Fr. Paolo Padrini has developed an application that will let Roman Catholic priests preside at the Eucharist using an iPad instead of a missal book on the altar .
The application will be launched in July in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Latin, and will be free.
Two years ago, Fr Padrini produced the iBreviary, an application for iPods and iPhones. That initial version had some bugs. The current version is iBreviaryPro. The bugs are ironed out, but it only works when connected to the internet. It is a free application.
The iPad application will be similar but also contains the complete missal – all that is required for presiding at the Eucharist. There are plans for audio, commentaries, sermon suggestions and music ideas.
Fr Padrini was asked by the Vatican to oversee its youth outreach program in the new media, www.pope2you.net.
iPhone iPodTouch for Christians
Image taken from the Economist cover.
We really do get closer to the SciFi world in some areas. Remember on Star Trek that they have had touch pads/tablets from almost the beginning.
With the different display shields available for the iPad; matte, anti-glare, polarized, one should be able to compensate for about any lighting scheme at the altar table. Perhaps one can even reverse contrast for older/challenged eyesight; white text on a black background.
I very much want an iPad and am saving my pesos for a future purchase, I have just learned from experience being a long time Apple fan (25+ years), the 2nd iteration is always much better than the first.
If you have seen the iPhone 4, then I am thinking that the next iPad will have the Retina display as well as cameras for FaceTime. I can only imagine what FaceTime will do for the hearing impaired, and what the experience would be on an iPad as opposed to the iPhone!