I picked up this story from Thomas Peters this week:
“The Rev. Paolo Padrini, an Italian priest who consults with the Vatican, is launching a free iPad app that will contain the complete Roman missal—the book containing everything that is said and sung during Catholic Mass throughout the liturgical year.
It will be available in July, meaning iPads could start appearing on altars in the next few weeks. Future editions will feature audio as well as commentaries and suggestions for homilies, AP reports. [POPSCI]”
iPads to start appearing on altars in a few weeks!? Yikes.
The topic of technology in the liturgy is a very interesting one. I know plenty of people who fight it at every opportunity. The traditionalist in me is happy to fight right along side them. Trendiness just seems so incompatible with sacredness. On the other hand, the pragmatic, computer engineer inside of me at least likes to entertain the thought of…why not?
After all, if we’re being honest - and I like to be honest - the printing press, or electricity were as high-tech as the iPad in their day. And the Church embraced them. And not just in general - but in the liturgy. So if you’re against the iPad, ask yourself if you would have attended mass back in the day in a church with a light bulb in it? Or a printed and bound missal? Or with air conditioning? Or a clip-on microphone? “High-tech” is a relative term.
Thomas Peters makes some good points in his post, though:
“Certainly the first time you see a priest using an iPad on the altar it could distract from focusing on the Mass. And although I’m not aware of any specific prohibition against using electronics to read the text of the Mass, this might be viewed as a needless use of technology. After all, there is a symbolism to the sacred articles used at Mass that goes beyond their use. For instance, we still retain candles at Mass even though we have lightbulbs.”
I agree on the symbolism and sacredness. And perhaps “needless” is a key word there. Maybe he’s right. But then again, are more people likely to sing and pray along if the words are up on a projection screen than having to thumb through a book? I think so. Would it be a bit more practical for a priest to carry a single iPad around with every prayer, ceremony, homily aid, reading, reference, etc. at his fingertips than all of the corresponding books? I think so.
And perhaps it would be distracting at first? But then again maybe it would be less distracting in the long run. Less page thumbing and turning.
But there is still a part of me that feels uncomfortable at the thought of seeing an alter boy holding up an iPad for the priest while trying to get the viewing angle just right. And then there’s the priest getting stuck in the middle of Mass after the battery died smack dab in the middle of the consecration. All because the sacristan forgot to charge it properly.
Admittedly, much of my distaste for having iPads at Mass likely stems from a clinging to my own personal preferences in trend and style. But just because a style is centuries old doesn’t mean it can’t still also be a distraction or misplaced priority for us.
All of that aside, the problem I have most with such devices is the same problem I have with contemporary music, projection screens or brushed steel chalices at Mass. In most cases, they’re not being used to draw us deeper into the liturgy, instead they’re being used to entertain us while we endure the liturgy. They are being used to make us feel hip and trendy. They distract from the Mass instead of enhancing it and pointing us back to its heart - the Eucharist.
That’s the danger with any of these amazing tools. It doesn’t mean we can’t use them. It just means we should proceed with caution and keep our motivations in check. And don’t forget to charge the batteries.
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There is something about a book—and a scroll, as well—that draws our minds back into antiquity. An iPad has a sterile, modern feel surrounding it. A book is an ancient form, though, one that swallows you into the timeless Story more than a modern, trendy computer screen. If the Mass is a re-presentation of Our Lord’s ancient sacrifice, I think a book draws people deeper into that event than an iPad.
The key phrase in your article was this: “High-tech is a relative term.” The gap between the liturgical tradition and computer technology is too large right now—our Story is so ancient and iPads are so new. But, in a hundred years, books and iPads may both be seen as “old”. The use of iPads in such a visible part of the liturgy will then be acceptable relative to how “low-tech” iPads are seen.
I think it’s good for personal use, if you have a legit reason not to use a book-form missal, but potentially scandalous in front of others. I also would challenge the claim that it’s no different from the novelty of the book or light bulb in their day. The first book to be printed was a Bible, so people would’ve been likely to know it wasn’t a novel up there on the altar, and they also probably couldn’t have discerned whether it was a printed book or a bound collection of manuscripts. Lightbulbs never replaced candles, as you said. As long as the candles were there, the symbolism remained. As for air conditioning, I’m not sure anyone considered a hot and stuffy worship space necessary or symbolically significant in liturgy. The problem with the iPad is that, aside from the secular propriety symbol on the back (which may be ironic during a reading of Geneis 3), I imagine parishioners would be a little suspicious: “what if Father’s up there watching a movie?” if parishioners also had iPads in the pews, imagine the distractions (for an eye-opener, go to the choir loft and watxh for smartphones during Mass at a typical parish…it’s shocking). I on’t even take my iPad with me to adoration for fear of scandal, despite the fact that I have a lot of spiritual writing on it. It’ll be a great app…for private prayer or legit liturgical emergencies.
I think it could be fine for the people to use the iPad as a hand missal in the pew but not the priest at the altar.
I understand the discomfort in using new technology in the Mass, but I think there are some practical benefits for those that might need it. I attended a Mass a couple of months ago with a priest suffering from a degenerative eye condition. It required him to hold the sacramentary as close to his face as possible and use a magnifying class in order to read.
I am sure that he would appreciate the opportunity to celebrate Mass with the aid of a technology that would, for him, reduce some of the distraction his disability causes. I’m all for the use of technology for the right reasons and not purely for stylish reasons.
And you can go to ZAGG and buy a skin for your ipad that looks like a Gospel book or lectionary and than the only thing different is the pages are LED instead of paper…..It’s still the ordination and spoken word that makes it a Mass, not what the words are read from….
Electric light is one of the worst things that happened to the Mass. Organs are probably THE worst. Let’s go back to singing a capella the way God made us!
I really want some authentic Church thinking here. I have an iPhone and many of my apps are spiritual, including two that provide daily Mass readings with responsorials. On the other hand, during Mass I would rather pay attention to the altar rather than a device - or a missalette - in my hand.
How many parishes would like to reduce or eliminate missalettes? Probably a lot.
How many priests would love never again to hear the Gospel interrupted by a few hundred people turning the same page?
How many music directors would like to not have to fuss over which version of which song in which key with how many verses?
No answers from me. I hope we get one!
—Andrew
Almost any and all changes are worrisome and create suspicion. Any “messing” with church, liturgy or sacramental occurrences will cause concern; time and useage proves the case one way or another. I remember when the mass itself was changed and what we did and said, by Vatican II, and it was tumultous and very upsetting. And now a NEW thing appears—-ut oh. I believe that the Holy Spirit is in charge and guides the Church to make good decisions and choices for the people they serve. Some decisions take us BACK to the beginning while others deal with the PRESENT and FUTURE; these decisions are not made lightly or in a hurry.
I just can’t picture an altar boy carrying over an iPad and holding it for the Priest, just doesn’t seem right. As a person who attends Latin Mass most of the time, I can’t even imagine using anything like that.
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