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It all started so innocently. I was interviewing people long-associated with St. Joan of Arc, and all of a sudden they began to speak about “flashers”! Well, I know that the church has sometimes received attention in rather unexpected ways but …??

In the end, it was all explained. Flasher (also known as clicker) was the term bestowed on those responsible for making sure the rest of us know the words to the songs sung at mass each Sunday; the more conventional term might be “projectionist.” Their story has evolved from an early, rather crude slide projection system to today’s cyber-enhanced version rendering the verses and accompanying graphics wholly accessible to anyone in the church. In the words of long-time parishioner and volunteer, JoAnn Potts, “I have NEVER been in a Catholic church where the congregation sings as loud and clear and lovingly…..with every mouth moving as one…..it IS the ultimate participation in the Eucharist.”

JoAnn Potts and Gloria Bandy come in during the week to arrange slides for the flashers.

JoAnn guided me on this odyssey, along the way pointing me to others who might fill in the literary blanks. In the early days of the gym mass many of the songs came from the public domain; folk songs became as popular as those from the hymnal. Since the hymnals were of limited use, Father Egan suggested song sheets expressly for the gym masses. But before long an overhead screen and slide projector emerged to take their place. The concept was good but still very labor-intensive. Anna Vagle had to send the words for each song to a company that would make up a slide. Lily Gould, parish secretary, and Sr. Jean Irvine had the job of putting the slides in the correct order. There was only one slide of each song so it was not possible to use the same song at the gym mass and the family mass on the same Sunday. (The family mass used a similar slide system for its music).

Anna Vagle remembers the difficulties of the system in fact, any of us who ever used a slide projector can easily empathize. (Those of you under the age of 30 probably won’t know what we are talking about!) Loading a slide projector was tedious and precise. Slides needed to be placed in the projector in the exact order they would be shown, positioned up-side-down and backward so they would project correctly. There was no room for last minute changes. If the musicians decided to substitute a song or delete a verse - too bad!

Anna shook her head as she recalled the Easter Sunday, always one of the most hectic days for the staff and musicians, in which a projector got stuck. At that time the projectors, one on each side of the church, were located up on high shelves. If a projector stuck and couldn’t be freed it required that someone bring a tall ladder over to fix it or even bring it down for repair. On this disastrous Sunday one of the projectors tipped and all the slides fell out! Someone came to Anna’s rescue and things were restored to reasonable order just in time for mass. Jerry Hartlaub, one of the indefatigable “flashers” recalled the difficulty of getting both of the projectors to “obey” one remote. Sometimes only one would get the signal, and then the projectors would each have different lyrics. The job of projectionist was not for the faint hearted.

Ken Ward at the older desktop model used in past years.

It was Father Al Rutan who finally suggested that a computer might be the way of the future for the projectionists. A system designed specifically for church worship was purchased. It paved the way, but still left a lot to be desired so a couple of years ago the system was changed to PowerPoint. This was a program many of the volunteers already knew – and it was considerably more user-friendly. About that same time the hardware also changed, going from a bulky desktop model to a much more compact laptop. Fred Vagle, Anna’s husband and SJA songster, turned his abundant talents to the technical matters involving the masses and website several years ago. Now he is at the center of most of the audio-visual projects undertaken by the church. He told me about the St. Joan of Arc Media Tower, a computer which acts as a kind of server. All songs, services, pictures and audio recordings are kept on it. That means that everything involving the projection system can work without too much technical support.

So everything is easier, more user-friendly but not foolproof! The Sunday mass that appears to be rather straight-forward and effortless is, in fact, enough to cause some of the technical people to break out in a cold sweat. “It is,” in the words of JoAnn Potts, “a real production”. The priest, reader, projectionist and musicians actually have a script to be sure that gym lights are turned up or down as needed, that the correct music is played and that the corresponding lyrics are projected. During certain services such as Good Friday the gym is almost completely darkened – a real challenge for someone trying to run a computer operation! And script or no script, the musicians occasionally take a “detour,” skipping or adding a verse to suit a longer than usual communion line. Then it is up to the flasher to try to find that slide on the PowerPoint presentation. It all adds up to a few hair-raising moments for those in charge. But it is a great credit to them that those attending mass have nary a hint of it.

Along with the ease of use, the advent of the high-tech projection system has augmented the kind of information it displays. Instead of merely presenting the lyrics, it is now used for multiple functions – a kind of lyrics-graphics-prayer presentation-electronic bulletin-nursery alert system. Wow! Talk about multi-tasking! Let’s look at those one at a time.

Flasher Jerry Hartlaub looks over the Sunday script

• Seasonal or topical graphics are attractive and eye catching before mass and during the service when song lyrics aren’t needed.
• When a speaker wants to present visual images or a slide show to enhance his or her presentation, it can be arranged.
• Maybe you have seen a small number in the corner of the screen. That is part of the electronic nursery alert program. When parents leave children in the nursery they are given a number. If the child should become irreconcilable the number of the child is flashed on the screen in order to quickly notify the parents.
• In the busy time before mass begins the screens do the work of an electronic bulletin. Notices of upcoming concerts, workshops, and other special events flash across the screen.
• Have you ever attended the Good Friday service? If so, you have undoubtedly been moved by the riveting images projected up on the screens during The Stations of the Cross. These are not biblical paintings; they are contemporary photos, most black and white, often gritty or brooding, and – in combination with the reflections being read – they are a catalyst to sobering introspection.

Sam Kent has been clicking various incarnations of projections systems for over 30 years.

I wanted to end my odyssey with a little foray into the future. For that I called on resident IT person, Fred Vagle. This was his response:

“Our goal was to build a paperless, no slides system that could project words and images. That is done. New changes coming up may include:

1. Wireless management, no cables.
2. The computer would remain in a media room, presentation managed by a wireless, radio frequency device by someone in the gym sitting in any seat.
3. On demand video, image display, by faster, more powerful computers.
4. Live web broadcasting.”

Projectionists Tom Hance and Jack Sell

A little newer to the system, but quickly becoming indispensable is staff member, Pam Oleson-Kremer. Pam is the wife of Steve Kremer, long-standing SJA musician. One of her many duties is training the projectionists and making sure that someone is assigned each Sunday. I was astounded as she told me that her latest volunteer was a youth who sat at the computer with her little sister on her knee and never missed a cue on her first Sunday! That made me think that maybe even I could do it - and surely you could! There are never too many people available for the projection post and volunteers are always gladly welcomed.

What seemed like a simple thing, song lyrics projected onto screens, has clearly been not simple at all. And as with most systems, there are varying levels of appreciation. Those people who so diligently hang the beautiful altar decorations and backdrops are disappointed when the screens obscure some of their hard work. Anna Vagle appreciates the fact that the people of SJA sing with such enthusiasm, but she is dismayed that without the use of the hymnal people are forgetting how to read music. As for me, since I have a fairly severe hearing loss, I love having the lyrics up in front of me. Normally the words to songs are completely incoherent but at St. Joan of Arc these visual cues are a blessing. For the most part, I think JoAnn Potts said it best – and it is worth repeating.

“I have never been in a Catholic church where the congregation sings as strong, clear and lovingly as is done at St. Joan’s. When I look around and see that every mouth is moving as one, I know that this is what true participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is all about and one of the basic reasons that St. Joan of Arc is a community instead of just another building where mass is said.”

Sue O'Brien is the wife of Tom, mother of four children, and grandmother of six. She is dental hygienist and manages a dental practice in Spring Lake Park. A parishioner for many years, Sue worked as a caregiver at Grace House for seven years, beginning the week it opened. Now she is looking forward to meeting new people at St. Joan of Arc as she helps out as a web reporter and photographer. Sue can be reached at sueo-b@comcast.net.