Letters

Mr Westmore: please put your thing away!

Anne Lastman

Contents - Jun 2014 - Buy a copy now Editorial: The significance of Pentecost - Peter Westmore Saints John XXIII and John Paul II canonised - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World Chain of generosity from Australia to Nigeria - Madonna Brosnan Frassati Australia: dedicated young adult ministry - Br Barry Coldrey UK Bishop speaks out on secularism's debt to Christianity - CNA REPORT Societal violence and the murder of children - Anne Lastman Fr Des Byrne: priest and catechist extraordinary - Bishop Peter J. Elliott Missions: Salesians appeal for Solomon Islands emergency US Catholic school embroiled in dispute over Church teaching - Kirsten Andersen Why England's churches are empty - Nick Hallett Religious freedom and same-sex 'marriage' - Fr John FLynn LC Sisters of St Paul of Chartres and their global impact - CNA REPORT Letters: Smartphone apps on the Mass - A. Erskine Letters: What about the Roman Missal smartphone app? - Harry O'Regan Letters: Mr Westmore: please put your thing away! - Anne Lastman Letters: Modern slavery report - Laurie Sheehan Letters: Triple J Radio - Arnold Jago Books: HANDING ON THE FAITH IN AN AGE OF DISBELIEF, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: A CATHOLIC ETON? Newman's Oratory School, by Paul Shrimpton - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: THE CAMPION SOCIETY: Lay Catholic Action in Australia, by Colin H. Jory - Br Barry Coldrey (reviewer) Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Eucharistic adoration: path to union with the Holy Trinity - Bishop James Conley

Having read Peter Westmore's article "Check out religion apps for smartphones!" and his promise to write another article on the wretched things, I ask respectfully. Please don't!

My vision of Mass, church, brothers and sisters sharing Eucharist with me, is not a vision of looking around and seeing hundreds of people gazing at their phones (even if discreetly) instead of being deep in contemplation and participation of the mysteries taking place.

If we begin gradually to use smartphones for Mass responses what's next?

Remember the slippery slope always begins with some small change for what seems to be a good reason.

ANNE LASTMAN
Fitzroy, Vic

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 27 No 5 (June 2014), p. 15