By EMMANUEL GANDU
The church became the leading force in research and development of science and technology with the intention to aid humanity live meaningfully in this world, and in the pursuit of truth, faith and worship of God. Technology and the media therefore became the means of creating efficiencies so that more time might be devoted to prayer and worship.
As technology and media developed and grew to sophistication, it became clear that the science and art was capable of contributing to improved lifestyles for humans to the enhancement of proper and effective worship of God.
However, some schools of thought argue that the introduction of modern technology has rather led to some level of neglect of the solemn worship of God during church service/Mass.
Therefore, the following posers may serve as food for thought in order to provoke further discourse :
1. Is the use of modern technology like cellphones, monitor screen, and other media as medium of communication during church service/Mass helped man to know and worship God better ?
2. Should the church seek to re capture/revive the spirit of those medieval times of strict compliance against the “opening of windows for fresh air allowed in Vatican II ?
3. How can the modern church effectively engage technology and media with both an inward and outward focus while still in compliance with God’s plan ?
4. Was technology made for man or man made for technology ?
5. Have the use of modern technology/media in the church enabled man to distinguish between entertainment and encountering God through solemn worship ?
6. Should the church plunge the message of Christ into a vibrant, ambitious and futuristic blend or be digitally impotent ?
7. Should the message of God through the voice of the church be proclaimed from the laptops, palm tops, tablets, cellphones or how ?
8. Jesus of Nazareth used images like birds, trees, clouds, sheep and shepard, mountains and valleys, rivers and seas and fishes and boats, coins, etc to pass on his messages. He used parables as his medium of communication. With the attendant distractions associated with the new media, if Jesus comes back today will he prefer to use cellphones and other modern communication gadgets as his medium of communication in our churches during service/Mass in place of what he used back then ?
If Yes, how? If No, why not ?
EVOLUTION OF COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA TECHNOLOGY IN CHRISTENDOM – THE HISTORY
When Jesus told his apostles to “…go and make disciples of all nations” – Matthew 28:19, his apostles, then disciples multiplied and were able to reach out to far more people than Jesus could if he had tried to connect to everyone by himself. This was made possible by the use of various forms of media of communication leading from then up to the present day technology in christendom.
However, the use of “media” to spread God’s message dates as far back as the creation of man.
Interestingly, God used his voice to communicate to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden – Gen. 3 – 8 – 19, used his voice to communicate to Moses and Abraham at several times.
God delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses on a piece of rock – Exodud 20
We know that the Bible reveals to us a God who uses all sorts of media to get his messages across. From pillars of fire and clouds – Exodus 13 and 14, to bright stars, from burning bushes – Exodus 3 and 4, to a talking donkey – Numbers 22 : 22 – 33. What of the bronze serpent – Nimbers 21 : 4 – 9, the striking of the rock – Numbers 20 : 7 – 13, rainbow to signal his covenant with the people – Gen 9 : 8 – 17
As time went by, this medium of communication experienced their shortcomings. God recognised and appreciated these shortcomings and that is why according to scripture, God showered down a new medium of communication at specific times in order to spread his word. For example, God directed the use of clay tablets as a medium to record his messages in his vision to prophet Habakuk – “write down on clay tablets what I reveal to you – Habakuk 2 : 2 – 3.
Jesus came preaching from person to person, house to house, town to town. This type of close contact was constrained by time and space.
For her first one and a half thousand years, Christianity’s most effective medium of communication was hand copied messages and sacred writings on parchment, papyrus and scrolls.
Recall the series of Paul’s Letters and Epistles to the brethren in the various communities and towns.
Eventually, these hand copied prints formed books that transmitted the sacred writings of the Bible. These texts were used in the liturgy and were proclaimed at special religious gatherings in the early centuries. At that time, Christians would gather as a community where a learned one among them would read aloud the scripture for them to listen, and then absorb the message.
By the 15th. century a major breakthrough in communication was achieved. This is the invention of printing technology. With this technology the Bible and other religious manuscripts/texts were easily mass produced, copied and disseminated across the world. This shifted the focus of christianitity from listening to reading, from the gathering of people in one location to listen to individuality, and from concrete images to abstract theology.
There came 1570 when the first universal Roman Catholic Missal was commissioned by the council of Trent and published by Pope Pius V. Following this publication, other religious documents presented themselves as medium of communication. They included bulletins where parts of the Bible text reflecting the selected readings were serialized for sunday/daily liturgy.
The Radio as a channel/medium of communication entered the scene in 1895. By 1930 the Catholic Church was one of the first to harness this medium for evangelisation. This was spearheaded by Fulton Sheen in his weekly ‘Catholic Hour Programme on American air waves.
Television was invented in 1925, and this enhanced the efforts of evangelisation through broadcast television programmes. By 1981 Mother Angelica debuted in the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). This network’s early programming was broadcast from a garage at Our Lady of the Angels Monastry in Alabama USA. Today, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world, reaching more than 200 million homes in over 145 countries.
As if all these revolutionary evolution in communication was not enough, the digital revolution came with a bang. Greatly assisted by advances in computer and software technology, the digital sector became another major communication discovery in Christendom, making it easier for the Bible and other religious books/texts to transit from hard copy to soft copy, thereby enhancing their uploading and downloading on mobile devices to homes, public, and worship places.
This digital revolution sparked by the advent of the internet and its World Wide Web (www), having the Vatican creating one of the Internet’s earliest sites in 1995, becoming very popular.
The early 21st. century witnessed the introduction of blogs, social media, text messaging, and e-mail using the interconnectivity of the web.
By 2004 Facebook came on stream, while 2005 was the turn of YouTube. These were made very effective by powerful search engines giants like Google, Yahoo, AOL, and Bing.
One year after YouTube, the world witnessed the enyry of Twitter. Instagram came in 2010.
At the 43rd World Communication day in 2009 Pope Benedict XVI encauraged Catholics to boldly enter the “digital continent” as he did to open a twitter account despite being over 80 years old.
According to a survey reported by the Daily Mail, His Holiness Pope Francis was then said to be the most influential twitter in the world, beating President Barrack Obama to second place. Pope Francis tweets are published in Spanish, English, French, German, Arabic, Portuguese, Polish and Latin.
Therefore, the use of media and communication technology in christendom really have come a long way, and effectively too.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE USE OF CELLPHONES IN CHURCH DURING SERVICE/MASS
(1)The cellphone is not a sacramental :
Cellphone does not qualify as a sacramental. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), “the Holy Mother Church has…..instituted sacramentals which are sacred signs that bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects ….of spiritual nature which are obtained through the intercession of the church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effects….and various occasions in life are rendered holy.” – CCC 1667
When a Priest blesses sacramentals which include annointing oil, prayer book, Bible, rosary, crucifixes and crosses, holy cards, statues, candles, scapular, holy water, medals, palms, and ashes, he is consecrating and preserving these materials for liturgical/spiritual use, and are therefore protected against, and withdrawn from the undue power and dominion of the evil one. Sacramentals prepare, concentrate on, and presents christians the grace and opportunity to receive the fruits of the 7 sacraments.
Therefore, “sacramentals are instituted for the sanctification of certain ministries of the church, certain states of life, a great variety of circumstances in christian life, and the use of many things helpful to man. In accordance with the Bishops’ pastoral decisions, they can also respond to the needs, culture and special history of the christian people of a particular region or time.” – CCC 1668.
By the authority enshrined and contained in the foregoing background information, you can now realise that the Cellphone does not qualify as a sacramental, it is not yet approved by the Bishops’ pastoral decisions, and therefore cannot be used in church during Mass.
(2) Use of cellphone in church may lead one to temptation :
The phone as a social media device even allows unwanted messages of all kinds to be delivered even if unsolicited. They may also carry some one away from Godly disposistion to cause one to sin.
If it’s true that one may be able to access a free Bible on ones phone device through an App, it’s equally possible that one can afford to buy a normal paper Bible.
We should bear in mind that for every one benefit of reading the Bible from the phone, there are ten temptations alongside. Yes, we have christian freedom to decide whether to use our phone in church, but as Paul reminds us :
“We are allowed to do anything, so they say. That is true, but not everything is good. We are allowed to do anything, but not everything is helpful.” – 1 Cor. 10 : 23
(3) To avoid divided attention :
Church is where we come together as a family of beleivers to worship God in truth and spirit through words of exultation, songs of praise, adoration, and deeds in solemnity.
The interpretation in the first stanza of Isaac Watts song of Psalms 122 where it speaks of the joy of the Christian to come to the presence of God in church says it all – :
“How pleased and blessed was I.
To hear the people cry.
Come let us seek our God today.
Yes, with chearful zeal.
We haste to Zion’s hill.
And there our vous and homage pay.”
As pilgrims seeking God’s face, we should come to church with undivided attention and avoid anything that would distract us from paying full attention to the worship.
(4) Keeps you away from phonography/impurity :
Not using cellphone during Church service/Mass keeps one away from unnecesssary phonographic content that may pop up from unwanted sources. This may likely unconsciously make you to view the obscene message(s) while in church. Accordingly, scriptures cautions us about this so that we guard our eyes, hearts and mouths against words, images, or videos that may be impure and a dishonour to God – “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” – Ephesians 4 : 29
(5) Don’t be a slave to social media/digital addiction :
Modern technology is making humans become increasingly addicted to social media.
According to the ‘Premium Times’ publication of 8th. November 2017, Pope Francis warned Catholics that the “use of Cellphones during Mass is very ugly thing.”
The Pope went on to emphasise that the “use of the phone during Mass is a no-no.” “Mass is for the lifting of hearts, not lifting of phones.”
In another meeting with youths/students the Pope admonished them – “Don’t be slaves to your mobile phones….”
(6) Giving reverence to the things of God :
If we are banned by human laws/exigencies and we always comply because of fear of punishment/payment of fine in the following instances :
(a) Not to use phones while driving.
(b) Not to take calls while in corporate meeting.
(c) Not to use phone while in a highly flamable environmemt.
(d) Not to use phone in a restricted military zone.
(e) Not to allow phones close to infants due to the damaging effect of radiation that may cause cancer/brain damage, etc etc, why then should anyone find it difficult to comply with the instruction not to use cellphone in church during service/Mass ?
(7) Not using phone in church allows one to have quality fellowship with other church members :
While busy with your phone in church during Mass, you may be a source of distraction not only to yourself but other faithfuls. You are, and can be physically present in the church but mentally and spiritually absent. This way, you miss the opportunity to be a blessing to those siting around you in church. Please do well to live the phone behind while going to church – after all, it’s just for a few hours.
(8) Not using handset in church shows how serious and responsible Christians that we are :
Church business is serious business. One should regard church service/Mass as a moment dedicated to God and not an entertainment party. This means that we should be unavailable to our cellphones and rather be available to our paper Bibles.
Yes, the electronic Bible in our phones allows us to have access to an array of versions of the Bible. No problems with that, but it should be used for research, cross references, and limited to private study or public presentation outside the Mass.
One may have to bear in mind that not using cellphone in the church is an indication of practical christianity. Remember that the phone is not a dedicated gadget for a one-line item. It is made to contain so many items and multi media, not just scriptuure like the hard copy paper Bible.
(9) Use of cellphone in church shifs focus away from God :
Christians may have to realize that the use of the media and cellphones in church during Mass makes worship captivating, enriching, and an enjoyable experience. However, this trend can be detrimental, and could turn what should be prayer and solemn worship into mere entertainment to be enjoyed on face value. Consequently, the focus would have been shifted away, and we would have lost sight of God and solemn worship.
(10) Handset in church is an impediment to serving God :
There is no verse in the Bible that says “Thou Shall Not Use thy Cellphone during church service/Mass.” However, a sign of christian maturity is a deepning desire to remove every impediment to our worship of God. Unfortunately, for many of the present generation, the cellphone is increasingly becoming that impediment.
This brings us to begin to hope that if Moses ressurects today, he may have to go back again up the Mount Sinai in order for God to give him the 11th. Commandment that will read – “Thou Shall Not Use the Cellphone during church worship.” – Cellphonians 6 : 15
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The use of media in our churches to preach the word of God in itself is not bad. However, it seems to have become a problem as it’s now become a substitute to the Bible. People have argued against the use of the new media technology including cellphones. Meanwhile, proponents of the social media are in support of the digital addiction, hinging their arguments on the fact that the use of these modern mediums of communication/devices goes a long way towards encouraging and keeping the younger generation going to church, since according to that argument, if the use of modern media and cellphones is banned in church, the youths will leave the church, as in their arguments, a church without the youths is a church without a future.
Interestingly, throughout history the church recognized the power and potency of the evolving media for effective evangelization. She tried but unable to curb the attendant negative influence arising from wrong application in some instances.
Said and done, if the use of modern media in evangelization from creation by past and present church leadership and the laity is anything to go by, the embrace is undeniably endemic, epidemically infectious, and has come to stay.
Therefore, if the church’s promotion of evangelization, formation, community worship, and the common good is to continue through future generstions, she must harness the most acceptable and effective usage of these mediums of communication.
Peace 🙏
16/2/2025
