No projectors allowed?

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tomch

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I came from a small Baptist church, where the songs and sermon notes were projected to a screen at the front of the church. This made it easy for us to follow the order of the service.

I recently converted to the Catholic faith, where we use the Missals to follow the order of service. However, not ALL of the responses and Creeds are listed in the Missal, so I find myself totally lost on occasion! My new Catholic parish is HUGE… 2,400 families… and they have several projectors, but they do not use them for normal services.

I know that we wouldn’t want to show disrespect in the service by covering up the tabernacle or the crucifix with a projection screen, but is there a reason why the order of the service (and Creeds and such) could not be projected on a side wall or something for us “newbies?”

Just curious… 🙂
 
tomch said:
I came from a small Baptist church, where the songs and sermon notes were projected to a screen at the front of the church. This made it easy for us to follow the order of the service.

I recently converted to the Catholic faith, where we use the Missals to follow the order of service. However, not ALL of the responses and Creeds are listed in the Missal, so I find myself totally lost on occasion! My new Catholic parish is HUGE… 2,400 families… and they have several projectors, but they do not use them for normal services.

I know that we wouldn’t want to show disrespect in the service by covering up the tabernacle or the crucifix with a projection screen, but is there a reason why the order of the service (and Creeds and such) could not be projected on a side wall or something for us “newbies?”

Just curious… 🙂
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All the responses are available in print. Your Sponsor should be going to Mass with you and showing you where to find them. In addition there should be additional sessions during Mystagogy explaining the Roman Rite of the Mass.
 
I spent the weekend visiting family in central California and the parish I attended had two huge rear-projection screens built into the wall on either side of the sanctuary. Throughout the Mass, the lyrics of the songs (all of which were modern, unmelodic, hard to sing, and theologically vacant) were projected onto the screens. About halfway through Mass, the computer malfunctioned and Microsoft Windows warning screens popped up every few seconds, which the AV operator repeatedly dragged off the screen. He finally shut it off and the screens displayed a blue desktop pattern. It was very distracting and, frankly, an archtitectural eyesore.
 
Cavaille-Coll said:
I spent the weekend visiting family in central California and the parish I attended had two huge rear-projection screens built into the wall on either side of the sanctuary. Throughout the Mass, the lyrics of the songs (all of which were modern, unmelodic, hard to sing, and theologically vacant) were projected onto the screens. About halfway through Mass, the computer malfunctioned and Microsoft Windows warning screens popped up every few seconds, which the AV operator repeatedly dragged off the screen. He finally shut it off and the screens displayed a blue desktop pattern. It was very distracting and, frankly, an archtitectural eyesore.
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Ahhh… the joys of modern technology!

Okay… you’ve convinced me! After reading your posts, I agree that it’s probably best to not display the creeds / order of service on a screen. This could be a distraction to many. Besides that, it is almost an encouragement to mindlessly read the words, and NOT to commit them to memory.

In the Protestant world, there’s often a tendency to emulate the “Mega-churches”, which often have such gimmicks. Some gimmicks are good, and others are not so good. From my Baptist experience, the audio-visual system (which was very expensive) almost encourages a form of “spiritual entertainment” rather than worship.
 
I always hesitate to post where senior and very astute posters have come before (meant seriously, not sarcastically), but isn’t the problem the dreaded Sunday non-order-of-service? Four pages of advertisements, which in the US is the norm even for most cathedrals, does not constitute an order of service. If you had either the exact text (with music if called for) or an exact reference to another source such as a hymnal, no one would be confused. In the last church where I was a paid organist (not Catholic–sorry), they didn’t even assume that everyone knew the text of the Our Father. But having as a priority paid advertisng from the liquor store down the street is not going to be productive in this direction.
 
jbuck919 said:
I always hesitate to post where senior and very astute posters have come before (meant seriously, not sarcastically), but isn’t the problem the dreaded Sunday non-order-of-service? Four pages of advertisements, which in the US is the norm even for most cathedrals, does not constitute an order of service. If you had either the exact text (with music if called for) or an exact reference to another source such as a hymnal, no one would be confused. In the last church where I was a paid organist (not Catholic–sorry), they didn’t even assume that everyone knew the text of the Our Father. But having as a priority paid advertisng from the liquor store down the street is not going to be productive in this direction.
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At our parish the bulletin (complete with just a page and a half of ads, none of which are for liquor stores) has NO information at all about the Mass one is attending. It is not meant to. It is meant to be information about the events happening in the parish during the upcoming week.

The missals in the pews are the directions for what happens during Mass. They are printed on cheap newsprint and have nasty plastic covers, but they work. Yes, you have to flip pages to go from the Propers to the Commons and back, but I usually do that for my guests at Mass. Of course, those folks who attend a Mass without a practicing Catholic won’t always know the correct responses, but they can watch and listen and still gain something.

I don’t like the projected words. I makes me feel like I’m at an office presentation.
 
Sr_Sally said:
At our parish the bulletin (complete with just a page and a half of ads, none of which are for liquor stores) has NO information at all about the Mass one is attending. It is not meant to. It is meant to be information about the events happening in the parish during the upcoming week.
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I’m aware of that, as I am aware of the fact that it is unsatisfactory for the Sunday bulletin in a country with high literacy to limit itself to announcing the next meeting of the Altar Rosary Society while it ignores the basics of morning worship. No other mainstream denomination in the US uses its Sunday bulletin in this misbegotten fashion. I suppose I was exaggerating a bit about liquor store ads, but when I was a teen, the CYO would raffle off a “basket of joy,” and it hasn’t been so long since I’ve smelled distinct morning-after smells on the premises.
 
tomch said:
I came from a small Baptist church, where the songs and sermon notes were projected to a screen at the front of the church. This made it easy for us to follow the order of the service.

I recently converted to the Catholic faith, where we use the Missals to follow the order of service. However, not ALL of the responses and Creeds are listed in the Missal, so I find myself totally lost on occasion! My new Catholic parish is HUGE… 2,400 families… and they have several projectors, but they do not use them for normal services.

I know that we wouldn’t want to show disrespect in the service by covering up the tabernacle or the crucifix with a projection screen, but is there a reason why the order of the service (and Creeds and such) could not be projected on a side wall or something for us “newbies?”

Just curious… 🙂
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I recommend that you invest in a good sunday missal. That way, you can look over the readings in advance for meditation, and you can use your own book (take it with you) and will be able to find your way around easily.
 
jbuck919 said:
I’m aware of that, as I am aware of the fact that it is unsatisfactory for the Sunday bulletin in a country with high literacy to limit itself to announcing the next meeting of the Altar Rosary Society while it ignores the basics of morning worship. No other mainstream denomination in the US uses its Sunday bulletin in this misbegotten fashion. I suppose I was exaggerating a bit about liquor store ads, but when I was a teen, the CYO would raffle off a “basket of joy,” and it hasn’t been so long since I’ve smelled distinct morning-after smells on the premises.
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Just because other churches have a different purpose for a document with the same name, doesn’t really mean anything. US parishes have traditionally had two different documents with two different purposes. As another poster said, having your own missal helps quite a bit. Then you can mark sections with tabs or something to help you flip between the common sections (said every Sunday) and the specific (proper) information for that Mass.
 
Sr_Sally said:
Just because other churches have a different purpose for a document with the same name, doesn’t really mean anything. US parishes have traditionally had two different documents with two different purposes. As another poster said, having your own missal helps quite a bit. Then you can mark sections with tabs or something to help you flip between the common sections (said every Sunday) and the specific (proper) information for that Mass.
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Other denominations have their equivalent of “missals” as well and do not consider them sufficient to guide people through a service. A classic clase would be the Anglican/Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. You can’t just put that together with a hymnal and a hymn board and expect anyone who is not an expert to know what is going on from minute to minute, even if exactly the same thing happens every Sunday. This is one of the reasons why the Catholic church, in the US anyway, has fallen into the ghastly habit of everything being orally announced or at best invited with gestures as it happens. I can read, thank you. I don’t need someone up there telling me as though I were the smallest child that “now we will say, now we will sing, now we will change our posture.”
 
I am not sure about the missal…but projecting the songs onto the wall are a very BIG NO NO. Very serious copyright issues come into play. I have heard of legal action by publishing companies that were upset by it. I believe Publishers only allow projecting their copywrited material if it has been paid for for the equivialent number of people in the pews. It is actually protection for thier business. An extememe example would be your 2400 family parish buying 10 Oregon Catholic Press copies of their music issues and then projecting them onto the wall or screen to save dollars spent on buying one for the whole parish…

People would be shocked at how often reps from church publications companies show up for SUnday Mass. Just last year I walked into Mass on Sunday morning and noticed a “newcomer” (small parish). Well the following monday evening this “newcomer” was present at our liturgy meeting. It turned out she was the company rep giving us a presentation on their music products and thier liturgical publications.
 
Bulletins are printed so announcements are not necessary. Here is my preference for starting Mass: Sanctuary bells! These wall-mounted bells eliminate that tedious babble from the cantor about welcoming the pastor or the dreaded “Hi, I’m Muffy and I’ll be your cantor today.” The sanctuary bell rings, the people stand, and the organist plays the hymn through completely for the introduction. Then the people sing ALL the verses of a good, orthodox hymn.

With regard to the last post, hymnal publishers take their copyrights very seriously and can be quite litiguous. A friend of mine was once very rudely threatened with a lawsuit by an OCP composer who happened to be present at the Mass where she was playing, because the copier had cut off the copyright line on the handouts.
 
J Buck back in the day when I was a Calvinist they used to put on the support beams up front what songs would be song and the page in the Bible for readings. But they to have gone over to projectors ugh.Our Ritual Song (dark red hard cover) book has all the songs we will sing, the readings for the day (even most special readins) and the order of mass.
 
I remember the first few times I attended a Catholic mass… and then when I went to daytime vs. regular Sunday masses… I was completely lost. But after a while, you’ll remember and catch on, and you can always feel free to ask questions about things you don’t know or understand of your sponsor (if you have one right now), a priest, other parishioners or of course, CAF people! Seriously, ask questions whenever you need to and don’t worry because you will definitely catch on to the routine eventually. If you have your own missal, maybe try marking the pages you’ll need for quick reference, otherwise maybe come a little early to find them before mass starts. I personally think that projectors take away from full participation because people would be more concerned with following everything all the way through instead of just listening and learning. That’s just me though… Anwyway good luck and God bless 🙂
 
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