but outright bratty behavior, such as teasing a sibling) during Mass, but this doesn’t mean that parents should be banned from bringing their little ones to Mass.
I also get distracted when I notice that people aren’t singing during the hymns, but just standing there, not even bothering to open the hymnal and follow along with the words. Does that mean that “not singing” should be banned, and people forced to sing? Of course not.
What’s needed is for people to stop doing things during the Mass that distract them or others from fully participating in the Mass. And those who are easily distracted by others should mind their own eyes and hearts; the answer to my problem with watching others sing is to NOT watch them sing. In the same way, perhaps you might want to try not watching other people who are using electronic devices. We could both do well to keep our eyes on the tabernacle and contemplate Jesus Truly Present during the Mass.
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Cat
Guest
I don’t know about necessary for life, but for many people, especially the disabled and shut-ins, the internet is a God-send for personal fulfillment.
I don’t consider something so wondrous as the internet and the small computers that connect us to it as “a bad road.” Yes, it can be and IS used for evil purposes, and can be a stumbling block for some people. But it isn’t anything “bad” in and of itself. It is, as you say, a tool, and an extremely useful one.
And yes, I believe that the I-Pad/I-Phone technology will become universal among most people in the U.S., just as the telephone became universal, and also the television. Of course there are still people in the U.S. who have never used telephones or televisions, but they are pretty rare.
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