Priest texting or playing with cell phone during confession.

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Has anyone ever had this happen to them? I was kinda surprised to hear this going on. Now I don’t know what the rules are, but sometime tells me it just wasn’t right. To hear a series of vibration text alerts during the middle of my confession. It was almost like the priest really didn’t even pay attention to what I had to say and was very short. Told me to say my act of contrition and gave a penance to do. Is it possible that priests just get bored or tired with hearing confessions. It seems this way to me lately. This isn’t the first time I got this feeling about this priest I had. Anyone ever experience this? Is it normal?
 
No, but when I was engaged I accidentally pocket dialed my fiancee and left a voicemail that she was charitable enough to delete before listening to.

Obviously if the priest is on the cell in confession it’s in bad taste. But remember, you never know what somebody is dealing with, so don’t be too hard on him. At least he gave you absolution.

Of course priests get bored with confession. They hear the same things over and over again. But holy priests always give it the utmost seriousness.
 
Confessions are probably generally rote and can get boring except for the occasional person that has a real zinger to present. Smuggled pharmaceuticals. Knifed the tires on the teacher’s car. Sailed the seven seas as a pirate, yargh. Etc. Otherwise, it’s like the dentist and the patient. The patient is nervous. For the dentist, it’s just another day.

I’ve heard of priests that will eat snacks and such while in the confessional. It is perfectly acceptable for him to listen to confessions while eating chips. It is totally unacceptable for him to eat chips while listening to confessions.

Phones are a lot more sketchy because you’re actually devoting your attention to two different people, but I’d go along with the poster above me. Priests deal with all sorts of people in hard situations and you never know what he might be responding to. I’m sure I also wouldn’t at all like hearing a phone buzz going off while I’m confessing either, but I wouldn’t instantly assume the worst and think that he’s posting images of lolcats on bodybuilding.com.
 
TK421 said:
Confessions are probably generally rote and can get boring except for the occasional person that has a real zinger to present. It’s like the dentist and the patient. The patient is nervous. For the dentist, it’s just another day.

I’ve heard of priests that will eat snacks and such while in the confessional. It is perfectly acceptable for him to listen to confessions while eating chips. It is totally unacceptable for him to eat chips while listening to confessions.

Phones are a lot more sketchy because you’re actually devoting your attention to two different people, but I’d go along with the poster above me. Priests deal with all sorts of people in hard situations and you never know what he might be responding to. I’m sure I also wouldn’t at all like hearing a phone buzz going off while I’m confessing either, but I wouldn’t instantly assume the worst and think that he’s posting images of lolcats on bodybuilding.com.
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I was really surprised at first when i read this, it sounded like a lame thing to do. But then, I realized, stuff happens. Like, what if there was a family emergency, like somebody went to the hospital in a critical condition, and he happened to be texted about it in the middle of confession? Do you push aside your family or stop short the confession? You try to do both.
Or even worse, what if he happened to be talking to a suicidal person? Now that’s stuck between a rock and a hard place: Try to absolve mortal sin and talk someone out of mortal sin in the same few minutes. I think that’s a situation where it’s understandable to text in the confessional.

I guess by this point we just pray for him to do his duty to the best of his ability, because I can imagine some undesirable circumstances where there is no choice but to try and text and listen at the same time.

Snacks in the confessional…that one is a bit harder to understand. The occasional priest might have a medical condition requiring him to eat periodically, but I really hope he wouldn’t just snack for the heck of it while somebody is struggling in sin :eek:
 
dfp42 said:
Has anyone ever had this happen to them? I was kinda surprised to hear this going on. Now I don’t know what the rules are, but sometime tells me it just wasn’t right. To hear a series of vibration text alerts during the middle of my confession. It was almost like the priest really didn’t even pay attention to what I had to say and was very short. Told me to say my act of contrition and gave a penance to do. Is it possible that priests just get bored or tired with hearing confessions. It seems this way to me lately. This isn’t the first time I got this feeling about this priest I had. Anyone ever experience this? Is it normal?
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Some Priests carry cell phones to be contacted in case of a Sacramental emergency. This is more so today, especially with the shortage of Priests. This may have been what was happening when you heard the vibration text alerts.
 
It doesn’t matter how boring it is, the priest should be paying attention to the confession. It’s a sacrament. The emergency thing is no excuse. How did priests handle emergencies before the days of cellphones? Plus it’s just plain rude.
 
Sunbreak said:
It doesn’t matter how boring it is, the priest should be paying attention to the confession. It’s a sacrament. The emergency thing is no excuse. How did priests handle emergencies before the days of cellphones? Plus it’s just plain rude.
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We do not know what was occurring or what was truly heard.
 
One time I saw Father on has iPad through the confessional current and another time I saw another priest on his iPhone through the current but once someone walked into the confessional I saw him put it away.

They gotta do something while they’er in there waiting for no one to show up. Agree?
 
Sunbreak said:
It doesn’t matter how boring it is, the priest should be paying attention to the confession. It’s a sacrament. The emergency thing is no excuse. How did priests handle emergencies before the days of cellphones? Plus it’s just plain rude.
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Remember this if you ever need a priest in a real hurry like death bed confession hurry. At that point you may be happy he has a cell rather than your loved one walking a day for him and a day back after finding him.
 
They wait in the confessional box for hours. They used to read their prayers. Now it may be Candy Crush, but I doubt it. A priest is often so busy nowadays that texting whilst waiting for a penitent may be a very useful tool. Don’t judge unless you hear the celebratory tone of his reaching the next level!
 
People playing around with gadgets while trying to socialize is big issue for me. I used to be able to talk to friends while having more-or-less their full attention. Now I find that people are looking down and playing with their phones while I try to have an engaging conversation.

I cannot believe that even priests- the supposed spiritual antidote to today’s distracting secular world- have been infected with this debilitating and insulting social disease!!

Frankly, they shouldn’t even have their phones on them while in the confessional. Phones have microphones that can be tapped remotely by malicious software or even through an accidental dialing. As far as emergencies- it’s either an emergency or not!

It’s either “excuse me, I have a life or death situation which has come up!” or putting the phone away. Texting or fiddling with the phone indefinitely is certainly not any kind of conscientious, courteous or necessary behavior.

I used to love technology, but I think its one of the most effective tools since sex for the devil to work men to his whim. It’s subtle, nefarious and now ever-present. It continually distracts us from our inner selves and God in return for endless entertainment with- pick your poison- anything under the sun, whether its games, or texts or music or social networking.

I hope this is just a rumor or an isolated case. It would be very sad indeed if true, and I think people need to start talking to those priests or their superiors if it continues. What’s next, texting while giving the Eucharist or listening to the gospel?! :eek::mad:
 
Sunbreak said:
It doesn’t matter how boring it is, the priest should be paying attention to the confession. It’s a sacrament. The emergency thing is no excuse. How did priests handle emergencies before the days of cellphones? Plus it’s just plain rude.
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We don’t really know he’s being rude. The title of the thread refers to “texting or playing with cell phone,” but the post itself only says the OP heard some vibration text alerts.

There’s a big difference between playing with your cell phone, and receiving vibration alerts.
 
Let’s clarify something.

Was the priest playing with his phone? Did you see him with it?

Or was the priest’s phone just ringing?

If the priest was playing with his phone, it may be bad taste, but he may be organizing something directly related to his ministry.

If his phone was just ringing, there’s nothing he can do about it if he’s “on-call” and may need to go to the hospital.
 
I’ve read threads here where priests have reprimanded folks for phones / tablets in church when the people are using prayer apps.

Technology can be a good tool. Technology isn’t the tool of the devil any more than a cast iron frying pan is…it’s the heart of the user.

What if I typed my sins into my phone as others wrote on a piece of paper, and decided to use it in the confessional?

Someone asked what we did before cell phones. We left ten minutes early. We knew where payphones were and carried change for them. We saved up thoughts for honest to goodness conversation instead of rapid firing texts every hour. We left messages for other people with assistants and peers, not voicemail. The list goes on.

I believe there is a difference between receiving a text on vibrate and answering it. The rules for this new era of communication are still being hammered out, learned, and applied.

Even in the middle of confession, I would have asked Father, “Do you need to take that? I can step out for a second,” because a priest with an emergency would say, “Yes, please and thank you,” whereas if wasn’t a pressing issue, just like anyone else, he’d put it away.
 
It was a series of texts as I heard the sounds a few times to know what was going on. Also
He was pretty distracted talking to me. You know that delayed response you get when you ask someone a question while they are texting and you get a response 20 seconds later. I’m thankful for priests, but I really couldn’t help wonder if padre pio was here he’d be bored or attentive to something else inside the confessional. Overall, it was really distasteful. It gave me the impression that the priest just didn’t truly care about me or my situation, even by the way he responded short with me. I know I’m there for God alone but there really needs to be standards I would think.
 
Sunbreak said:
It doesn’t matter how boring it is, the priest should be paying attention to the confession. It’s a sacrament. The emergency thing is no excuse. How did priests handle emergencies before the days of cellphones? Plus it’s just plain rude.
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People came and knocked on the confessional door to get the priest out of the confessional. You’re being rather self-centred.
 
dfp42 said:
It was a series of texts as I heard the sounds a few times to know what was going on. Also
He was pretty distracted talking to me. You know that delayed response you get when you ask someone a question while they are texting and you get a response 20 seconds later. I’m thankful for priests, but I really couldn’t help wonder if padre pio was here he’d be bored or attentive to something else inside the confessional. Overall, it was really distasteful. It gave me the impression that the priest just didn’t truly care about me or my situation, even by the way he responded short with me. I know I’m there for God alone but there really needs to be standards I would think.
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You still don’t know if he was getting a series of texts regarding an emergency…which could also explain a little bit about his distraction.

If I were you…I’d chalk it up to something charitable and let it go!
 
dfp42 said:
It was a series of texts as I heard the sounds a few times to know what was going on. Also
He was pretty distracted talking to me. You know that delayed response you get when you ask someone a question while they are texting and you get a response 20 seconds later. I’m thankful for priests, but I really couldn’t help wonder if padre pio was here he’d be bored or attentive to something else inside the confessional. Overall, it was really distasteful. It gave me the impression that the priest just didn’t truly care about me or my situation, even by the way he responded short with me. I know I’m there for God alone but there really needs to be standards I would think.
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Or the sound of someone that just won’t leave you alone. And they send you text message after text message.

Guess what? They sound the same.
 
The Sacrament of Penance is often neglected these days, so it can get boring sitting in the confessional for an hour with only one person coming for a 2-minute confession. It would not be surprising if he did something to occupy himself.

If I was a priest, I would probably either read from my breviary, or a nice book, while waiting for the next penitent. Of course, it would probably be respectful to put the book down while you are hearing someone’s confession.
 
dfp42 said:
Has anyone ever had this happen to them? I was kinda surprised to hear this going on. Now I don’t know what the rules are, but sometime tells me it just wasn’t right. To hear a series of vibration text alerts during the middle of my confession. It was almost like the priest really didn’t even pay attention to what I had to say and was very short. Told me to say my act of contrition and gave a penance to do. Is it possible that priests just get bored or tired with hearing confessions. It seems this way to me lately. This isn’t the first time I got this feeling about this priest I had. Anyone ever experience this? Is it normal?
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If it helps, one of my priests hurries along my confession with some huffs and puffs, like I’m wasting his time.
 
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