Texting during Mass

  • Thread starter Thread starter Skylar24
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Reminds me of the time during a lecture by Father M when someone’s cell phone went off. To the tune of, “do you think I’m sexy…” the person looked rather 😊.
 
I’ve seen all sorts of things. Cell phones are a huge problem where I work (a church). I hear lots of little beeps through Mass (particularly one of the Masses) that tells me someone is probably using a cell phone. It seems hardly a Mass doesn’t go by without some ring tone going off, and as said, it’s usually a loud one. The person never shuts it off until about ten seconds have passed. I’ve seen (from the loft I can see a lot of things) people playing games, texting, browsing the internet, and just messing around with settings on their cell phones DURING Mass. And then there are the old people who think they are whispering to each other before Mass but are actually shouting a conversation that the entire congregation can hear.

So, yup, there are a lot of problems alright. I’m hoping if I close my eyes and ignore them they’ll go away. 😛

Of course, one of the biggest distractions to me came from the church itself. I believe it was Holy Thursday or Good Friday when I heard the bells start to ring out Jesus Christ is Risen Today. Now if that wasn’t misplaced!
 
Sadly I know that when I was spiritually ignorant of the importance of the Mass that I too wasn’t above the behavior of the girls in the OPs example. Thanks be to God that this is not the case anymore.

Like one poster said we don’t know where others are in their spiritual journey and so we should view our brothers and sisters in a positive light; forgive them Father for they know not what they do. We should pray that they open themselves up to Gods wisdom so there hearts and minds may be illuminated with the understanding of whats taking place before them. If they are being a distraction for us or others around us then we must inform them and ask them kindly if they could stop whatever it is they are doing. This is not rude of us to do or outside of charity. Being a distraction during Mass is no small offence against God and so likwise not doing anything to stop a distraction because we have a fear of human respect is also no small offence against God. It is our Christian duty to inform our brothers and sisters when something is wrong; however, after we have done this and the problem still continues then we must pray for them and offer our frustration up to God. If possible you could also move but only if this move won’t distract others around you.

Telling the priest is also a great idea so then he can tell the parish before mass to turn their electonic devices off or put them on vibrate.
 
I’ll say that it really bothers me. I’m 17 and I’ll admit that I text a lot, but NEVER during Mass.

mdrummer5, you have it down. It really is a slap in the face to God when anyone texts in Mass. I always silence my phone whenever I walk in. The church I go to has signs up asking for people to maintain a quiet reverence, but nothing specifically stating cell phones. There is a chapel at the mall near my house run by the Capuchin Franciscans that has a sign that says, “God may be calling you but not on your cell phone! Please turn it off.”

I always try to tell kids that Jesus was nailed to a cross and died so that you might be here today. The absolute LEAST you could do for Him is to give Him an hour of your time on Sunday and to not touch your phone. It really isn’t that hard.
 
I would think it is the fathers duty to address such an issue, and if that was compromised i would imagine our father in heaven would repay when necessary.

Happy easter
 
You may be interested in my Pastor’s attitude - last night, somebody’s cellphone rang right in the middle of his homily in the Easter Vigil. He stopped preaching, asked whose it was, then threatened to throw the phone in the holy water!
 
LOL @ the threat to throw the phone into the holy water!

About a minute before the celebrant enters the sanctuary, the lector gets up at the lectern and reminds people that we are in a house of prayer, and to please silence their cell phones or switch them to “vibrate.”

Some people do use some electronics for devotionals, though. There is an iBreviary app for iPhone and Blackberry, among other things. You can do the Missal on a Kindle or an iPad. But these folks tend to be discreet, and aren’t advertising their electronic devotion with all sorts of beeps.

How about some balanced member posting a sticky about church etiquette? Or maybe there is one, I haven’t checked recently.
 
A couple of years ago, our priest’s phone went off at during the readings at the Easter Vigil Mass! 😊
 
Every time I visit a church (even as a tourist outside of services of worship) I’m always checking my phone before I go in, paranoid it might go off. And I’m a confused agnostic 😉 I can’t imagine using a phone during Mass.

I remember once going round Frankfurt with a tour guide/historian (one of the classes during the summer school was walking around the city) who was always careful to take his hat off when we went into a church. He was very annoyed when one of the students answered her phones in one of the churches (I think Protestant).
 
Kevin812 said:
We have an announcement before every service which is (apparently) ignored by most people.

My favorite of unexpected cell phones ringing in Mass happened to one of the Readers during weekday mass. His ringer was of rooster crowing 😃 After almost 2 years, he hasn’t lived that on down.
Click to expand...
We also have an announcement before Mass. I cannot imagine wanting to reply to worldly messages during the Mass, but at least our parish takes it seriously.
 
During Vespers two Sundays ago one of the parishioner’s cell phone went off once, which the priest ignored. It went off a second time, and the priest lead us in about 30 seconds of silence. It went off a third time and, not missing a beat, the priest lead us in a full two minutes of silence which many of us spent giving the offender pointed looks. And since there were fewer than 30 of us at the service, there was no where for the woman to hide.

After Vespers we noticed the priest sought the woman out and was speaking to her in the side vestry.😃
 
Our church has posted signs clearing indicating cellular phones are not permitted. Unfortunately, it seems to have little effect on mass participants. 🤷
 
Solution?

I think it’s time for the Spanish Inquisition. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Okay, seriously…an announcement is made at the beginning of Mass to silence all cell phones, paigers (who has those things anymore), and not to text during Mass. So far, no phones have gone off or witnessed any teens texting. That seems strange.

Back to the Solution:

An inquisitor with the comfy chair.

(If you’re not a Monty Python fan, my apologies for the attempt at humor.)
 
Well, I think I’ve heard it all, now, in terms of strange electronic noises in church!

I went to Adoration and Mass this afternoon after work. All of a sudden, I heard, “turn right here, (and an unflattering invective.)” The voice was, of all things, Beavis and Butthead. And the sound was coming from one of the men in the congregation.

Then the device said, “Dude, I think you’re lost!”

Even a nun who goes to that Mass couldn’t help snickering as the poor guy ran out of church with the device, that kept telling him to “take the next exit, the right one, not the wrong one.” We all guffawed when it said, “head out on the highway!”

Turns out the guy had just bought a GPS system, and not feeling like setting it up himself, gave it to his twenty-something kid to set up. The son set it up and selected the voices of Beavis and Butthead! The guy didn’t want to leave it in the car, so put it in his pocket and went into church. He thought he had turned it off.

He was wrong. And very embarrassed!
 
Not quite the same thing but both my church and parish social centre (next door to the church) have wireless microphones. It’s not unknown for the social centre system to unexpectedly interfere with the speaker system in the church. In consequence we sometimes hear the speaker in the social centre coming through the loudspeakers in church - during Mass!
 
😃 Alright preacher! Woo!

We could use more priests like that. I also recommend people read the story of “The Castle of Otranto”. It puts the priests in the perfect position of a man of authority. Not a bad read, actually. Granted, it is a horror novel.

But I, too, concur beseeching the priest at that time to deal with the matter in a modest manner. Of course, I’ve got no problem seeing the priest kick the girls out. It might provide for a decent lesson on respect and humility. 😛

With blessings,
-MontChevalier
 
I’ve heard outside calls come through the church sound system before. Thankfully, it’s a rare occasion.

I think we’re just going to have to start setting up security checkpoints and make everyone turn in their wallets, cell phones, watches and keys before entering the church. In this way we can keep people from having cell phones ringing, jingling their keys, checking the time halfway during mass, and also we can increase the their donations to the church. Extra if the church accepts Visa/Mastercard!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top