The Sacraments and Virtual Reality

“We find ourselves in a historical moment of pervasive mediocrity. Fueled by basic human drives—flights from death and boredom—the new technologies, bright and all consuming, increasingly blur the lines between direct experience and representation. A photograph of an apple is not food and the Internet has neither scent nor texture.”
― Jonathan Simons, The Analog Sea Review: Number One

INTRODUCTION

During the covid pandemic many of us who could not go to Mass took to the internet, watching liturgies and priests that struck our fancy. We could rise very early and pick up a Mass recorded from Australia, 14 to 16 hours earlier, or wait until evening to watch a live celebration in a later time zone. But it did not satisfy. A picture of the priest raising the Body and Blood of Our Lord for us to observe is not the same as seeing that between the heads of the kneeling congregation. And certainly there is no way to receive Holy Communion online.

Those of us who fancy speculative fiction can imagine a future in which virtual reality devices would attempt to implement such deficiencies. Holographic techniques could give us images that appear to be solid. Special gloves might give us the sense of touch…and so forth. But could such an enhanced virtual Mass be equivalent to one where we are physically present? My answer is a resounding NO! Since I hope this response seems obvious to the reader, I won’t attempt to justify it further.

What I will examine in this article are less obvious cases, where the distinction between presence and virtual reality may not be as clear. Is it the case that all the sacraments require a physical presence? I could make this piece very short by citing the answer of Fr. Dominic Langevin, OP:

“As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, ‘The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace.’ As signs, the sacraments are physical. They are driven by spiritual principles and ends, but they are rites involving physically manifested words, gestures, and things. This is how Christ instituted the sacraments and how the Church must live them”—Fr. Dominic Langevin, OP, “Why we can’t confess over zoom,” First Things, 3 April 2020.

That being said, further discussion may help us to determine how appropriate the internet (as it is now, or may be in its ultimate realization, virtual reality) might be for non-sacramental devotions.

THOSE SACRAMENTS THAT CLEARLY REQUIRE A PHYSICAL PRESENCE

Without giving justifications, I’ll list those sacraments that clearly require a physical presence:

• Baptism

• Confirmation

• Matrimony

• Holy Orders

• Holy Communion

• Anointing of the Sick

Although Fr. Langevin gives convincing reasons for putting Penance (Confession, the Sacrament of Reconciliation) on that list, there might be a need for virtual Confession.  Let’s examine his arguments.

DOES CONFESSION REQUIRE THE PHYSICAL PRESENCE OF A PRIEST?

When I was learning about the Church and its sacraments 27 years ago, I was impressed by the role of the priest in Confession: “in persona Christi.” I was confessing my sins not to a man I knew (or didn’t know), but to our Lord, Jesus Christ. Whether I liked the priest or not, whether he was a good or bad priest, whether the penance he assigned was appropriate or not, did not matter. And certainly being face-to-face (or in front of the confessional shield) to “in persona Christi” is much more than encountering His image on a computer screen.

In his article, Fr. Langevin gives other arguments for person-to-person Confession, including the possible violation of confidentiality if electronic devices are used. However the quotation below shows the core of his reasoning:

“The sacramental rite involves four specific acts: the penitent’s contrition, confession, and satisfaction, and the priest’s absolution. It is not a monologue, but a dialogue….This salvific conversation cannot occur through electronic means because the sacrament of penance requires both joint physical presence and live, interpersonal action between the penitent and priest-confessor. The conditions for a full, natural, human conversation must exist.”—op.cit.

Although I agree with all of the above, others say the Church should offer alternatives to person-to-person confession when pandemic restrictions make person-to-person Confession difficult or impossible (see here). However, the Church has always held that when a priest is unavailable one ahas the option of perfect contrition.

Are there non-sacramental modes of worship that could employ internet techniques? I’m interested in one, in particular, Adoration, and would be grateful for reader comments that would help me to decide what to do.

ADORATION VIA THE INTERNET?

Let me give some background before addressing general issues. At 92.7 my travel options are limited. Before the pandemic I would visit the local Adoration Chapel weekly, having signed up for a regularly scheduled stint. The Chapel was closed during the pandemic. A few months after quarantine restrictions were generally removed, it opened for two days a week. Let me add that my options for driving have become limited during the last three years.

Although I attended Mass frequently during the week before the pandemic, these last two years I’ve attended only on required days and occasionally during the week. I don’t regard viewing an internet Mass as a good substitute for being there in person, but I do watch homilies given by a few priests on YouTube. One of these, Fr. Mike Schmitz, recently urged those watching to do 29 minutes of Adoration for 29 days as an Advent devotion. (See here.) I have started to do this, but can’t do it other than virtually, via YouTube videos of perpetual adoration chapels (see here, here and here).

My question: am I adoring Our Lord, by looking at an image of him? I’ll agree that the consecrated host visible in the monstrance is His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. But what about the computer generated image of that host? I would be most grateful for the reader’s thoughts on this and on other forms of virtual devotions.

NOTE

Featured image is from here.