“Can you hear me now?”
Yes, and apparently, that’s the problem.
Father Michele Madonna is no Luddite, but he’s had it with cell phones in church.
What’s a priest a to do when signs and polite requests don’t work?
He buys a cell phone jammer.
Now, no one’s talking in church. This may sound extreme, but to Father Madonna, it’s the final step in a progression of rudeness. When the trend of receiving phone calls in church began, the guilty parties would turn their phones off with a modicum of sheepishness and regret. However, more recently, Father Madonna claims that his congregants not only neglect to turn their phones off but actually answer them and begin to talk in church!
Now, I’ve never seen that, so I can’t speak from experience. However, that would greatly frustrate me—should it ever happen.
Does your church have a problem with congregants conversing on their phones in church?
Is using a cell phone jammer going too far to keep congregants respectfully engaged?
[via CNET | Snowy church image via Alain Bachellier via Compfight cc]
Mickey says
Cell phone jammers are illegal in the US, so the question doesn’t apply to most of us, but it’s interesting nonetheless. Like you, I’ve heard the occasional ringer in church, but have never seen anyone answer it.
However, our church has a lot people that use phones/tablets as their Bible (myself included). It’d be quite counterproductive to “jam” those…
Phil Schneider says
Mickey, you’re entirely right. It’s more of a theoretical discussion than anything else. As a former youth pastor, I’d love to be able to selectively jam the phones of the tweens texting during service.