This from a July 12 posting on the Cardinal Newman Society website:
Father Pat Connolly S.J., associate professor of film and television at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, said in a recent interview with the Jesuit Communications Center that films (or what he calls “animated stained glass windows”) should be used during Mass.
He spoke in the interview about his plans for short religious-themed films that could be used during the liturgy.
“The moving image should be used during Church,” he said. “I would create film that would be in fact evocative of the higher understanding and appreciate of water, light, what a leper’s like and what a blind person is like and I would deliberately craft them for that purpose.” He mentioned that he’d already done so at a Catholic school Mass for students.
He labeled any objections to films being shown during Mass as antithetical to church and worship services as “nonsense” and “silly.” He said many Protestant churches are doing this already and he’s confident that the Catholic Church will soon follow suit.
You can listen to the interview here.
Father Connolly’ biography from Loyola Marymount website:
Patrick Connolly, a member of the Department of Film and Television Studies, has been a faculty member at LMU for thirty-five years. He believes strongly that human communication has involved many revolutions, but only three super-revolutions. Precisely when human beings evolved to the point of using spoken languages, the first super-revolution, is hidden in the mists of time.
However, there is abundance of evidence that a mere five thousand years ago human beings launched the second super-revolution with written languages which vastly altered cultures. He believes that the third super-revolution came at the end of the nineteenth century with what he calls: “the language of multiple moving images.”
In addition to being a professor, he is also a Roman Catholic priest and a member of the religious order, the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola.
Thank you, Fr. Connolly, it is about time we had a story on this site that is post Trent, your idea is very refreshing!
Fr. Connolly is out of step with sound liturgical theology as well as out of step with authoritative Church teaching regarding the use of video or recordings during liturgy. Multiple moving images are not a language. You must have to have a Ph.D. to believe such a stupid thing.
Sawyer, I suggest you get your PhD so you can understand what Fr. Connolly suggests, which is no different from using stainglass or the written word.
Oh, lovely. We poor, abysmally ignorant masses must get phds. in order to understand the masses. Ah, the thrill…I can just see the marquees over the entrances of our churches advertising dolby surround sound, 3D laser technology and holograms that make us feel we’re part of the crowd scenes at the crucifixion! But before entering, we must show proof that we’re not illiterates by showing our phds (pronounced fuds) preferably attained at a prestigious ivy league institution for credibility. We know how amazingly bright you have to be to do that…just look at our president. Wow! Gee thanks, Stan, for taking the time to explain everything. I for one am all agog. It makes our 2000 yr. old traditional mass with it’s quiet reverence, like so five minutes ago.
Dana, Your reply is after my own heart. What is it about all of these obnoxious self important people that really believe their own baloney and narcissism as PHDs. Our illustrious PHDs especially the Jesuits on both coasts in Catholic Universities are the perfect examples. I know our Church is in trouble but so much of it emanates directly from the above! God always repays, both good and bad, sorry that we have to wait and see! Too bad, some have reduced our faith and central liturgy to a Disney Production because one old Jesuit thinks so! They really should get out of our Church with one of their manufactured justifications. I doubt they could join Pius X society. LOL
Film may have it’s place in study and entertainment. It does not belong at The Mass.
I’ve recently discovered the real translation for PhD is Puddin’head Diploma. It’s a closely guarded secret of the ‘lieberal’ elite, so mum’s the word. As for the incorporation of moving images during mass, my first impulse is to ask ‘why”? I’d say this priest might have a few bats in his belfry but as an artist, that’s his prerogative. Artists’ stock in trade is rattling people out of their comfort zones. Since he is also a priest, I would say his inner artist won some sort of spiritual battle some time ago.
Thanks Bud. You remember what Ann Landers used to say, that we in the midwest are the last to get the fads. They’re worn thin we can see through them. What is so sad is that universities have found the perfect con to foist on the burdened middle class…keep those old education factories cranking out phds spreading the lie that no one knows anything unless they have one, and forcing employers to hire them over people who might be much better qualified but didn’t believe a phd made them any smarter…if anything just the opposite. People are going into deep debt achieving this dubious honor…a debt that they might never pay off, just to get some deadbeat job that anyone could have done without even an education. There aren’t that many jobs in rocket science. What is really pathetic is it’s grad students who are doing most of the teaching at all the universities now…the phd professors either have tenure who are busy writing the next book that no one wants to read. If George Orwell were alive, I’m sure he could have written a really good novel about it that would put it all in perspective. My dad never went to college,but was the wisest, smartest man I have ever known…funny too! He hated snobbery and pretension and he hated the word “exclusive’.
We don’t go to Mass to be entertained. We attend Mass to pay homage to God. When Jesus is present why should we divert our attention from Him to a movie?
Pete, you have a secular and twisted concept of entertainment. You also make the false assumption that what Fr. Connolly suggests is secular and not holy. “Entertainment” properly understood is whatever excites the imagination to instill a memory of what is good, true, and beautiful. that is, what is holy and just. Properly understood “entertainment” ENTERS the soul and creates a MEMORY that involves EMOTION. Another way to spell entertainment is ENTER-TRAIN-MOMENT. Your argument has been used to describe music, vestments, stain glass, architecture…. all, which according to your logic, “can divert our attention for Jesus.” Good grief, the liturgy of the Word, or the gold tabernacle can divert our attention to Jesus’ …. OR (drum roll, please) it can DIRECT and ENHANCE our attention to him and his creation.
The Mass is wonderful and holy the way it has always been. It should not be modernized. If one wants to show a film before or after the Mass, perhaps in the gathering room, it could be an option. Never should it be a part of the Holy Mass.
Thomas, Stan – IT IS NOT ALLOWED, period. Nor are monkeys swinging from the chandeliers, nor dogs and cats parading in costume, nor motorcross, nor people riding bicycles down the aisles, nor liturgical dance, nor priests dressing as clowns (nor Barney the Dinosaur) … If it’s NOT IN THE GIRM IT’s NOT ALLOWED. These idiot priests have to stop screwing around with the mass and get back to the actual teachings of the church. No more No less. That’s what their vocation is. TO TEACH THE TRUE FAITH. PROPERLY UNDERSTOOD –
Stan – re-defining words to suit your agenda is diabolical. Get back to reality.
From 2 separate sources (online dictionaries)
en·ter·tain·ment/ˌentərˈtānmənt/
Noun:
1.The action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment.
2.An event, performance, or activity designed to entertain others.
Synonyms:
amusement – fun – recreation – pastime – distraction
Or from another source:
Word Origin & History
entertainment
1530s, provision for support of a retainer; manner of social behavior, now obsolete, along with other 16c. senses; from entertain + -ment. Meaning the amusement of someone is from 1610s; that which entertains is from 1650s; public performance or display meant to amuse is from 1727.
People look at stained glass prior to or after Mass. They should not be doing so during Mass. The Jesuits need to get control of their Priests.
David, Do you have any idea WHY the stain glass was put in churches to begin with? What are you looking at during Mass? Or are your eyes clsoed the whole time. Is that piety? The Church is full of symbolism for a reason … and the last time I noticed the priests are walking around quite a bit, bowing, swinging incense, etc. What a distraction all those “moving images” are. Right?
You sound like a PHD trying to justify something. Yes, most of us idiots know precisely when, where and why and what created the stained glass images of our churches since the very first cathedrals.
“He labeled any objections to films being shown during Mass as antithetical to church and worship services as “nonsense” and “silly.” He said many Protestant churches are doing this already and he’s confident that the Catholic Church will soon follow suit.”
okay, i’m putting msyelf in the NONSENSE dn SILLY camp by saying i think this is a really, really, really dumb idea.
our catholic fatih has enough riches already (chant, scripture, preaching, silence, prayer, kneeloing, incense, etc.) without distrupting it by introducing canned music, slide shows, movies, or whatnot.
if memory serves, the church has LAREADY issued statemnt tells us that what we do during the holy sacrifice of the mass should be real, not artigficial: no plastic flowers, no recorded music, etc.
Max, Let me get this straight. Using your logic, chant is silly because we have Scripture. Preaching is silly because we have prayer. Kneeling is silly because we can stand. Incense is still because we have The Eucharist. Stain glass is silly because we have organ music (which was not allowed for a long time… because it was … silly.)
Don’t forget the sacramental popcorn! When will the innovators STOP!!!
“..higher understanding…? I guess Jesuits don’t like the word “God! Objections are “nonsense and silly”-really? Two millenia of saying the Mass is a fairly strong foundation, wouldn’t any Catholic think? I feel sorry for the poor Catholic school who had to sit through his movie – I can just imagine (of course, it’s LMU again).
Bob, well then since we’ve been “saying” the Mass for two millennium, why sing it? Right?
Cal Catholic Daily post from 2 days prior – Cardinal Burke – Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura THE DEFINER OF CANON LAW!
“So it is absolutely wrong for the priest to think, ‘how can I make this more interesting?’ or ‘how can I make this better?’” he said….
The liturgical laws and norms of the Church are not “nonsense and silly”, but those who imagine that they can do better than the Church, or with the sanction of the Holy See (to which jurisdiction over liturgy is reserved) certainly are. The good father should communicate by offering the Mass reverently, according to the norms in place, which would focus his congregation on rendering worship to God, which is the reason for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
Bob, in case you haven’t read Church History lately… liturgical laws and norms have changed substantially over the years. Music was one such innovation.
I suggest you not look at the Mass as another venue for your films. I conclude from the feedback here, that reverent Catholics object to your imposition on on the Lord’s celebration.
I seem to remember music and musical instruments being used in the time of David in the old testament so why consider it a new innovation? Weren’t the Psalms also set to music. What is all of that stuff I sang in Tenebrae, Compline and Easter Services?
NO WAY FATHER!!!
Poppycock. Baloney. Drivel. Balderdash. The last thing we need during Mass is some movie maker to show his “talents” to a captive “audience.”
Films are for audiences.
Mass is for worshippers.
MacDonald…. read again what the Fr. said. There is no functional difference between what Fr. suggests and the many other forms of visual symbols that draw us close to God. The is NOTHING in what the Fr. suggests of the proper use of film and what is ALREADY present… visual and aural imagery that is both colorful, moving and static. From stain glass, to swaying vestments and in-censors, to flickering candles and their aroma, to vaulted ceilings and myriad of musical instruments.
Are you the Stan Williams who is a filmmaker and Catholic Apologist?
BALONEY! is the word for your boring analogies and rationale!
What are the reactive statements on this site soooooooooooo predicatable?
cuz we are the same old peoople who always post on this site?
This would not only be against the norms it would be mass distraction!
Louie, Mass distraction? What, like the Knights of Columbus standing at the front of the Church waving their swords and wearing hats during the Celebration of the Eucharist? Or how about an organ, or incense, or the old man hacking in front of me, or as one person suggested to me that the noise of turning pages in a Bible during the reading of the Word?
Williams,
Are you a Professor at Loyala U. If so, no wonder!
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
From Mr. Williams’ own website:
“Stan Williams is an international award-winning video producer, filmmaker and show creator. Since 1972, he has managed hundreds of industrial and dramatic productions, including numerous documentaries, live shows, theater, live and broadcast television as producer, director, writer, editor, and executive producer working with both union and amateur talent. He is Executive Producer and Director for SWC Films and Nineveh’s Crossing a media distribution company that focuses on the intersection of Catholicism and Entertainment.”
Thanks, Mac, for exposing this info. So, the church is just another venue to rake it in. Father, how can you forgive them (for they know exactly what they are doing)?
All of these hot air machines love international acclaim to get a raise in the stogy university systems including state supported. Isn’t that what all Phds. do when they don’t want to bother teaching or are not very good at it? Write papers, papers and more papers which basically twists what someone else has already declared going way back. Reminds me of the usual and customary products put on the market with “Scientific study suggests” but never anything else! There isn’t too much respect for the PHDs of anything anymore except within their own political circles.
Oh, the Protestants are doing it! Since when is the Roman Catholic Church trying to keep step with protestants?
Another goofy idea from another goofy Jesuit.
And you might try wearing a collar, “Father,” so people can recognize you and your priestly calling.
If I want to look at a golfer, I’ll turn on the Golf Channel.
Not wearing a collar? Good reason for that……..they simply don’t believe in their own vows anymore and want to rise above their peers. They are too far up there to even want to recognize common people with basic faith and morals.
Moving light images have a way of mesmerizing a person’s attention. That is why they keep a video image (news, etc.) running in banks near the ceiling behind the teller windows, precisely where the cameras are located. This ensures a good open shot of patrons’ faces, in case one of them decides to stop and rob. Our Protestant/Evangelical brothers and sisters have been using slide/video/filmimages in their services for years now, finding that they have to rely on ever more “innovative” ploys to attract attendees. Some megachurches even have coffee bars.
Let God, who is unseen, but who becomes mercifully present under the appearance of bread and wine at the bidding of the priest, be the focus of attention at Mass, as he has been for 2000 years.
Don’t worry, wait until the new Catholic Crystal Cathedral gets into gear with a cast of thousands in the choir and projections of Disney angels flying around the heights and depths of the building inside and out! HALLELUJA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! People will faint in their chairs from their emotional effects. Maybe, even due some Holy Rollering!
This idea is right up there with dancing the Rosary, Pilates style! oops. Now I’ve given him another idea…
I like your avatar.
Connolly should move to a Protestant Church. Perhaps they would appreciate his movie making talent. Personally, I prefer the Catholic Church, and worshipping God at Mass.
I wouldn’t watch his movie if he paid me.
Connolly’s desired abuse of a Mass, is heretical, and violates both the 1962 Missal Latin Mass, and the Ordinary Mass of today which is strictly controlled by GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal) which can be found on the USCCB web site.
With all due respect, I suggest that Fr. Connolly change his brand of Holy Water. Does he fully understand why we celebrate mass and what is taking place? He needs to be retrained at an Orthodox Seminary and start over. I am sure that Archbishop Chaput or Cardinal Burke would be happy to give him private instructions. What will he be suggesting next….an intermission where Bibles will be given away?
Why does this movie have to been shown during Mass? Why not after Mass for those who would like to stay for some entertainment? Stan is pretty big on innovations, so maybe he could lead a ‘movie extension” for those who don’t understand what is actually happening in the Mass. The Mass is the most perfect prayer—it doesn’t need fixing. Remember how we are supposed to be united around the world in this mystical worship? Why cause even more discordance?
Please do your additions AFTER Mass and leave this holy splendor alone. We are Catholics-small and big “C.”
Barbara,
If they did so, and let us pray they don’t succeed, they would have to retire the Most Blessed Sacrament to a place of proper repose. They would never do that because that is too traditional.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
The film idea may become very practical once the practice of the priest celebrating Mass with his back to the people is restored. Then through a video camera which he faces, the people behind him can see him offer Mass.
Stan Williams, you seem to feel pretty strongly about the positive possibilities of Father Connolly’s ideas, but one of the MAJOR differences I see is that the other things you describe as good (e.g., organ music, thuribles with incense, chant, reading of Sacred Scripture) are done by people who are actually in the room.
Introducing recorded music, or films, into the liturgy replaces the living experience of the people of God to what we, sadly, spend much of our life doing at home or at the movies: sitting back, watching a product, and nibbling on popcorn.
This is perhaps why the Magisterium (when not talking about other things) insists on using real candles rather than electric things, using real books like the Roman Missal rather than an e-reader, decorating the church with real flowers rather than plastic ones, and having a real organist in the church playing rather than a tape player.
wouldn’t a wall of mirrors be much cheaper? but then the poor priest would STILL be able to see people arriving late. before for him to face east and be spared such sights!
Would this be in addition to the “Clown Masses” and “Liturgical Dance” or would it be part of those?
God save us! I have seen such things on YouTube when friends have emailed the links, and it makes me so grateful for my parish.
Yet another Jesuit trying to make us more and more Protestant!
I was just told of a Professor at L.M.U. who has lost the Faith, wonder why!
Fr. Hardon pray of us and your errant brother Jesuits who persecuted you so much.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
There is only one?
Let’s face it, LMU doesn’t require a mandatum, they have their “Lavender” graduation ceremonies and, in talking with LMU graduates, they don’t learn a lot about the Faith. How could they from Jesuits who don’t want to think, look or act like they are clergy? Unfortunately too is the fact that many teachers and principals-to-be attend the school thinking that it’s Catholic, so what they in-turn pass along is devoid of substance.
It is an almost certainty that this “priest” has been a speaker at the Archdiocese of Lost Angels Religious Education Congress. I will try to determine that by going into my archives.d If any one else knows of this, please let me know.
God bless, yours in Their Hearts,
Kenneth M. Fisher
“priest” in quotes? really?
he is a roman catholic priest in good standing, unlike some you know…
i think his idea is bad, too, but this does not make him less a priest.
They just don’t get it, do they?
Just an observation: Stan Williams has a vested interest in the production of videos for churches. As noted on the website Hollywood Connect: “Stan Williams is an international award-winning video producer, filmmaker and show creator. Since 1972, he has managed hundreds of industrial and dramatic productions, including numerous documentaries, live shows, theater, live and broadcast television as producer, director, writer, editor, and executive producer.”
Sounds like a great idea. Maybe the film should graphically show the tortures one’s soul would face in hell. This might scare the heavens into some people! A close up view of the floor of hell paved with the skulls of bishops should awaken a few.
Will there be cartoons too?*Sigh*The mass is the Eucharist.Leave us SOME sanctity please.Someone’s head is too big for his shoulders.
Perhaps we could have funerals with minstrels singing,”Dem bones…..”Will the Holy Father PLEASE rein in this order of NUTTY priests ?
The good news is that when one stands at the Pearly Gates and is asked about their lives, they simply hand over the video production that makes it look good. The bad news … no video players at the Pearly Gate.
JLS, I’ve heard a pastor more than 1 time in his sermons state that he “does not believe that God is writing down what we do in our day-to-day lives”. So when one stands at the Pearly Gates, where did the video come from?
I have seen film used to great effect in a Protestant church. It wasn’t used during the liturgy of the word or communion rite. It was used to illustrate a part of the sermon, or as a meditation piece prior to the service. It was produced by a professional group, so that it was well done, lasted about three minutes and fit the sermon very well. Could the sermon have been given without the film? Of course! But … I have also seen a film used at a children’s christmas service to good effect. If we consider how young people learn now days, a lot of visuals are needed to keep their attention. I don’t particularly like film in the church setting, but I also grew up in another time. Today the church must use all means available, including technology, to bring the word of God to those who don’t know him, need to know him better or want to know him better. If a little film helps the cause, what is so bad about that?
Bob, – NOT ALLOWED.
What part of that don’t people comprehend (with all their PhD’s). So let’s add to the “distraction mentality” in the Mass?… duh.
This story and the comments remind me of feeding time at the SF Zoo’s lion cage: The feeders throw out red meat, and children of all ages are entertained by the snarls and roars as the big cats tear up their lunch.
It seems nobody actually listened to the entire interview, which made it clear Connolly’s intention was not for movies but for two-minute non-narrated Gospel reflections to guide the imagination into private contemplation.
For anyone worried about the Mass looking more “Protestant”: First of all, that train left the station decades ago. We ought to pay attention to how WE worship God. Nevertheless I doubt very much that any video presentation would ever find its way into the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, no matter how well it worked in the Ordinary Form.
Perhaps also part of the problem people have with Connolly’s idea is our society is so saturated with “action” in movies, TV and news that it is hard to imagine a brief presentation with much simpler, more sober objectives than numbing its audience’s spiritual inclinations to make selling them useless junk easier.
All that said, my personal preference for in-Church video would be presented before the Mass, to help calm the jangles of insanely over-wound lives back toward something that can appreciate reality beyond the immediate and material. When my parish had a video-and-study before Mass a few Advents ago, the participants were much more settled, less prone to chatter as the Introit begins.
Oh, surely not red meat, Francis. I take it you’ve never taken a debate class in your life. It’s called discussion, wherein in a relatively free society people can opine on various topics that express views perhaps not always to our liking but we respect their right to do so. It often gives us new perspectives on our own way of seeing events. I’m sorry that this threatens you. You should be more open to new ideas, Francis. tsk tsk
Not shaken, stirred, nor surprised and certainly not threatened. Just disappointed that so many people comment about running feature movies and similarly distracting material, when that’s not what Connolly talked about.
Regarding “a relatively free society people can opine on various topics…” Of course everyone is free to state whatever thoughts appear in their minds. Opinions are more credible and debate is more productive, however, if they relate to the actual topic (2-3 minute meditation, not entertainment, not song and dance).
Well, there’s also the element of cost. Most of our churches are barely making it. Our church here is deeply in debt with the building of a new church and now the added strain of budgeting for a new school addition. Couple that with all the needs of pro-life organizations, Catholic Charities and mission work, having even one more thing would be unrealistic except for the wealthiest churches. I would think L.A. would be a rich mother lode of enthusiasts for something artistic like this. Most of us are ‘reactionary’ because of the damage done in the 70’s up til fairly recently with the banal and irreverent (and irrelevant) new age nonsense that just grew like fungus and carried aloft by the wind. ugh! I still think it odd how fast things changed by people who were raised in the supposedly better times of catechesis in the 40’s and 50’s. Why weren’t there more objections raised at the time? Does anyone remember any orthodox hold-outs? There must have been some. There’s a new book coming out on how the Russian KGB infiltrated the Catholic church…the author was on Al Kresta’s show.
Francis, the whole busybodyness of some of these priests and liturgy and music directors is just that, intruding on the interior lives of others. Some people come to Mass to worship God and not have their neighbors mess with their heads, whether visually, audioly, olfactorily, or dynamically or in any other way of being a nuisance. All this “horizontal” action is the norm at novus ordo liturgies … so stay there and do not bother people at the traditional Latin Masses. After all what is the point of going to Mass if all this stuff completely interferes with one’s worship? The Church insists that one receive Holy Communion at least once per year … What is the point of receiving it when all one’s interior is blasted by external noise freaks? Be sure to understand that Jesus says not only the bread but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God … the noise prevents it from reaching the ears, and thus maybe one receives more benefit from private prayer. Now do not hand me that canonic stuff on a platter, Francis … see instead if you can move up to the challenge in my blog. I do not expect you to be able to do so, but give it a try. The bottom line is obedience … God wants conversation, and how is this to be done with all the commotion and pandemonium concocted by noise making in all the sensory dimensions? So, who would be responsible for people abandoning Mass? I say it is the bishops’ fault. If the bishops are lonely and take it out on the laity and clergy, then there is one solution. As the Pope has pointed out to them, they must become holy … because they defy God’s command to be holy as the Lord God is holy.
“Nevertheless I doubt very much that any video presentation would ever find its way into the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, no matter how well it worked in the Ordinary Form”: Well, Francis, you’ve been pre-empted already. The passive aggressive homosexual powers that be manage to carry out these types of attacks against man, God and the Mass.
uh, JLS, this article is about some guy wanting us to show movies during mass.
how did you move from that to “The passive aggressive homosexual powers that be manage to carry out these types of attacks against man, God and the Mass” anyway?
why not go all the way and blame this film idea of the pro=abortion forces, or the pro=feminisnt forces also?
do you think that only homosexuals like movies?
max asks, “JLS, do you think that only homosexuals like movies?”
No max, heterosexuals like movies too but instead of the Gospel and the lives of the saints, it is the homosexual clergy who consistently use objectionable Hollywood movies as the backdrop of their shallow goofy homilies and as teaching tools that give very confusing and mixed messages to impressionable students.
thanks for clearing that up, CATHERINE.
you are awesome.
He says his “interior is blasted by external noise freaks blasting.” I wouldn’t make much sense either if my interior were blasted by noise.
“He labeled any objections to films being shown during Mass as antithetical to church and worship services as “nonsense” and “silly.”
This reminds me of the “young, proressive” priest that wanted to install multi stereophonic equipment in his church to use to play classical recorded Masses while he celebrated at the altar. He didn’t like the sound of his congregation’s singing! He also wanted the fantasy of presiding at grand and royal masses of the great composers. TOTAL BALONEY just like the grandiose Connoly!
Stained glass like illusions invented to inspire attendants at his Masses is none of his business and sounds like another “Jesuit” distraction and entertainment that has no place in a Disney Production Mass. Of course this also comes out of California! Where else?
Cole, I know that it is commonly believed that “we can’t take it with us”,and so you’d wonder how that video cassette (memory stick) got to the Pearly Gates. I have seen evidence however that we can in fact take it with us. A famous writer drew a picture illustrating it … woman at grieving party looks out window and sees her late hubby in the clouds pulling a wagon with his golf bag, fishing pole, and faithful dog running alongside him, and she exclaims to her grieving party, “He’s taking it with him”. So, that is probably how that video stick got there.
This follows the false premise that the Mass should be entertainment and that our imaginations are more important than the working of the Holy Spirit. The transformation from Bread and Wine to the Body and Blood of Christ and the fact that we can truly receive Him into our souls is the wonderment of the Mass.
What about marketing an app for Confession. Interactive with your computer? Turn it on and a little ikon pops up, with prompts. you confess into the microphone, which then stores it on the hard drive in a file, and the voice of the ikon (which looks like this jesuit dude Connolly) absolves you. Each confession and absolution of course requires that you click on a donation link.
oh, good news: we have an app for that!
already!
but you CAN’T use it in place of going to CONFESSION, JLS, so don’t even try. it’s only for preparation, examination of conscience, etc.
So, max, one can fill out all the app questions about Confession and then post it to Confessor app? Explain to me how it is that God can act through a priest directly in the Sacrament but not through cyber space? Are you saying He is not omnipresent?
JLS, you really must learn to pay attention. less caffeine, perhaps.
the vatican-approved app (peace be upon it) only gives guidance as your prepare for confession, and prayers like the act of contrition, which many peple have forgotten – or never bothered to learn.
although GOD is omnipresent, omnipotent, and multi-lingual, HE has chosen not to give absolution through cyber-space because HE wants people to come to church in person.
this was cleary revealed through the recent diary of the computer programmer in mexico who wrote about the commands of our lady of chihuahua earlier this year.
but, like many such alleged claims, he may have made this up – as i just did.
Our Lady of Surbiton is a prime example…
because HE wants people to come to church in person. max, then why are fewer and fewer coming to church? Now don’t tell me it’s because they find the same comraderie in the shopping malls and don’t understand the sacraments.
JLS, verily, they come not unto church because they are lazy.
or scared.
or have forgotten the value of a good confession.
what GOD wants and what people do are not only the same thing, JLS, in case you haven’t noticed…
And, woe be unto those who hack into that donation link and reroute the money.
woe indeed!
“Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” (Proverbs 9:7-9)
Hi father Conley – I road camels around the pyramids with you in the Fall of 1974 and had dinner in Turkey with you and a group of students. I was a freshman on Worl Campus Afloat. You are a wonderful person and meeting you enriched my life. Thank You for introducing me to the wonders of the world!
Warm regards,
Janet Angell