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Entire families navigate their smart phones while sharing meals at restaurants. Students text in class. Parents take phone calls at their children's sporting events and plays.

It's no surprise that cell phones affect even church.

It has become common for parishes in the Albany Diocese to place blurbs in their bulletins about silencing cell phones and for lectors to make announcements about it before liturgies, reminding parishioners they're in a place of worship.

In some places, Mass-goers heed the notices - with a few exceptions for people who work in emergency fields or don't understand how to silence their phones. At other parishes, ringtones, texting or even taking calls during liturgies can distract the presider and the people in the pews.

Rev. Thomas Holmes, pastor of St. Henry's parish in Averill Park and St. Mary's in Nassau, gets so frustrated by poor technology etiquette at Mass that he joked about installing an electric dog fence around the churches - or at least a signal scrambler.

Turn it off
"Almost every weekend, somebody's cell phone goes off during Mass, oftentimes during the consecration," he said. "I often laugh, and it's a sarcastic laugh. I've said a couple of times, 'You've got to be kidding me.' I think they should be embarrassed."

There's a sign on the door of St. Henry's asking those who enter to turn their phones off. Father Holmes was puzzled and disappointed when he noticed someone had crossed out the words.

"It's disheartening," he said. "There's no reason for anybody to have their cell phone on in church."

He has spotted teenagers and young adults texting at Mass, but hasn't confronted anyone. Texting only distracts him if he notices it, but he still wishes it didn't happen at all in church.

"I've watched people walk into telephone poles while they're texting, so it doesn't surprise me" that it's hard to turn off the technology, he said. "People are attached. I've had parents tell me that their kids text each other while they're sitting next to each other on the couch.

"Overall, I think people should have a little more sense when it comes to their cell phones. They forget why they're [at church]. It's only an hour of their life."

Not even hymns
Cell phone interruptions happen less often at St. Vincent de Paul parish in Cobleskill, but parish leaders still make announcements - especially before weddings and funerals, or on holiday weekends that draw visitors.

"Our people know" not to use phones in church, said Sister Connie James, SND, parish life director. "Most people respect church. We've got a couple doctors and nurse practitioners, and every once in a while, you hear the vibrations [of their phones]. People understand that."

There was one time a phone went off during Mass and the owner protested to Sister Connie, "But it plays 'When the Saints Go Marching In!'"

The parish life director responded, "I don't care if it plays 'Ave Maria.' Turn it off."

Sister Connie said she has a reputation for warning young parishioners who hang out at the parish after school to turn off their phones when they approach her office. The pervasiveness of technology - among youth and adults alike - scares her.

"People are losing touch with communication skills," she said. "It's so endemic that people don't even think of [phones] being there. They become such appendages that people - not through ill will or ignorance - forget" at Mass.

"I don't think it's ever done maliciously," she added. "It's just a lapse."

Seeing the signs
Dorothy Sokol, parish life director at Our Lady of Grace parish in Ballston Lake, notices phones ringing and worshippers texting at Mass, despite signs in two different places and announcements cautioning against it. She said some people offend by accident, but she's distracted by it, especially when parents let toddlers play electronic games on their phones or other devices - "I guess because I'm such a visual person."

Some parishioners follow along with the readings for the Mass on tablets and phones, which is fine with the PLD. "There is a place for [that]," she said.

As for texting, "People have to be conscious that they're in church to pray with a community and to try, if possible, to put the distractions away."

She's not sure how to handle teenagers she's seen texting repeatedly.

"What do you say?" she wondered. "Do you give the teenager grief when the parents are sitting right next to them and not saying anything? The last thing I want is for them to stop coming. You have to figure out what's best. Unfortunately, asking, 'What would Jesus do?' isn't a good question," because the Son of God didn't have a cell phone.

Thrown off
Rev. Richard Carlino, pastor of St. John the Evangelist and St. Anthony's parishes in Schenectady, calls himself a "strong endorser of silencing the cell phones." People cooperate for the most part, but some don't hear the announcements at the start of each Mass.

He makes jokes at the pulpit, like, "The [U.S. bishops' conference] pays people to turn their phones off," or, "If someone sitting next to you doesn't hear the announcement, gently poke them in the ribs."

"It throws my whole concentration off" when a phone rings during Mass, Father Carlino told The Evangelist. But "I don't think they do it maliciously."

In recent months, he's also had to talk to parishioners about texting - which he considers less distracting than a ringing phone, but "still a distraction from what they're supposed to be doing in church. Their mind is not on the Lord. There are exceptions, but the exceptions should be few."

On the other hand, "I'm happy they're there, even if they're doing stuff they shouldn't be."

Not happening here
At Christ Our Light parish in Loudonville, phones generally aren't a problem, though a ringer did interrupt parish life director Deacon Dick Thiesen as he proclaimed the Gospel once. He's also seen parents texting during their children's confirmations.

Andrea Freeman, office manager at St. Matthew's in Voorheesville, saw someone texting at a wake, but said otherwise, it doesn't happen there often. The same is true for St. Mary's in Ballston Spa, Holy Trinity in Hudson/Germantown or St. Michael the Archangel in Troy, but announcements about phones are still made.

Remarked Sister Katherine Arseneau, CSJ, parish life director of St. Michael's: "I'm glad it's not a problem."[[In-content Ad]]

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