AN ELECTRONIC HYMN BOARD FOR ST. ANTHONY'S?

This blog entry is part of a series of follow-up articles to the questions and suggestions submitted at the Parish Town Hall Meeting of September 29, 2019. They are mostly written by Fr. Bob.
 

Church of St. Nicolas in Schroeding, Bavaria (Germany)

SUGGESTION:

"Move the song board to the column by the flowers, closer to the altar. Everyone would be able to see it better."

An excellent suggestion! We've begun talking about this with the musicians, parish staff, pastoral council, etc. We think we have an even better suggestion:

We could get an electonic number board and mount it there, where you suggest. There are several advantages to this: The numbers can be very large if we want (I have seen boards with 12 inch digits!); a lighted board is easier to see, even from a distance; the musicians would no longer need to climb a ladder to change the numbers; any changes to the music could be registered immediately; we could also post the page number in the missalette for the Scripture readings, responses, etc.

The counter-arguments: It affects the aesthetics of the sanctuary, making it more "artificial" and "electronic"; we lose the concrete symbolism of the wooden board; someone has to be trained to control the board; it is one more electronic thing that can go haywire.

Price is not an argument. Electronic hymn boards are actually CHEAPER than old fashioned wooden ones.

In the coming weeks, we'll discuss this more. If you have any opinions - for, against, or neutral - please do let us know! You can comment here, send a note to pastoralcouncil@stanthonyangola.com, or just mention something to Marilee Roederer or Fr. Bob.

Praise the Lord with music!

friar Bob Showers OFM Conv.