Priest talking of cell phone before Mass

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I went to Sunday evening mass Sunday night. The parish has two Priests, one in charge and the other is in second in command (in training) as it was explained to me. Anyway, both of them conduct the mass, sometimes separately and sometimes together. Anyway, last night, Sunday night, my sister and I went and we saw the top Priest sitting outside on the curb along the road talking on his cell phone to somebody. The other priest is the one that conducted the mass. I’m wondering - since the top priest was outside, should he not have been greeting the people and not talking on his cell phone? He did wave a few times at people walking in. But I was thinking, isn’t it part of his job to greet the people? If he’s not going to conduct the mass and wants to talk on his cell phone, wouldn’t it be better to do that some place private and not outside near the entrance to the church?

How do you view this type of behavior? No problem or is it rude on his part? This is a Franciscan parish.
 
Well, if it were my priest I’d know that he was doing something he deemed important.

I would give him the benefit of the doubt that perhaps he was expecting an important call, or had to deal with something that was important. And although greeting everyone would be nice, I’m not sure it’s an official duty…

I happened to go to Sat. Mass this last weekend. Our priest went out after mass to talk with everyone. I happened to be helping out with set up of a party afterwards. He ran in to check on everyone, to make sure we had all we needed. Turned out he was scheduled until 11pm that night.

They keep crazy schedules…
 
TikiTokiguy said:
I went to Sunday evening mass Sunday night. The parish has two Priests, one in charge and the other is in second in command (in training) as it was explained to me. Anyway, both of them conduct the mass, sometimes separately and sometimes together. Anyway, last night, Sunday night, my sister and I went and we saw the top Priest sitting outside on the curb along the road talking on his cell phone to somebody. The other priest is the one that conducted the mass. I’m wondering - since the top priest was outside, should he not have been greeting the people and not talking on his cell phone? He did wave a few times at people walking in. But I was thinking, isn’t it part of his job to greet the people? If he’s not going to conduct the mass and wants to talk on his cell phone, wouldn’t it be better to do that some place private and not outside near the entrance to the church?

How do you view this type of behavior? No problem or is it rude on his part? This is a Franciscan parish.
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think of it this way, perhaps he was trying to save a soul. is was not being rude in my opinion. w
 
TikiTokiguy said:
I’m wondering - since the top priest was outside, should he not have been greeting the people and not talking on his cell phone?

How do you view this type of behavior? No problem or is it rude on his part? This is a Franciscan parish.
Click to expand...
First of all, “greeting the people” is done at the beginning of Mass as part of the introductory rites, not before Mass. The priest doesn’t have any specific task or role he is supposed to be fillling before Mass starts.

Second, priests get calls 24/7 - literally. It goes with the territory. As long as his phone doesn’t go off during Mass or in the Confessional, it’s fine by me.
 
Technically speaking the priest doesn’t need to be greeting anyone prior to Mass. Perhaps while he was doing so he received an important phone call. It need not be an emergency to be an important call…
 
No need to worry, priests do get phone calls as noted already.

Now if it rings while during the Homily and he motions " Give me a minute " and answers it, then ya got problems 😃
 
At_Trent said:
No need to worry, priests do get phone calls as noted already.

Now if it rings while during the Homily and he motions " Give me a minute " and answers it, then ya got problems 😃
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Or if he pulls out his iPhone during the Homily and starts extolling the many features. 😉
 
I wonder if the priest I talk to has risked having people question his actions talking to me on his cell. I know he did make time for me at times when I know it was not easy. He never told me that, but I realized later on. The time when I called to tell him about my Stepfather having a stroke. I had no idea he tried to call while he was on the way to the airport, and since I was not around to get the call- he called me from out of the country as soon as he was able after landing and arrived at his hotel. He had local priests that wanted to talk to him as soon as he got in, but he made that call to me first. Again, I did not know that at the time. I found out later.
After that, I realized how many people call him all the time. Some won’t talk to anyone else but him. Some, feel they have no one else to talk to. Hope that is the case with the priest you mention here, and realize their jobs are not easy ones. They can’t just make people go away. People live, die and suffer in between. He is there for all those things. I just hope we can be there for them a little bit too.
 
TikiTokiguy said:
I we saw the top Priest sitting outside on the curb along the road talking on his cell phone to somebody. The other priest is the one that conducted the mass. I’m wondering - since the top priest was outside, should he not have been greeting the people and not talking on his cell phone? He did wave a few times at people walking in. But I was thinking, isn’t it part of his job to greet the people? If he’s not going to conduct the mass and wants to talk on his cell phone, wouldn’t it be better to do that some place private and not outside near the entrance to the church?

How do you view this type of behavior? No problem or is it rude on his part? This is a Franciscan parish.
Click to expand...
since we don’t know the topic of the phone conversation shall we exercise Christian charity and assume either a) it was an emergency perhaps a sick call and he had to take the call or b) since he was not the celebrant the presiding priest was the one who would greet parishioners, if that is the custom at that parish (it is not required by the way, although some priests do this). so no, greeting people is not necessarily part of his “job” if that is how you want to refer to the priestly vocation, unless it is something he considers worthwhile.
 
Yep, time to exercise Christian charity. Perhaps he was in an important call.
 
TikiTokiguy said:
Yep, time to exercise Christian charity. Perhaps he was in an important call.
Click to expand...
I am so happy this thread worked out this way. I wish you all the best in your journey. I really mean that. I will tell my favorite priest about this, as I know it will give him some extra something to keep going on as he does. He is retired, yet still gives his all to all of us. Even those like myself. You will make his day so much better, just knowing that people will give him the benefit of the doubt. And, you can count on his prayers for all of us here too. He tells me he wishes he was young enough to keep up with “all this technology”. Somehow, I just think that technology is not fast enough if you know the right people in real life. I hope I do know or will know the things I must. And, I thank you for letting me talk on your thread. I really can not say enough about a good priest, and I know they may not be easy to find. But, I found one- and I sure hope he will continue to be a help for years and years to come to many. Not a priest to be speculated about behind his back.
No one should be spoken about behind their back.
 
If he is like me (though I am not a priest) he may have been on the phone with his mom. My mom calls me every Sunday.

We have three priests in our parish. Only one of them carry a cell phone.
 
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