Screen for words?

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lilnun_77

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my Church is trying to raise money to buy two big screens to put the words of the songs up.
but we have music books and if they use a song that is not in the book then they have sheets with the words.
so what do you think, is this ok?
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lilnun_77 said:
my Church is trying to raise money to buy two big screens to put the words of the songs up.
but we have music books and if they use a song that is not in the book then they have sheets with the words.
so what do you think, is this ok?
[sign]Laudatis Deum[/sign]
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I think it’s a waste of money.
 
Well, let’s see. They don’t put up the musical notes, just the words. Strike one. Anybody with a bad line of sight is out of luck. Strike two. And in our age, a video screen is a distraction (an attractive nuisance, you might say), both for the people in the pews and those running it. They distract from the actions on the altar in a way that hymnals never do. Strike three.
 
It is amazing that all of those saints’ statues and side altars had to be ripped out (to say nothing of the relocation of tabernacles) because, after all, they were diverting attention away from the Lord’s Table. But the projection screens–have at it! :banghead:
 
A parish nearby me uses them, which I attend only a last resort.

At best, they are TACKY!!! and distracting.

At worst, they become a vehicle for other people’s agendas, like one of the priest’s opposition to using the phrase “for us men and our salvation” in the creed, and instead projects the creed reading “for us and our salvation.” :mad:

Margaret
 
is there a category for “not technically a liturgical abuse but extremely tacky, distracting and unneccesary”?
 
You might remind them that “(i)n the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, a minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle; we sing a hymn to the Lord’s glory with all the warriors of the heavenly army; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with Him in glory.” (Sacrsanctum Concilium, 8)

Video screens have no place in such a sacred space.
 
One of our parishes is including a projection screen in its list of things needed for rennovation. Maybe it’s okay for a Proestant megachurch, but it seems more like a case of “celebrating ourselves.”

I don’t think that this is what the Council Fathers had in mind when they stressed active participation.
 
That’s what hymnals are for.

Once you get a screen, someone is going to want to start showing movies. Then maybe 3D or Imax.
 
VERY tacky.

If you want to challenge it, you may also want to approach it from the copyright angle. Many music copyright holders forbid projecting words without securing permission (which could involve payment of royalties). It could raise legal problems (not to mention the questionable morality of it if you fail to secure the necessary permissions).
 
Using projectors can cause legal problems more often than you think. Besides the fact that it is IMMORAL to steal from a music publisher…you would be shocked at the diligence publishers use to track down unauthorized use of their materials…no parish anywhere is “immune” to getting caught doing it. And it can be quite expensive.

It is illegal to use materials and a lawsuit may make the use of porjectors the biggest waste of money a church can spend.
 
THurifer2 said:
Using projectors can cause legal problems more often than you think. Besides the fact that it is IMMORAL to steal from a music publisher…you would be shocked at the diligence publishers use to track down unauthorized use of their materials…no parish anywhere is “immune” to getting caught doing it. And it can be quite expensive.

It is illegal to use materials and a lawsuit may make the use of porjectors the biggest waste of money a church can spend.
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That’s a good point. The publishers are going to insist on making up the money they lose by not selling missalettes, and they will demand “projection fees” to compensate.
 
VociMike said:
That’s a good point. The publishers are going to insist on making up the money they lose by not selling missalettes, and they will demand “projection fees” to compensate.
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Actually I believe publishers require a certain amount of books to be puchased before they authorize projector use. THey may even go as far as requiring you to buy as many books as seating allows in your parish. There are ways to find out how many people your church holds. A call to the chancery will usually take care of it or simply call the fire marshall. IT does happen
 
My Parish has one. We are now selling it. Our new Priest is of the mind that Statues are good, screens are bad. The way it is supposed to be!

Stop it from being put in.

The one in my parish blocked the view of the Crucifix for about 1/3 of the congregation.

Some of the choirs at my church did not like it because it was just one more thing they had to worry about. Parishioners use it as a handicap. Cause at first you will just put songs up, then the creed will go up, and then the our father. Things that you should know just from attending church regularly.

Also once the screen is in place the Chiors have a larger selection of music not just the ones that are in your missals. Which means you might start hearing goffier music that has no place at Mass. We even had some electronica style church music that sounded like it belonged in some hippy college age pentacostal church in 1987.

This resulted in huge amounts of fighting between our fmr Priest and our fmr. Chior. Because of all this fighting first two of the 4 rotating chiors left. Then our Pastor resigned. During all of this about 1/4 to 1/3 of the parishioners at the 10am Mass left as well. Many have now begun to return. But this was a nightmare.

Now obviously it was not all do to the screen but it is just one more thing that can be a fighting issue. Keep the secular distractions out of the Church and leave the holy ones in. A Jesuit at my school likes to say that Catholic Spaces are distracting spaces but every distraction is Holy and ment to bring a person deeper into the contemplation of our Lord in the Eucharist.
 
VociMike said:
That’s a good point. The publishers are going to insist on making up the money they lose by not selling missalettes, and they will demand “projection fees” to compensate.
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As a convert, I did a bit of church-hopping along the way, and I visited quite a few Protestant churches which had the projection screens. Nearly all of those also had hard copies of the hymnal/songbook in the pews. As long as the church offers both, the publishers aren’t losing any money.

I loathe those screens, especially when they start with the PowerPoint presentations. http://bestsmileys.com/puking/1.gif
I get quite enough of PowerPoint at work, thank you. Our music director often wants to use songs that aren’t in the seasonal missalette, so he makes a little supplemental booklet for each season which he places in the racks next to the hymnals. As long as a church has a CCL license which covers those songs, this is perfectly legal…and they are a whole lot less ugly than those bloody projection screens!
 
I agree with the others. It is a distraction for me at least and is visually ugly too. There is an old church in my city where they did this. They have the screens sitting on top of the head of Blessed Mother and St. Joseph. They are also covering up parts of the angels on the walls. Tacky if not irreverent, especially where they are situated.
 
zagjames said:
… Cause at first you will just put songs up, then the creed will go up, and then the our father. Things that you should know just from attending church regularly.
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Right. Once you have these expensive and neato screens the temptation is to “keep them busy,” so more and more things get displayed onto them, and they become the focal point of the entire Mass.
 
CarrieH said:
As a convert, I did a bit of church-hopping along the way, and I visited quite a few Protestant churches which had the projection screens. Nearly all of those also had hard copies of the hymnal/songbook in the pews. As long as the church offers both, the publishers aren’t losing any money.
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Yes, but one of the claimed justifications of these screens is to stop “wasting” all the paper used to print the songbooks. Now it may be that the publishers insist the churches still buy the songbooks, in which that justification is false, but just as the “paperless office” was touted in the 80s, the “paperless Mass” is touted by at least some screen supporters.
I loathe those screens, especially when they start with the PowerPoint presentations. http://bestsmileys.com/puking/1.gif
I get quite enough of PowerPoint at work, thank you.
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I know what you mean. At least I haven’t seen bar graphs and pie charts at Mass yet, but give it time. :rolleyes:
 
lilnun_77 said:
my Church is trying to raise money to buy two big screens to put the words of the songs up.
but we have music books and if they use a song that is not in the book then they have sheets with the words.
so what do you think, is this ok?
[sign]Laudatis Deum[/sign]
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I call this the “Shakey’s Pizza Method of Hymnology”. There used to be a chain called Shakey’s Pizza. They served “fun” which included a sing-along. The words would be projected on the wall, and everybody’d sing along.

Nice for Shakey’s. Not great for Mass.
 
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