More parish should include projectors

[Prodigal1984]

Or we could just read the hymns and read the missals…
I can’t stand churches that do that, they ruin the atmosphere.

 

[twf]

My local parish uses them. (The cathedral parish I also frequent does not). I hate them. I can see the utilitarian aspect but I think it’s tacky and Protestant megachurchy. They also clash with traditional sacred architecture.

 

[Phemie]

I loathe projectors at Mass! Luckily I only have to endure that when I visit our daughter at Christmas and summer.

 

[CRV]

Projectors at Mass - dreadful, strongly dislike them. I’m wondering if perhaps they were the cheaper option compared to buying upteen hymn books and print laminated sheets with the various prayers as occurred back in 2011 when certain changes etc came in? As well as perhaps to encourage everyone to participate with the responses & hymns, as I don’t see many people with missals at the OF Masses I’ve been to, including my Cathedral.

Whilst parishes print the readings etc in their newsletters including the Cathedral, I hardly see anyone taking a sheet and using it during Mass - perhaps the use of projector screens had hoped to combat this as well.
The OF Masses I’ve been to where the parish used a projector screen, there wasn’t a noticeable increase in participation either. Some people will participate vocally, and others won’t regardless of screens/newsletters/missals/hymn books.

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

I wonder if we are giving this a fair shake. I have expresssed my dislike for screens much like the majority of this thread, but I’m sure air conditioning, plenty of instruments, even pews were all once held in such suspicion in a church setting. Maybe guidelines for acceptable use will emerge.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Mass is not about audiovisual gadgetry. We’re supposed to be focusing on Jesus up there on the altar, not on some slideshow.

If you need to follow the words of a hymn, there’s generally a hymnal in the pew.

I can “follow the Mass theme” just fine by thinking about it. I don’t need to watch a movie of it.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I would only like it if they have a bouncing ball to keep me on track.

And some karaoke…

I hope before the Mass they would show the funny little movie about silencing your cell phone and being quiet while in the theater, er I mean the church. Maybe they could advertise the donuts and coffee happening afterward with a dancing cartoon donut.

 

[Irishmom2]

People that won’t take a sheet of paper, or won’t pick up a missal are not going to use the screen to participate. And not everyone is going to be able to see the screen, whether due to their eyesight, or the tall person seated in front of them is blocking their view.

They are just another try at convincing people that they are with the times, when most people are happy with the way it’s always been. We do not attend mass to be entertained or to see videos.

 

[Joe_5859]

I wonder if we are giving this a fair shake. I have expresssed my dislike for screens much like the majority of this thread, but I’m sure air conditioning, plenty of instruments, even pews were all once held in such suspicion in a church setting. Maybe guidelines for acceptable use will emerge.

I think that’s fair. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan, but I think it can be done well, and screen placement can be unobtrusive depending on the architecture of the Church.

I got used to dual screens at my alma mater as the all school Masses had to be in the gym. It wasn’t really distracting, and it was helpful to see the lyrics and even to see the celebrant when you were way in the back. But then, we were in a gym.

There is another parish I used to go to that had a screen which was stowed away behind some of the stone work in the sanctuary most of the time, but it could be raised up when needed. It was a more modern building, but not in the bad way of being terribly ugly. It worked for the most part, though. It was off to the side, and didn’t look terribly out of place.

In my current parish, I don’t see where we would put a screen without it being a huge eyesore and woefully out of place. The diocesan appeal necessitates that we pull out a screen and projector once a year to play the bishop’s video. That’s plenty.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Many large cathedrals do have projectors or screens that are intended to allow those sitting in less-than-ideal seats to have a better view of the Mass at the very crowded Masses. I think that’s a great use of a projector. Especially since the good seats are often reserved for VIPs so there’s no chance of ordinary Catholics getting them.

Projectors have also been put to good use at Papal Masses, Papal audiences, etc. You can see the Pope closer and sometimes they project some words. I remember when St. Pope JPII appeared at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, they used the Jumbotron to show the Pope’s plane landing, and the Pope getting out of it, and getting into his car, and then they would periodically show us the car getting closer, and during the Mass they used it to show the Pope up close as most of us were quite a long way away from him.

However, I don’t see a need for a projector at the average parish Mass, and I shudder to think of a projector beaming the words to hymns, or views of nature, or whatever, above the sanctuary. It seems horribly Protestant. When I look above the sanctuary, I want to see a big crucifix there, or a big stained glass window of Our Lord, or something Catholic…not a projection screen showing some video. Not to mention that many parishes don’t exactly have a lot of technically adept people to run projectors and I can easily see people having trouble getting it to work, or it going haywire in the middle of Mass, etc.

 

[Titivillus]

However, I don’t see a need for a projector at the average parish Mass, and I shudder to think of a projector beaming the words to hymns, or views of nature, or whatever, above the sanctuary. It seems horribly Protestant. When I look above the sanctuary, I want to see a big crucifix there, or a big stained glass window of Our Lord, or something Catholic…not a projection screen showing some video. Not to mention that many parishes don’t exactly have a lot of technically adept people to run projectors and I can easily see people having trouble getting it to work, or it going haywire in the middle of Mass, etc.

I was thinking the same. I know A/V systems can be used well, under the direction of trained professionals. But there are too many ways for amateurs to foul them up.

I love churches adorned by beautiful stained glass, or frescoes, or statuary – But I’d probably love them less if those works were executed poorly.

I think we all remember this, from a few years ago

 

[Joe_5859]

[No message]

 

[maryjk]

Thanks, but no.

We seem to be training our children that they can only learn something if it is on a screen. Or that we can only attend something if we are entertained.

Neither is true.

Children can learn to read from a book. So when you bend your ear to them, reading the Creed from a book you can be just as excited, maybe more so than when they do it from a screen.

And if you don’t know the words to the prayers, pull out the missal and read along. You will get just as much satisfaction, if not more, than from reading the screen through the tall heads in front of you.

Believe me when I say, You can make it through an hour without staring at a screen. You really can.

 

[Usige]

I would only like it if they have a bouncing ball to keep me on track.

And some karaoke…

While that’s tongue in cheek, when I first was entering the Church we went to a parish that used to display not only hymn lyrics, but the Creed, Our Father, etc on two projection screens on the wall either side of the altar. Then didn’t have a bouncing ball, but they would bold the current phrase.

Luckily when they got a new pastor he stopped that practice. He said if you didn’t know the responses then to visit him in his office and he’d happily reeducated you. He also got the parish these new fangled things called hymnals.

 

[Weserthy]

I’m sorry but this is a terrible idea. I could maybe see the use at some super huge cathedral where the celebrant would be a tiny ant if you had a seat far away and it could be used to show the altar, but at the typical St. XYZ parish this would be very protestant in nature and would pollute what should be a reverent atmosphere. There’s no need for a parish to spend money on something like that when hymnals are widely available or responses/prayers can be cheaply printed on a card that can be placed in the pews.

 

[DisorientingSneeze]

Many large cathedrals do have projectors or screens that are intended to allow those sitting in less-than-ideal seats to have a better view of the Mass at the very crowded Masses.

Oh I forgot about that! If it weren’t for the screens I would not have been able to see my husband’s baptism. (There were 50 that day)

 

[Dougbro1]

Does anyone think it would be a valuable resource to have if possible?

I believe so. About a year ago, a donor donated enough money for my parish to buy a projector, and the priest at the time was supportive of this. But the projector didn’t arrive until a new priest was assigned to my church.
As it turned out, this priest was not supportive of the whole “projector” idea, and when the projector didn’t work, due to burnt light bulb, he didn’t want it fixed, which is sad, because my mom, who runs the choir, likes songs both old and new (appropriate for mass, of course), and can’t play the Mass-appropriate “new” songs.
I know a lot of you don’t like the idea, and don’t get me wrong, I don’t want the projector slides getting out of hand with weird transitions and backgrounds, but if the projection is just white words on a black background (or vice versa), I don’t see how it’s different from reading a hymnal, but on the wall, and with more songs.

 

[The_Old_Maid]

Three uses for the projector, three issues.

1. To give sight to those in view-obstructed seats. A bit Hollywood, but it happens. Certainly the least objectionable use, in my opinion.
2. For readings. So … if your bifocals aren’t in the perfect range, a screen won’t help. With a paper, you at least can hold it to the end of your arm until it comes into focus.
3. Hymns. I have never seen a church projector display both the verses AND THE FULL MUSICAL SCORE. Which means if you have never heard the hymn, you can’t sound it out; you’re hosed. Also, some of us, our voice simply does not bend that way. Which means if you’re not a soprano, you’re hosed. (Excuse the language. But it’s true.)

If you want a projector in church, you have to solve all three issues. Otherwise they become three problems.

(And yes, it is a little megachurchy. But how do we know that the OP’s church isn’t huge enough to consider it?)

Personally don’t care for it, though.

 

[JMMJ]

I don’t have a problem with it. It can be helpful to a lot of people. Keeping your nose stuck in the a book to follow along means you can miss a lot. For people whose first language isn’t the one in which the Mass is being said, those with learning disabilities or other disabilities, children, older people who can’t hear as well as they would like, etc… These are just a few examples of people for whom a screen would greatly enhance their experience and make the Mass more meaningful to them.

I really don’t understand those who are so hung up on tradition, etc. A projector is nothing more than an aid. For some people, it can make a huge difference.

 

[maryjk]

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So where would you project in this church? Anywhere other than the front, in general, would have people staring away from the altar and Jesus. But the front of this church doesn’t have any open space.