Mass Projections

This afternoon we popped into a newly-built Catholic church to see if we could perhaps to go confession, or at least pick up their bulletin to read the schedule. I knew we weren't "in Kansas anymore" when I mistook some of the landscaping fountains as unfinished plumbing projects. Mass had already started, and we peeked in from the "vestibule." There were four large video screens mounted around the church, and the text of the responsorial psalm was being projected in black type on a blue background. The cantor sang with an elaborate and loud synthesized accompaniment that must have been pre-programmed, as there was no accompanist near any of the several keyboards. The readings were also projected.

Now that we have embraced (?) what Nicole Kieper of Tennessean.com calls "large-group karaoke," I thought I'd see how this new multi-media liturgy could be "enhanced." Why just have the words on screen, when we can set moods, provide count-downs, pre-liturgical music videos and still or even motion backgrounds? I visited Onscreen Impact to see what might be available. Here's something they don't offer--the offertory antiphon for Sunday, January 28. Imagine this image being projected. What is it about this that just doesn't work? Some days it's just hard to be funny.