I've heard priests ask "why is it so hard to get an organist these days" and I've seen priests spend hundreds of pounds on digital hymnals (electronic automatic organists) but I've yet to see a priest spend any money on the training of musicians. Across our diocese, how many young people and teenagers are being sponsored by the Church to take lessons as organists? Why is it so hard to get an organist these days? It's not rocket science.

Training of "extraordinary" ministers - Yes. Training of "ordinary" musicians - Nope.

Don't even get me started on chant.

A Church which only makes use of 'utility' music has fallen for what is, in fact, useless. She too becomes ineffectual. For her mission is a fair higher one...The Church must not settle down with what is merely comfortable and serviceable at the parish level; she must arouse the voice of the cosmos and, by glorifying the Creator, elicit the glory of the cosmos itself, making it also glorious, beautiful, habitable and beloved. Next to the saints, the art which the Church has produced is the only real 'apologia' for her history...The Church is to transform, improve, 'humanize' the world--but how can she do that if at the same time she turns her back on beauty, which is so closely allied to love? For together, beauty and love form the true consolation in this world, bringing it as near as possible to the world of the resurrection. The Church must maintain high standards; she must be a place where beauty can be at home; she must lead the struggle for that 'spiritualisation' without which the world becomes the 'first circle of hell'.

[link]

First circle of hell? That reminds me of something...

Interview With President of Pontifical Communications Council

Q: What is the main challenge for the Church in our current digital era?

It is something very strange. The means of social communication are a challenge, because we're no longer dealing with having or not having means of communication....

...it is a challenge, because it presents us with a reality we have to understand and serve, that we have to love. And, therefore, we have to be present...

Q: Is this digital culture new mission territory?

...the means of social communication are a great opportunity to find help in spreading the Gospel. There is a statement from Pius XII, in which the Pope refers to the means of communication of his time, defining them as "a gift of God." Imagine if he lived today. It is undeniable that these means place many possibilities at the disposal of one who wants to be a missionary.

Apparently my first blog entry about our new bishop was "too negative". Sheesh! If you want negative try Berenike or Fr Ray Blake. I just thought it might be funny to offer him a cup of tea sometime...

I am honestly, genuinely, I promise, without reservation, happy to have a Bishop at last. Also (let my yes be yes and my no be no) I have not decided anything along the lines of "this guy is a bad/good bishop". I'm not in the business of judging who is good and who is bad - Bishops or otherwise. Who do you think I am? Fr. Christmas?

So, what's this Digital Teacher stuff all about then?

I'm glad you asked.

I'm quite excited to read this, while president of Ushaw, Bishop Drainey was involved with a programme of web based study for the permanent diaconate... he said:

"This is an online course, which is as interactive as a classroom full of students. It isn't 'distance learning' which is a one-to-one course, but is extremely interactive,"

Sound's fantastic.

The age old problem when it comes to Adult Formation has always been, too many people, not enought time. The department for Adult Formation are brilliant and yet they have their limits. Fr Lumley and Jane cannot possibly visit every parish even once a month. So you wait a month and get your hour long session most of which is spent drinking tea and being congratulated for turning up.

Imagine interactive online catechesis (chat-echesis?). You log on, you read the materials (at your own pace) you can leave comments and read other's comments (interactive) and you can get to know people hundreds of miles away. People from parishes across the Diocese can get to know each other. You get tea just the way you like it (you make it yourself) and you can do it in your own time (if you work nights, or are housebound, or just can't stand the kind of people you meet in Churches). The opportunities for evangelisation are tremendous. You could run courses for people interested in the Catholic faith who might not feel comfortable entering a Church but might be happy to log on during their lunch break. You don't need a babysitter. It would also be ideal for people like myself who always think of a question the next morning.

Hows that for positive...

If you can't wait for that, the good folks at the Catholic Home Study Service do offer free distance learning. They lack the interactive element that Bishop Drainey spoke about above but they will send you a free textbook and workbook and then you send your answers in online. It's better than nothing. Also, don't forget that, the Department for Adult Formation does have courses available and Jane Cook is already writing online.

In fairness to Fr. Massie and his Digital Homily, it would seem he has friends in high places.

MADISON, WI, November 2, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Bishop Robert C. Morlino is a man of courage. The 59-year-old who has been a bishop for seven years, serving the last three in the diocese of Madison, has taken steps to ensure that his teaching on voting in favour of life and family get transmitted to the faithful.

After hearing reports of "isolated cases" of priests refusing to convey, or even publicly contradicting, the bishops' messages on these important topics, he went to the extraordinary step of ordering all of the priests in his diocese to play a recorded message of his own at weekend Masses on November 4-5 in the place of the homily.

I remain skeptical about how good an idea this is, do we really want a world where the Pope records a homily and every Catholic Parish in the world hears the same thing?

There's an old joke. There are 10 types of people, those who understand binary and those who don't.

It's a joke that usually has to be explained (and consequently, not a very funny one). Counting in binary begins with 0, then 1, then 10 (because there is no 2). Therefore, 10 is binary for 2. There are 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary and those who don't. If at this point you are laughing then you are very easily amused.

We live in what some have called 'the digital age'. It started with music stored digitally on CD (okay so arguably it started with Morse Code or even more arguably scratches on a cave wall) and before you knew it we had Digital Watches, Digital Cameras, Digital Television, Digital Hymnals...

...wait a moment, did he just say Digital Hymnal?

Now a Digital Hymnal, if it was what you might think it was, would be great. If everybody collected a hymn book on the way in to mass and when they opened it up the pages cleverly displayed the next hymn then we would be free from the limits of a paper hymnal. Nobody would need to find pages, we wouldn't need numbers on the wall, just glance in the book and sing what you see. Ella could select good hymns instead of the limited selection from one particular edition Hymns Old and New. People with arthritis wouldn't need to fumble with pages and you could have a switch on the side allowing a large print/high contrast view for those with impaired vision. Hey, you could even pipe different words depending on the location of the singer in the room for antiphonal singing.

Unfortunately, that's not what a Digital Hymnal is. The kind of Digital Hymnal I'm talking about, the kind employed by Fr. Massie in the West Hull Parishes (St. Wilfrid's, Corpus Christi and St. Joseph's) is more like an electric keyboard without the keys. Remember those awful demo songs where you type in the number and you can hear Fur Elise on the harpsichord, piano or barked by a not particularly convincing dog? Fr. Massie's Digital Hymnal is like one of those. It has a keypad and you type in the hymn number and it plays the hymn.

Personally, I find this deeply troubling and not because it sounds bad either. My problem is this: Playing an instrument during the mass constitutes an act of worship. Using an electronic device to play music does not. The existence of a box that makes music discourages human beings from making music themselves and as such discourages worship. God gives people gifts to produce music and in doing so they glorify Him.

I am fully aware that I stand in the minority on this one. The general consensus even among usually sensible sound Catholics is that any music is better than no music. I disagree, I think people singing without music (even badly) is more glorifying to God than the tone being set by machine.

So what to do? Well, for some time I've been considering a blog entry in which I would parody a service offering to replace all the parts of the mass with digital components. Why have extraordinary ministers cluttering up the altar when a simple mechanical dispenser can do the job? Why have humans do the readings when a recording could be used, who want's to hear some old woman when you can have a recording of Brian Blessed or Peter Dickson (who?). Why have a priest resident when the Pope himself can transubstantiate a vast supply and have it shipped out. Surely people would prefer Papal Eucharist to the regular kind? Speaking of the Pope, why have homilies by local priests when you could pop a TV on the lectern and have the Pope himself, live!

If all that seems a bit irreverent that's because it is! I'm not suggesting it. I'm not the one with a Digital Hymnal.

Calm down James. This isn't going any further. Your silly imagined situations are just that, silly imaginations. Nobody is going to, say, do a Digital Homily. No priest in his right mind would replace the Homily with a CD recording of some girl from Blackpool doing a talk at a conference.

Would they?

Today. Sunday 5th August 2007. Parody became reality.

Before mass this morning Fr. Massie draped unsightly orange extension cable across the sanctuary and when I gave him an inquisitive look remarked 'Digital Homily'. I thought he was joking. When the time for the Homily came, Fr. Massie took a frankly huge ghetto-blaster and placed it on the lectern, explained what we were about to hear and (after we waited through a bit of fast-forwarding) played us a talk on CD.

It's worth noting that the contents of the CD were sound enough. Amy from Blackpool didn't say anything untoward though it did feel quite long. I agree with Fr. Massie on this: it was a good talk and it was good for people to hear it.

What I don't agree with is replacing the Homily with a talk by a lay person, digital or otherwise. Certainly, that a Homily must never be be given my a lay person is clear. Redemptionis Sacramentum states:

[64.] The homily, which is given in the course of the celebration of Holy Mass and is a part of the Liturgy itself, "should ordinarily be given by the Priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating Priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to a Deacon, but never to a layperson."

...

[74.] If the need arises for the gathered faithful to be given instruction or testimony by a layperson in a Church concerning the Christian life, it is altogether preferable that this be done outside Mass. Nevertheless, for serious reasons it is permissible that this type of instruction or testimony be given after the Priest has proclaimed the Prayer after Communion. This should not become a regular practice, however. Furthermore, these instructions and testimony should not be of such a nature that they could be confused with the homily, nor is it permissible to dispense with the homily on their account.

Whether a homily can be given by a layperson as long as it is pre-recorded so the priest can vet it is highly suspect. So, frankly, I don't know what Fr. Massie is thinking. If he carries on like this and things go really well he might end up with 1000 people in his Church (that's 8 by the way).

Still, he could always invest in some Digital Parishoners.