New Zealand bishops have issued a statement forbidding faithful to use the Roman Missal app for iPads during Mass
Maria Teresa Pontara Pederiva
Rome
When it comes to the liturgy, cyber theology and the use of new technologies in aid of evangelisation are out of the question. In this era of e-books, e-readers, iPads and laptops, it would seem only normal that faithful in countries which are far more technologically advanced than ours should be able to follow the updated English translation of the missal on their iPads and the like instead of using the official printed copy.

But New Zealand bishops do not seem to agree. The news was reported by local news agency Cathnews which also reported a statement by a Catholic priest: “Negotiating the new text is one thing, negotiating poor formatting is another. If this were a normal book, I'd be tempted to return it.”

In their statement – dated 30 April last – bishops said they had received numerous requests regarding the use of electronic devices in place of the printed version. They said that having deliberated on the matter and looked carefully into what other countries were doing, they concluded that “the Roman Missal is one of our sacred texts,” “reserved for use during the Church’s liturgy.” “iPads and other electronic devices have a variety of uses, e.g. for the playing of games, using the internet, watching videos and checking mail. This alone makes their use in the liturgy inappropriate.”

Although they recognise the validity of their use in other contexts, bishops rule out the use of electronic devices during Mass celebrations. This was confirmed by John Dew, Archbishop of Wellington and head of the New Zealand bishops’ conference and his colleagues in the Episcopate.
http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/homepage/world-news/detail/articolo/nuova-zelanda-new-zeeland-15768/