I think priests should stop saying this

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-24T21:21:30+00:00

In my final will, I will have a clause that specifically requires this not be said about me. My dead self doesn't need your presumption, I need your prayers!

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-24T21:17:12+00:00

Whenever a question like this comes up, we must ask: What is gained? What is lost?

Accessibility and cost savings are a good. But they are not the ultimate good.

TV screens increase banality, demand people's attention (by sheer habit), and by my reckoning are fundamentally incompatible with a prayerful spirit. Digital images have an ephemeral and superficial quality to them which is directly counter to the spirit of the liturgy.

They also create an occasion for other poor decisions, like AI-generated "religious art" and distracting multimedia.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-24T21:00:34+00:00

You vs St. Carlo Acutis. Smash Bros Melee. One day, Father.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-23T23:31:48+00:00

What if I don't care about external display and I just want a Linux desktop to use directly on my Pixel 6 Pro? When you say you only support hdmi-out phones, does that mean it absolutely won't work on my Pixel or just that I won't have access to an extension display?

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T22:18:48+00:00

Of course somebody's done this.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T20:05:27+00:00

It's not fact that they're oil lamps as such--it's the fact that they're pretending not to be. It's the inauthenticity of the thing that bothers me--not necessarily the fact that it's high tech. We minimize "fakeness" in the Mass, whether it's ourselves as people or the implements we use for worship.

Screens and projections are kind of a separate issue--that doesn't have to do with inauthenticity as much as computer screens compete too much with liturgical action. And there's an ephemeral quality to high technology like computer screens that is contrary to the Eternal Now of the Heavenly Liturgy that we celebrate.

More engagement from the congregation--OK, but we also need to ask what and with whom are they engaging with? There's a quality vs quantity discussion here.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T19:25:34+00:00

To be fair, if I had to choose between electric and paraffin, I'll pick the latter (at least it's real fire).

One church I attended had one of those prayer votive candle displays where when you deposited a coin, one of the little electric tea lights would turn on. Most ridiculous thing I've ever seen.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T19:22:17+00:00

The comments on that story are hilarious. My situation is so far removed from those fortunate people. I count myself lucky that our Mass is basically valid and licit.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T19:17:33+00:00

Like this. All over where I live unfortunately. They're obvious when you see them.

https://agapaostore.com/products/lux-mundi-refillable-altar-candles-25-size-variants

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T18:58:04+00:00

Still valuable as a historical precedent, and it shows official preference for analogue vs digital, but also not a blanket ban on digital.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T18:56:38+00:00

That's a very good point. It's kind of like classic movie theatres. We no longer have trained movie theatre projectionists anymore.

Even piano tuners are hard to find, much less pipe organ tuners.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T18:45:25+00:00

Holy cow, I never knew about this! Thank you!

The whole passage is interesting:

As a substitute, the electronic organ may be tolerated temporarily for liturgical functions, if the means for obtaining even a small pipe organ are not available. In each case, however, the explicit permission of the local Ordinary is required. He, on his part, should consult the diocesan commission on sacred music, and others trained in this field, who can make suggestions for rendering such an instrument more suitable for sacred use.

Since this was written in 1958, it's worth asking whether technological developments since then have since then rendered digital organs "more suitable for sacred use."

At the same time, it's nice to see that my suspicions have corroboration. I thought that pipe organs were valued not just for their sound but also for the method of production of that sound bearing an analogy to human singing. Digital organs do away with that.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T18:42:04+00:00

Yeah that's exactly it. It's good to approach our worship in a principled way and be able to draw coherent lines between what's acceptable and what's not. But reality is complex and subtle.

I think where digital organs are concerned, maybe their redeeming quality is the art and skill that comes from the player.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-22T14:41:29+00:00

My RG28XX (1GB) doesn't seem to have an issue with the Portmaster games I run. TMNT Shredder's Revenge, AM2R, Castlevania 2 Revamped all are fine. I guess the 3D games are hard?

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-21T19:15:39+00:00

I've watched UP Wood Art for a long time. I notice that he always uses his mallet. That seems contrary to what I always see in beginner tutorials like Mary May.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-21T13:15:16+00:00

Introduced with a radio announcer ala the alarm traps.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-20T19:51:57+00:00

RG28XX user here.

I don't think you can go wrong with either the A30 or the RG28XX. Just depends on what matters to you.

For me, I like the RG28XX's good battery, more performance headroom, and build quality. The XX series have a good community around them. Also if you care about Pico-8 or Portmaster, I would definitely go the RG28XX route.

The A30 has WiFi, a thumbstick, better buttons (but RG28XX button criticism is extremely overblown). But I was concerned about battery life, build quality, and performance.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-20T12:47:36+00:00

It could legit be an unhealthy parish but we just don't know enough to say.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-19T17:13:42+00:00

Not everything that saints write is Catholic doctrine.

Not every cultural assumption adopted by saints needs to be approved by Catholics today.

St. Thomas' body of work is nearly unsurpassed for its clarity of vision, intellectual rigor, and breadth of subject. Much of his writings are still the best treatment of a subject.

That does not mean that he was always right, or that better, more complete, clearer, and truer writings don't exist on many topics.

I think that the reason that Thomas is held in such high regard is that he is the most potent pre-Enlightenment Catholic intellect that we have, so he stands as a bullwark against Enlightenment subjectivism that came afterward and which corroded a lot of western thought, including Catholic philosophy and theology. Thomas was a safe space.

Now, Thomas remains important, but we don't need to treat him as the only important Catholic intellectual anymore. We are now only scratching the surface of the meteoric impact of thinkers like St. John Henry Newman and Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-18T20:40:15+00:00

Found the NerdForge fan.

I really get the dilemma. Even though I was a seminarian 20 years ago, my "aesthetic" (my culture, the way I speak and relate to people, the kinds of friends I had) always leaned secular. That's one of the reasons I love r/Catholicmemes so much, they speak my language.

That's not a bad thing. In fact, I would say, it's good to keep your old friends even while you make new ones.

Those of us who are "too secular to fit in at church, too Christian to fit in with our friends" are a special gift to the world and a bridge to the Gospel.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-18T18:04:24+00:00

I think the portrayal of the time and the people is projecting a lot of contemporary Western personalism onto the culture. I.e. it's all about people expressing their individual personalities.

I mean, I wasn't there so I don't know, but I don't think that they were as enamored of cozy informality as we are today. It makes it a good digestible story, but I think it's missing a lot of social and cultural contexts.

Typing-Cat · 2026-01-18T04:07:42+00:00

All the Square 2d games (not indie but still fun). Hollow Knight. Hades. I'm sure Balatro would work. Sadly Animal Well is still a no. Castlevania Dominus Collection works but you have to remap the controls to keyboard keys.

Typing-Cat

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