Question for those who attend the TLM: do you now or would you feel comfortable using an electronic missal (like iMass) at Mass? I’ve read some people say that it’s not appropriate for Mass and can be distracting to others. Unless the brightness on the device is high, I don’t see any reason why it would not be appropriate. Thoughts?
It’s not inappropriate to use such aids like iMass to help you worship better at a Mass that you attend. But I personally would be more apprehensive in using an e-missal, especially one on my smartphone, at a regular Mass in ordinary form than at a Tridentine Latin Mass.
The reason is this: the problem of staring at one’s smartphone during Mass, even though one is just following the Mass using an app like iMissal, is that it could give the WRONG impression to fellow worshipers who might NOT be as strong and disciplined in their worship at Mass as you. They might misconstrue that’s okay to use THEIR smartphones to read and send text messages, check out what’s happening on Facebook or Snapchat, or do other very inappropriate activities on their smartphones during Mass.
I see this as a real problem at a regular Mass because there are probably a lot more people who attend the Mass who aren’t as well catechized about how to behave at a Mass. This would most likely be far less of a concern at a Tridentine Latin Mass.
It’s because of this concern of possibly leading astray (inadvertently) some of my fellow worshipers at Mass why I’ve switched from using an app, like iMissal, on my smartphone while attending a weekday Mass and instead bought and now use a compact weekday Missal.
The one I bought is this one (both Volumes I and II) from Catholic Book Publishing:
http://www.catholicbookpublishing.com/products/973 and now keep it in the glovebox of my car so it’s always with me when I attend Mass at any church. I’ll take it with me when I go on trips too.