audience? I don’t think there is such thing as an audience in the church. Besides, if a screen can get the message across better (some people don’t even READ the buletins) and it gets more people involved, they will take a new passion in the church, and involvement. I’m not saying a screen will fix everything, but it’s a tool, and when used properly in the right context, it may HELP. Technology is NOT evil.
Yes audience. Though pride will not extol the truth, the band leader looks at the parishioners as the audience for his/her entertainment and to showcase his/her talents. The multi-media director of arts & sound engineer look to the parishioners as their audience for entertainment. Otherwise, the screen and bongos would not exist.
Just because it’s how it’s been done for “thousands of years” because that’s all that was availiable doesn’t mean it ALWAYS has to be done that way. If the new technology is truly a distraction to EVERYONE then yes, that’s a problem, but using it in a responsible way is not a problem. Imagine how they felt when the printing press came out and suddenly everyone could have a piece of paper to look at. I’m sure some people saw that as a “distraction” too.
(Ding - good answer)!!!
If we classify these items according to function and purpose, they do belong in the same group.
I suppose this is possible, but then again this is also possible for candles. A cozy candle-light dinner with my wife evokes more of a warm-fuzzy-feeling for me than dinner in front of an audacious mega-screen.
Even a hymnal is a kind of entertainment. Most of the music in there was “new and bold” at some point in time. Designed to give the people something they recognized and related to. That’s the whole point of the stained glass, the candles, insense and whatnot. It’s there to give you something tangable to relate to God to. Show me where in the chatecism is says “thou shalt not use a big screen” as long as it isn’t disrupting mass. Make USE of technology. Like microphones so people can HEAR, or new music so people can RELATE, or the use of ENGLISH in the US so people can UNDERSTAND. It’s about relating to God, not entertainment. Some people find it hard to relate to God in a high church setting. What do you do about them? leave them in the dust, or worse yet, let them be chased off to, and starve to death in a protestant church. The truth is the GOSPEL and FAITH of the catholic church. So what if the mass includes electric guitars, and video additions for bulletins. What if microphones are there, and what ever should we do if people start being able to worship because they are comfortable in this setting and they find God easy in this setting, more than they would with candles. I think bringing people closer to God is more important than whether or not mass is done by an organ or a guitar. I personally find God in BOTH. Because style is irrelevant, finding the beauty of God in each is a skill I think everyone should have. Find God in every situation. The use of technology, music, scents, decor is a gift to us by God himself for us to find him, make use of ALL of it, not just the stuff that was new 1000 years ago. EVERYTHING was new and bold and seen as “irreverent” at one point in time.
) but that never happens to me at my parish - the words are there, for all to see.For me, it is a problem…especially when you find yourself concentrating on the screen and forget to notice Jesus on the crucifix (or for that matter, can’t see him because it’s covering hiim up.) It’s also a problem when you fail to notice anything but the screen. By the way, not everything that glitters is gold. Just another $ 02.
Absolutely incorrect. Drums does NOT equal performance. The instrument does not make it a concert, the musician does. You could have a pompous performance based organist that looks at the Mass as a means to perform too.
The same arguement could be used for hymnals. You’re looking down focused on the words instead of up at the crucifix. And what if there was a background used on the words to convey a message. For visual people this could be quite effective to getting the point of the song. It’s no different than pages in a hymnal or art on the cover. It’s ust easier for the masses (masses of people) to use in that you don’t have to spend time finding the right page. Besides, as I said earlier if I parish found a screen to be in budget, and useful, it could be something off to the side, and retractable. I went to a church that had that, and it was in no way distracting from the message.
Difference as follows:
Yes
I would say not.
Yeah, I’m gunna make this my last post on this topic, because it obvious it’s going no where.
