Talking In Church

[Brendan_64]

With regard to cell phones, turning the the ringer off is important! I do know that some people have prayer sites on their phones (I have one myself) where the scripture of the day, LOTH, prayers, litanies etc can be accessed. Sometimes that is what people are doing with their cell phones, not texting. I am capable of a baleful stare when that is not the case!

I think even using cellphones for that is not appropriate before Mass. We’re there to worship the Lord, do we really need to read something off a screen in order to engage in silent prayer?

Would using our phones to access CAF also be acceptable while waiting for Mass to start? What about accessing a religious Facebook group?

We have missal books or leaflets to read from, and none of us need to read from a screen in order to engage in our own silent prayer. I think that phones should be switched off and put away until we leave the door of the church at the end of Mass. Staring at a screen cuts us off from those around us.

 

[agnes_therese]

I think even using cellphones for that is not appropriate before Mass. We’re there to worship the Lord, do we really need to read something off a screen in order to engage in silent prayer?

Would using our phones to access CAF also be acceptable while waiting for Mass to start? What about accessing a religious Facebook group?

We have missal books or leaflets to read from, and none of us need to read from a screen in order to engage in our own silent prayer. I think that phones should be switched off and put away until we leave the door of the church at the end of Mass. Staring at a screen cuts us off from those around us.

I don’t see how reading prayers from a screen is any different than reading them from a book or leaflet. I personally don’t use mine in church before Mass, but I don’t see a problem if someone wants to.
I didn’t see anyone mentioning using them for CAF or Facebook at church.

 

[Brendan_64]

I didn’t see anyone mentioning using them for CAF or Facebook at church.

I’m just trying to make the point that there is a fine line between using prayer sites and using other sites related to our Faith.

Personally I think the common overuse of smartphones is anti-social in many situations. I’d also ban them from restaurants. A while ago I was sat in a nice restaurant and a couple (with their young child) sat a at table and both of them spent almost the entire time looking at their smartphones, while their daughter played on a Nintendo DS. Is that what a family meal out in the 21st century is now? Spending your time communicating electronically with people who aren’t with you, while ignoring the people physically around you, even your own family?

These devices cut us off from the people around us in a way that other media does not. Attending Mass is about worshipping as part of a community, staring intently at our own little screen and pushing buttons on it does not engage us with those around us. We worship primarily as a community, not as individuals.

 

[babochka]

When priests choose to walk down the aisle during the sign of peace, this is the sign that they give. A priest wouldn’t start kissing and hugging people during the sign of peace, so why should the congregation.

Again, quite cultural. In the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, the people don’t exchange a sign of peace, but concelebrating priests do, and it is a KISS. The people do exchange peace during forgiveness vespers, which marks the beginning of the great fast. It is a KISS, and an embrace, for everyone. The Kiss of Peace was once exchanged by the laity in the Byzantine tradition. St. John Chrystostom once preached about it, in the context that it was getting out of hand and becoming an occasion for lustful advances. Some time after that, men and women were separated in the nave of the church.

It’s part of the liturgy, it’s not a short break in the liturgy to allow people to have a ‘love-in’ with those closest to them. What next? Shouting across the Church to your friends and giving them a ‘thumbs up’ sign.

It’s part of the liturgy, it should be done with respect, reverence, and appropriate restraint.

I think St. John Chrystostom would agree with you.

 

[Brandall]

Very interesting thread. We started with someone not being able to concentrate due to distractions, on to families should act like total strangers to each other to possibly cell phones being totally outlawed.

How about round-a-bouts for the next tangent?

 

[Tigg]

The love we show towards others at the sign of peace is not meant to be romantic, emotional attachment, but is meant to be the love for our fellow man, regardless of who he is, or how well we know him. We are meant to love him unconditionally, like Christ loves us.

Good comment and I quite agree with you as it is meant to wish our fellow man good will and peace. You have to wonder, though, how sincere the gesture is when done automatically, without even looking in the face of the person.

The thing that really gets me going, though, are the hugs and kisses, to the disruption of individual prayer before Mass begins. You know…you see someone walk into church, spy a friend, give him a hearty slap on the back and a handshake, sit down in the pew without genuflection and begin a private conversation with him. I hope they remembered to say “Hi” to Jesus as well.

 

[Aran_Houlihan]

I think this is due in part to our society’s general lack of reverence (which extends to other things besides religion), but really it is a symptom of a larger problem, namely, the lack of awareness of who God is and who we are.

This is both reflected and fostered by the constant noise and entertainment orientation of modern culture. It must also be in some measure the fault of some clergy who want the Church to be a mere humanitarian organization (which Pope Francis recently warned against), and who try to make the faith into something trendy.

The more we try to make the faith trendy, the more we lose its contents, because things like God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness are not trendy. Such realities, when we are aware of them, make us stop and reflect, and hopefully change for the better. Which the world, the flesh, and the devil really don’t want to happen.

 

[PatriceA]

I’m just trying to make the point that there is a fine line between using prayer sites and using other sites related to our Faith.

Personally I think the common overuse of smartphones is anti-social in many situations. I’d also ban them from restaurants. A while ago I was sat in a nice restaurant and a couple (with their young child) sat a at table and both of them spent almost the entire time looking at their smartphones, while their daughter played on a Nintendo DS. Is that what a family meal out in the 21st century is now? Spending your time communicating electronically with people who aren’t with you, while ignoring the people physically around you, even your own family?

These devices cut us off from the people around us in a way that other media does not. Attending Mass is about worshipping as part of a community, staring intently at our own little screen and pushing buttons on it does not engage us with those around us. We worship primarily as a community, not as individuals.

I disagree. Using my phone to read and ONLY READ the missal is no different than reading from a book.

And some parishes near me are considering purchasing computer “tablets” instead of printed missals in the future. So it may only be a matter of time that parishes are all “electronic” anyways.

Its not the computers or phones that are the issue anyways, its the people that have no relevance in Church or to their fellow man. Those types of people can be just as irrelevant with the printed missal, or at a restaurant, or in public. Computers and smart phones can be a wonderful tool for faith formation, if used properly and with respect.

 

[zab]

In the UK, at least in every Mass I have ever been in, it is pretty clear that the appropriate gesture is a friendly, but respectful handshake. You occasionally get the odd person hugging a member of their family, but it’s not the norm and generally viewed as being not quite the right thing to do. When priests choose to walk down the aisle during the sign of peace, this is the sign that they give. A priest wouldn’t start kissing and hugging people during the sign of peace, so why should the congregation.

It’s part of the liturgy, it’s not a short break in the liturgy to allow people to have a ‘love-in’ with those closest to them. What next? Shouting across the Church to your friends and giving them a ‘thumbs up’ sign.

It’s part of the liturgy, it should be done with respect, reverence, and appropriate restraint.

 

[mike0219116]

In my parish, the volume of conversation before Mass has really intensified in the last few years; to the point that the pastor erected a sign that says ‘Respectful Silence’ right by the entrance. It’s clearly being ignored. I find some irony in the fact that there are always at least five greeters standing by those signs before each Mass. There have been times that the noise has drowned out the person leading the pre-Mass rosary. After Mass is over, the noise reminds me of the end of a high school basketball game. Like others have mentioned, we put a heavy emphasis on “community” so I’m sure that’s a contributing factor. Don’t even get me started on the sign of peace (aka musical chairs).

Honestly, the atmosphere at my parish Mass is approaching the atmosphere of the Baptist church I was attending twenty years ago when I converted.

 

[JamTKD]

Well, careful not to be too judgmental either!

While it’s usually pretty easy to tell when Jack and Jill are just talking about work/ the latest sports game, some people might have a good reason for talking.

For instance, my girlfriend who went through RCIA and is now a fully initiated Catholic had never been to a Mass when we met last year. During/before Mass I would sometimes see her looking very confused, and I would explain what was happening. Sometimes before Mass I would explain what the pictures meant, what the tabernacle was, etc.

 

[Zooman77]

Personally at my parish, I can barely focus on the mass, but I do my best, because everyone is whispering to each other, someones phone rings, someone is reading to their kids, kids are running around yelling and screaming, the usher are having a conversation, etc. And this is all happening DURING the mass. I think all to often people seem to think that as long as they show up at mass they have fulfilled their sacrifice and obligation. I am planning on writing an editorial in the local catholic newspaper addressing this.

 

[Brendan_64]

I think all to often people seem to think that as long as they show up at mass they have fulfilled their sacrifice and obligation.

I think it’s just a symptom of the general mind-set of how people live today. People tend to think that what matters is what they want, that they are entitled, that others are obliged to tolerate them, that they have as much right to act as they please, that their feelings are of prime importance, etc. People isolate themselves in their own (and their own family’s) individualism to the point that to them that is what matters, and other people around them are subsidiary to their needs and wants.