PowerPoint Display for Hymns and Common Texts

[JW]

Reading the topic on 'Hymn Board display' reminded me of a Sunday Mass I attended in the Basque Country last month where all hymns, psalm responses, words to the Gloria etc. were on a Big Screen, presumably using PowerPoint, controlled by the celebrant (no sign of any copyright acknowledgements however). Evangelical churches in England also use this device very frequently (with CCL acknowledgement) and also as a visual aid during sermons.

Is this an idea that our churches could develop and take on board? The problem in my church would be the cost - we use hymnbooks from the 1980s and buy in a Redemptorist Publications Sunday Bulletin for the entrance antiphon, psalm, acclamation and communion antiphon. There is no appetite to spend money on copyright licenses, big screens and computer equipment - and extra volunteer resources would be needed, not least to prepare the presentation each week. Personally, I think more use should be made of modern technology in RC churches. I wonder why we are a bit hesitant, especially when the introduction of sound systems has been such a great success?

[Dot]

That's the system they've just installed (using their Harnessing Technology fund) in the hall of the school where I lead a bit of singing "from time to time". It's all very well in school, but think about the drawbacks.....

No suitable wall for a screen in church;
No Harnessing Technology fund for parishes;
When there's a power failure ... as there was at school yesterday ... your plans fall in tatters around your feet. We were on to Plan B (overhead projector, which also had no power) followed by Plan C (do what we can with no visible words) when someone found the trip switch to restore power to the ring main, and we returned to Plan A with much less settled children.

We were at church today with the whole school, and sang and prayed to the accompaniment of rustling hymn sheets. You can't win.

Dot

[docmattc]

When I was at the university Chaplaincy we used powerpoint to display texts. Mass was celebrated in the conference room of one of the halls of residence, so there was a suitable wall to project onto to the side of the altar. This worked to great effect (as long as the person operating it was competent). Such projection spaces are few and far between in most churches though. Doesn't Southwark Cathedral have large flat screen TVs on each pillar, presumably for the same purpose?

When there's a power failure ...

In most churches that would knock the organ out too, I don't know of any organs that still have manual bellows!

[NorthernTenor]

I wonder why we are a bit hesitant, especially when the introduction of sound systems has been such a great success?

Up to a point, Lord Copper.

[alan29]

Well heavy use of Powerpoint seems to have worked well enough for british industry
erm.

[NorthernTenor]

Well heavy use of Powerpoint seems to have worked well enough for british industry
erm.

[Southern Comfort]

Thirty years ago, screens were very common in Catholic churches all over America. Some even had the bouncing ball going along the lines of text (!), although most were used in combination with carousels of slides. Today they will be normally only be found in Newman Centres (university chaplaincies). They are still quite common in New Zealand, and to a lesser extent in Australia.

The reason they fell out of use in America ─ quite apart from the technological challenges, reliance on power supply, and inflexibility if anything needs to be modified in the middle of a service (and yes, that does happen) ─ was because people came to realise that using an enormous screen was like planting a huge symbol in the midst of the assembly: a symbol which drew attention away from all the other primary liturgical symbols in the worship space simply by virtue of being so much bigger than anything else in the room. This was true even when it was a case of projecting onto a light-coloured wall surface rather than an actual screen.

There are of course advantages to lifting people's eyes out of books, but the use of screens can also tend to turn people once again into spectators watching a screen (albeit singing along with it) instead of focussing on the liturgical action and on the community that is celebrating.

I know there are some people who seem to think the use of PowerPoint in liturgies, especially incorporating photographs and imagery, is a sine qua non, a way of adding interest to the liturgy. But I must confess that I always feel mildly uncomfortable when I realise that I am simply watching something instead of being able to react to the imagery already present in the texts and music that are being proclaimed and sung and in the movements and actions that are being carried out. Once in a while, it may be OK, but not as a regular part of liturgy, IMO.

[NorthernTenor]

But I must confess that I always feel mildly uncomfortable when I realise that I am simply watching something instead of being able to react to the imagery already present in the texts and music that are being proclaimed and sung and in the movements and actions that are being carried out.

i think that puts it well, and in a way that raises interesting questions about other occasional or common features of liturgical practice in our parishes.

[PaulW]

This website article has much the same perspective - with this quotation: "Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely."

[johnquinn39]

Is there an official view on this? (what do the Bishops say?)

[NorthernTenor]

Is there an official view on this? (what do the Bishops say?)

Even better than the Bishops is this guidance from their voice on earth.

[Southern Comfort]

Is there an official view on this? (what do the Bishops say?)

Even better than the Bishops is this guidance from their voice on earth.

...which of course relates to school liturgies, the intended target audience of Spirit of the Season who have been used to using OHPs for many years and would probably feel very naked without that particular prop.

[FrGareth]

I've used PowerPoint for primary and secondary school Masses, including the people's parts of the Mass proper - particularly when celebrating Year 7 Mass in a Comprehensive aware that maybe 25% of the congregation are non-Catholic and some have come from non-Catholic primary schools - perhaps it's the first Mass they've ever attended.

But I won't project the text of the readings and I insist on a blank screen, or at least a still image, once we are into the Eucharistic Prayer.

I've also visited St Mary's in Ottawa, one of very few Catholic churches where one of the regular Sunday Masses is a charismatic renewal Mass, and they have a screen (you can't clap or raise hands in praise while carrying a hymnbook) very tastefully integrated into the upper right corner of the sanctuary, in the same way as the pipes of a small organ are tastefully integrated into a similar wood surround in the upper left. (Yes, I will put my hands up to being a charismatic, too. A liturgically correct one!)

Now, here's a question: a screen has the potential of being a symbol (especially when used for illustrative images throughout Mass) but if ONLY used for lyrics and responses, is it any more distracting than looking at a hymnal while there's liturgical action in the sanctuary - especially if the screen is close to the altar without dominating it?

[NorthernTenor]

...which of course relates to school liturgies, the intended target audience of Spirit of the Season who have been used to using OHPs for many years and would probably feel very naked without that particular prop.

The article begins by observing of technology such as PowerPoint that "what is now becoming commonplace in the classroom is finding its way into the assembly hall and the church", and goes on to suggest that "Used well it can enhance liturgy by engaging the senses in a way words alone cannot".

I hope this technology does not find its way into our churches, for the reason given by SOP and others, here and on another thread: if the display unit is to be useful, its size and placing will be such as to distract from the altar which focuses us on the God who has sacrificed Himself for us. Then, too, slides frequently lack the subtlety typical of good religious art and architecture.

All of this begs the question which has been raised here in connection with music: why should school masses be so different from parish masses? The point of Catholic schools is to help our children understand and practice the faith - that surely should include our liturgy and its norms.

[festivaltrumpet]

if the display unit is to be useful, its size and placing will be such as to distract from the altar which focuses us on the God who has sacrificed Himself for us.

Might one make a similar argument against some of the larger and more ornate reredos?