The “Curse” of the Cell Phone (and/or Mobile Device)

 

Dear Parishioners,

I have a favorite statement about the use of technology in modern society: Technology is wonderful . . . when it works! Unfortunately, I have increasingly been questioning technology’s overall advantages, practically on a daily basis.

Having been one of the first to embrace various dimensions of the rapidly changing techno-sphere, I am ever weighing benefits vs. risks when it comes to the use of technology, the internet, AI (artificial intelligence), etc. It all began with such objects as a “bag phone” in my car, my first AOL account, and various types of desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones over the years. I had a device around my wrist to monitor my heart rate, inserted ear buds when at the gym and when commuting, configured security cameras inside and outside of my rectory, find Alexa waiting and listening for my every command, etc. You get the picture?

It is all so good? Has society been irreparably changed or damaged by these advances in technology into the foreseeable future? Let me point out a few observations from my perspective as a priest.

I dare say far too many people spend more time on their devices than they would ever give to prayer, meditation or worship of God. People are glued to such devices. They are an appendage to the body. To think such things did not even exist when I was a teenager. Now there is hardly a teenager or child who has not been raised on them!

People are on their apparatuses in restaurants, around the dinner table, when driving, when in church, when walking or exercising, when in the bathroom, when in bed, etc. We get pictures of what someone is eating, where they are vacationing, what their body looks like, who they are with, and some of the possibly questionable activities in which they may be involved. YouTube, Instagram, Rumble, Google, TikTok, Facebook, and Wikipedia are just some of the familiar terms used in most households. We have an app for everything. We can’t think or calculate without a gadget. We can’t locate a place or drive without some device giving directions. We are even encouraged to pray using an app such as Hallow.

How about some truly evil aspects of technology? Pornography has directly penetrated many households. People with addictive behaviors can become dependent on gambling or betting apps. Dating apps can provide hookups for people looking for casual sexual encounters. Narcissists, perverts and sociopaths can even attempt to post their evil deeds for all the world to see!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already revealing how someone’s voice or image can be replicated, having the person apparently say or do something that is blatantly false. What is real or what is fake becomes harder and harder to discern.

Yes, there are those (including myself) who try to promote the Gospel message through the internet. I have a blog, YouTube and Rumble channels. I use Facebook and occasionally X (formerly Twitter). Mea culpa.

With much, much more to reflect on with time, I currently ask one important thing of all of you. Please silence your cell pones and devices while in church. We request this at the beginning of Mass week after week. Signs are posted as you enter the chapel. As a priest, I am trying to escape the world for a time and offer a sacrifice to Almighty God. The ringing of the phone is not meant to be part of the worship of God and it distracts from the lifting of the heart and mind to God. It is a most unwanted distraction that can and should be prevented and eliminated during Holy Mass. 

Thank you.

Enough said for now.

Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor

“There is No Vacation from God”

Miami Beach (as seen from the ship)

Dear Parishioners,

As a teacher I told my students hundreds of times that there is no vacation from God—especially during their summer and holiday breaks.  Now I find myself with my mom on a brief Caribbean cruise while trying to maintain some semblance of a prayer life.  Last year I took a cruise while working as a chaplain for the ship.  Mass was built into the daily schedule as an option for the passengers during their cruise vacation on that particular cruise line.  However, this year I am simply another passenger on another cruise line that does not offer their guests the opportunity of a Catholic Mass each day.

Really it is not that big of an issue for my mom and me.  I inevitably pack a small “Mass kit” which enables me to offer Mass no matter where I am.  Mass this past Sunday was celebrated privately in our cabin, as it was the other days of our cruise.  However, I thought about the other guests on board—approximately 4000 of them—and realized that there was no such opportunity for them while at sea to attend even Sunday Mass.  (I did note, however, that an “Episcopalian Mass Service” was listed in the itinerary for Sunday.)

Maybe I’m strange, but if I were not a priest, this would be an important consideration for me as part of my vacation.  I would want to travel where God was not something of an afterthought.  If one cruise line offers a Catholic chaplain daily and another does not, I should probably consider choosing the one offering me the possibility for some spiritual nourishment.  After all, no matter what cruise line, there is inevitably plenty of food to eat, enough excursions to keep a person constantly on the go, entertainment galore, and an immense ship providing just about every amenity that you can imagine.  Would it be too much to ask that a Catholic chaplain be provided as part of the cruise, when possible?  Various cruise lines have obviously found a way to do this since I had participated in such a program just last year.  In fact, I witnessed sincere gratitude by passengers and crew who were both glad that I was there to offer Mass for them.

 

I am also sad to report that I could not locate even an interdenominational chapel on this newest of cruise ships as I have found on other older ships and on other cruise lines.  My current ship boasts of a seemingly endless number of possibilities available to keep a person on the verge of being gluttonous, pampered and entertained.  To me this is a sad indication of the secular, materialistic world in which we live.  Apparently, there is simply no place and very minimal time (if any) for God.

If we want to be a seriously devout, prayerful Catholic (Christian), it involves basic things such as starting and ending each day with prayer, praying during meals, finding sometime during the day to be quiet and reflective, reading the Scriptures, and attending Mass minimally each Saturday evening / Sunday—even on vacation.  I can see, however, how hard it can be even for a priest to maintain something of a prayerful routine while on vacation.

Be assured that even when I am away, you are remembered in my thoughts, prayers and Masses (in the cabin!).

Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor

Worship is . . .

Dear Parishioners,

When I look out into the congregation each week at Mass, I don’t know what’s going through your minds, what kind of a day you’ve had, if you have just finished working a double shift, if the baby kept you up all night, or if you just had an argument with your husband or wife.  I realize that we all come to Mass from different places with varying backgrounds and multiple levels of understanding.  Hopefully, however, we enter the church building with a singular purpose in mind:  to worship God.

Despite the many other things that we may “experience” in church—from the music, to the preaching, to the fellowship—we are ultimately present to worship God.

Since I was born in 1960, I was not raised with the customs, traditions and rituals present in the Mass before the Second Vatican Council.  I heard stories of grandma praying her rosary while the priest did what he did at the altar with his back to the people.  When I was old enough to begin to understand what was going on in church, the altars were being moved from the walls, the priest now faced the people, the liturgy was in the vernacular, and the congregation was invited to sing, to interact, and to participate more fully.

In either scenario, I believe that we were still there to worship God.

This brings me to my current point.  In order to worship God, it involves an act of the will.  In our contemporary understanding of the liturgy, worship seems to imply some kind of active participation and not just a passive being there.  The religious sister who taught me in eighth grade used to comment that we looked like bumps on a log when we just sat there and did nothing.  (Bumps on a log—never quite forgot that expression.)

In order to give God our all at Mass, I think a few questions are pertinent:  When we come to Mass, do we make a conscious effort to worship God?  How actively do we participate during Mass?  Do we make the responses?  Do we see the Mass as a prayer?  Do we attempt to sing?  Do we put our heart, mind, soul and strength (See Mk. 12:30) into our humble attempt to worship God?

Please don’t get me wrong.  I am very happy whenever you come to Mass.  Each week, however, I subconsciously long for those packed Masses like we see during Christmas and Easter.  I want to see vibrant congregations with active participation.  Above all else, I genuinely desire all of us to fall more passionately in love with Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As a priest, I am acutely aware that I stand in persona Christi at Mass (and in the other sacraments) and all that I have is because of Christ Jesus and what I do is for Christ Jesus.  True worship really has very little to do with me personally and my particular wants and desires.  Worship that is fitting and proper has everything to do with the love and adoration that we give the persons of the Divine Trinity.  True worship expresses our love and gratitude to Jesus who suffered and died on the cross for you and me.

We are privileged as Catholics to worship God freely in our society.  God certainly deserves our very best attempt.

 

I think that God warrants a much better job than what those bumps on the log can do.

Fr. Ed Namiotka

Pastor