Should Catholic Churches Have Cell-Phone Blocking Devices to Block Signals???

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Maybe we should use this as an opportunity to practice our patience, forgiveness, and charity. Rather than giving dirty looks or passing judgement against someone, we should pray that nothing is wrong. Maybe we should pray that someone didn’t just die and cause that cell phone to go off. For all we really know, someone could be getting the most horrific call that their loved one has just died. Maybe someone is terminally ill, and the person whos cell phone just went off was in church to pray and be among us and God. My point is, you really don’t know what’s going on or why the phone rang, so maybe we should pray that everything is OK, and that they remember to put it on vibrate next time. Remember, Jesus asked for forgiveness for the very people who nailed Him to the cross. If He has that kind of love and forgiveness in Him, and we are believers in Him, maybe we can follow His example? Or have the servants become greater than the master? Just my thoughts, worth what you paid for them.
 
cellphones can be put on silent mode.

me, i leave mine at home when i go to Mass (except when there’s an emergency. but i keep it on silent.)
 
Mass is, maybe, one hour. In the great majority (99%?) of cases, one ought to be able to walk away from the worries and busy-ness of the world and make alternative arrangements if necessary to be able to turn off the phone for that long. Likely, if you can’t do that, you have bigger problems.

Best comment I heard relatively recently about cell phones in Church was from a priest giving his homily. Cell phone rang. He stopped and gave the serious questioning look, then pointing to the street just outside the door and satrically asked, “Is that the Good Humor man?”
 
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MariaG:
With vibrate, it should not be an issue whether or not someone needs to be on call or not. Those who do not understand why someone can’t just not be on call for a certain time, clearly do not live in a rural area.

I thank God our volunteer firemen do not turn off their pagers or cell phones (for the on duty officer who does the duty Sat. and Sun. ). **If they don’t go, people die. **

But it appears that this seems to be divided among large cities and rural areas. Common sense needs to be the prevailing rule of thumb.
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Once when I was at Mass in a rural mountain community, one of the parishioners got a call–and left immediately. Turned out he was the Fire Marshall and was being called to a fire that threatened to burn down the entire town, including the church. Because they got ahold of him fast, no buildings were lost.
 
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chicago:
What did they do before they have pagers?
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Maybe a lot more buildings burned down and a lot more people died.

I turn my cell phone off in church (as a matter of fact, it is always off, unless I need to make a call), but then, I’m not an emergency services worker.

Crazy Internet Junkies Society
Carrier of the Angelic Sparkles Sprinkle Bag
 
As a medical worker, I can tell you some of us are on call for an entire weekend at once - or more. We can’t go to a Mass when we know no one will call us. We’re expected to return pages on our beepers within 5 minutes. And we have a responsibility to our patients which is surely recognized by the Church - if you need to attend to a responsibility to a neighbor, you are instructed to leave your sacrifice at the altar and attend to your neighbor!! The beeper can stay on vibrate, the cell phone can be off and at your side - if you need to return a page, you simply step outside and make a call – but PLEASE!! - don’t block the ability to use a cell phone and attend to a sick or dying patient.
 
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gloria97000:
but PLEASE!! - don’t block the ability to use a cell phone and attend to a sick or dying patient.
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Not to worry . . . such blocking devices are currently illegal in the U.S., and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.
 
Michael Welter:
Not to worry . . . such blocking devices are currently illegal in the U.S., and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.
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Are they illegal in all types of buildings? My band rehearsals are held in a high school building, and the cell phones don’t work in there.

Crazy Internet Junkies Society
Carrier of the Angelic Sparkles Sprinkle Bag
 
Although I always turn my cell phone off during Mass, and think it is rude not to do so, I vote a solid NO to this question…That is because I know there are those people who HAVE to have their cell phones on at all times. As a former paramedic, I know that it is important for some people to have the ability to be summoned at any time.

When I was running squad, I had to choose between not going to church, or not being in touch with my dispactcher…Something I could not do when on duty. I was part of a two-person crew, and when the tone dropped I had to go…then.

So…I vote No…
 
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CarolAnnSFO:
Are they illegal in all types of buildings? My band rehearsals are held in a high school building, and the cell phones don’t work in there.
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That’s because the signal from the local cell site can’t penetrate the building, which is probably contructed of steel and/or concrete. The signal is being blocked by an electronic device. It’s being blocked by the building materials.
 
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MariaG:
With vibrate, it should not be an issue whether or not someone needs to be on call or not. Those who do not understand why someone can’t just not be on call for a certain time, clearly do not live in a rural area.

I thank God our volunteer firemen do not turn off their pagers or cell phones (for the on duty officer who does the duty Sat. and Sun. ). **If they don’t go, people die. **

But it appears that this seems to be divided among large cities and rural areas. Common sense needs to be the prevailing rule of thumb.
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Exactly, I am a volunteer firefighter/EMT and I have my pager on me all the time. It does have a vibrate feature but all that does is silence the first tone. Then you have to have the volume on to hear what the call is and where. Usually I don’t bring my pager into Mass but then I often wonder what would happen if something happened close to the Church where I could have made a difference in whether a person lives or dies. Also keep in mind, I have been in a situation where a medical emergency happened during the middle of mass to a parishoner. I was not an EMT at the time but I was an auxiliary police officer and had a radio on me and I was able to contact dispatch by radio and get an ambulance to the church quickly. This was before cell phones were widely available in the area too.

And don’t even talk to me about the people who won’t pull over for emergency vehicles responding to emergencies. We have a saying at our department, move out of the way or we will move you. They don’t make the bumpers on the fire trucks very large and metal for nothing!
 
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chicago:
What did they do before they have pagers?
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For the firefighters they had big sirens that were loud enough to be heard through the entire town and let me tell you, they would be more disruptive to the Mass then a pager would be 🙂
 
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chicago:
What did they do before they have pagers?
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The sirens blew like crazy. And there were people rushing in, grabbing people to get them to go.
The fact that you can turn a cell phone/pager to vibrate should take care of the problem. But believe me, if you had been in church some Sundays, back in the day, you would appreciate how mch less distraction it is to have one (or a few) people slip out quietly, than it was when there were people dashing in & dragging people out…
 
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WanderAimlessly:
WhiteDove:
Thanks for the information. I still assumed that cell phone were a no-no because there were signs to that affect where I had bloodwork done a couple of years back.PF
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Hospitals are even slower than the Church in changing their ways 😃 . That’s a JOKE, son!
What I mean by that is that in the early days of cell phones, yes they did wreak havoc with medical equipment, because they were basically two-way radios. They halted people’s pacemakers, interfered with early telemetry equipment which wasn’t damped, and all sorts of other horror stories. However, with the advent of digital technology and better protection of medical equipment, it truly isn’t an issue anymore. However, because hospitals can’t think about anything without the word “liability” cropping up, they continue to post those signs. I work in an ICU and my cell phone is always on. No problem. But I digress… back to the issue…
nianka
 
In a perfect world we would not need this because people would either leave them in a car, or at the very least turned off and have “Voice Mail” pick up any calls. But of course there is the one moron:whacky: in Mass who not only lets his/her phone ring, answer it and actually talk!!!I have seen this at least 3 times already. This is ruder then rude. As far as medical personal a vibrating device ( on pager or phone itself should be enough (most cells have caller ID so you should know just by looking and quietly leave) BTW none of the 3 calls were an emergency, one right behind me was making plans for Sunday afternoon at some BBQ:ehh:
 
A Jamming device that also identifies the moron whose phone is being blocked and then proceeds to self-destruct him.

Its bad enough they don’t turn the phone off or put it on silent. But they then proceed to answer it, and then to have a conversation!!!
Happened in our church this last Sunday. In the middle of the consecration of the Eucharist!!! And she talked and talked until way past people were lined up for receiving. Disgusting. And she got so uppity when I challenged her afterwards.
 
the best response I’ve ever seen given to one of the people who actually pick up the phone and proceed to talk during the mass (this was the homily) was the Priest stopping his talk and saying “If that isn’t God, could you please hang up?”
Yea… She hung up pretty quickly…
 
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CatholicCid:
the best response I’ve ever seen given to one of the people who actually pick up the phone and proceed to talk during the mass (this was the homily) was the Priest stopping his talk and saying “If that isn’t God, could you please hang up?”
Yea… She hung up pretty quickly…
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LOVE IT!!!👍 to your Priest!!!
 
WhiteDove said:
SilencePlease.com

Just came across an ad for a Cellphone blocking device.
Should our Churches install these? Check out link above. It looks as if an idividual can carry it on their person and block cell phones whereever they go.
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Absolutely not. It seems that this is replacing rude behavior with something equally rude and intrusive. If a person doesn’t have it in them to do something face to face, don’t rely on an anomyous device to enforce your will on someone.

We have enough issues with people using God to control other people, lets not get technology involved.
 
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