I was really inspired by James’ post yesterday, and I want to pick up the torch and follow on from the theme that James introduced us to in regards to reverence for the Eucharist.

I am sure that you are all aware that WUSS module 3 has been released along with a special PowerPoint presentation that has been shown in many parishes around the country.

Now I think that WUSS is a great initiative from the NZ Bishops, and it offers an awesome opportunity for Catholics to receive formation about the Eucharist and why the Mass is the “source and summit” of our Catholic faith.

WUSS module 3 is called “The Movements of the Mass” and it is meant to focus on the postures, and other physical things that we do every time we celebrate Mass.

Having seen the official PowerPoint for module 3 I have to say that I found it seriously lacking, and not only that but it was quite childish and it certainly doesn’t promote any sense of dignity or reverence about the Mass.

Let me give you some actual examples:

The slide showing a priest vesting for Mass simply has the words: “Dress up” written above it as an explanation of what the priest is doing.

Another photo of a priest carrying the Book of the Gospels has the explanation “Carry books” above it.

Then at the photo of people receiving Communion we have the explanation: “Eat” and “Drink”

The whole PowerPoint presentation just came across as being really childish and overly simple (like we’re all idiots!) and the lack of actual Catholic catachesis is a real let down.

When you go through the PowerPoint, there isn’t actually any explanation of what is really happening, or why we do certain things in Mass, it’s just a whole lot of photos with simplistic verbs written on them.

The terminology used is so simple and childish that it’s almost insulting to the intelligence of the viewer, and secondly there is actually no catachesis about WHY we do the things that we do in Mass, and WHAT liturgical movement is actually happening.

In the end it reads like a toddlers picture book about verbs, rather than an educational text about liturgical postures and movements.

Sadly; when this approach is applied to pictures of people participating in the Mass it totally belittles the liturgy, reducing it to something childish and silly, and it simply doesn’t teach anybody anything.

It’s like two adults watching a plane take-off, and one turns to the other and points at the sky and says “flying”.

Well that’s just great if you don’t know what the verb “flying” actually means, but it doesn’t answer important educational questions like “why is the plane flying?”, “where is the plane flying to?”, and “how does the plane fly?”.

I have to say that reading the PowerPoint makes me feel like Tom Cruise in the movie Rain Man

Interestingly enough, a friend of mine told me about some people who have not been attending Mass, and have only recently started coming to Mass again, only to be confronted with the WUSS module 3 PopwerPoint last Sunday.

These people said that they felt that the presentation treated them like they were “children”, and they found it insulting.

This is hardly the kind of thing we need if we are serious about trying to promote greater reverence for the Mass, form people in the faith or reach out to lapsed Catholics.

Now I don’t know much about the venture, or the people behind it, but I have been informed that a modified version of the WUSS module 3 PowerPoint presentation has actually been made available on the Internet for people to download.

I have had a look at it, and it is a massive improvement from the current version.

For example:

The picture of the priests in vestments now says “priests vest”

The picture of the priest carrying the Book of the Gospels now reads “Process the book of the Gospels”.

And the picture of people receiving Communion now states: “Receive the Body and Blood of Christ”.

The whole thing is a massive improvement from the original as it explains what is actually happening in each part of the Mass, and it gives a basic catachesis of what we do with our bodies during Mass – in fact some of the slides now even clarify important things like where you are meant to genuflect towards when you enter the church.

Most welcome of all is the fact that the new presentation doesn’t come across as being childish, and it promotes greater dignity and reverence for the Mass.

Like I said, I don’t know much about this updated PowerPoint presentation, but I salute whoever has gone to the trouble of producing it.

Hopefully it will either lead to an official update of the old presentation, or maybe parishes might even adopt this new one when presenting module 3 to their parishioners.

Take a look at both versions (it’ll take you about 2 minutes for each) and let us know what you think.

You can view the original PowerPoint, and the updated version here