Last Saturday, I attended the episcopal ordination in Vienna — a liturgical ceremony that unexpectedly felt closer to a large-scale public event than to what many people would associate with a “typical” church service. More than 3,000 people gathered inside the cathedral, while security measures, police controls, media crews, and a precisely choreographed procession shaped the overall experience. The ceremony lasted over two hours and was accompanied by music, live broadcasts, and extensive technical infrastructure. What struck me most was not only the scale of the event, but the atmosphere it created: excitement, anticipation, and even moments of collective jubilation.
Experiencing this ordination made me reflect deeply on the paradox that currently surrounds the Catholic Church. On the one hand, there is a widely discussed and very real distance between the institution of the Church and many people in everyday life. Regular church attendance is declining, and the Church is often perceived as outdated, rigid, or disconnected from contemporary realities. On the other hand, events like this episcopal ordination demonstrate that, under certain circumstances, the Church is still capable of mobilizing large crowds and generating strong emotional engagement.
During the ceremony, the liturgy was carefully structured and staged. The procession, spatial arrangements, musical interventions, and transitions between ritual moments were highly orchestrated. From an interaction design perspective, this revealed how strongly experience design is already embedded within liturgical processes — even if it is rarely framed in those terms. The event felt immersive: attention was guided, emotions were amplified, and a sense of shared significance was created through rhythm, sound, movement, and symbolism.
What made this impulse particularly relevant for my master’s research was the contrast between this intense, collective experience and the everyday distance many people feel toward the Church. It raised an important question for me: why do people who may otherwise feel disconnected from institutional religion still show up for such events and even experience them as meaningful or moving? The ordination functioned almost like a “threshold moment,” temporarily lowering barriers and allowing people to participate without requiring long-term commitment or regular practice.
The strong presence of technology also played a key role. Camera cranes, live streams, microphones, lighting, and coordinated media coverage transformed the ceremony into something that extended beyond the physical space of the cathedral. The liturgy was not only performed for those present, but also for an unseen, remote audience. This hybrid physical-digital setting made the ritual accessible in new ways and highlighted how contemporary liturgical experiences already rely on interactive and mediating systems.
For my master’s thesis, which explores how interactive media can support spiritual or liturgical experiences, this event served as a powerful real-world reference. It showed that interaction does not necessarily mean screens, apps, or explicit user interfaces. Interaction can also be temporal, spatial, embodied, and emotional. The way people moved, stood, watched, listened, and responded collectively was itself a form of interaction — carefully enabled through design decisions.
At the same time, the event raised critical questions. If the Church is capable of creating such impactful experiences on special occasions, why does this not translate into everyday liturgical life? Is it the scale, the rarity, the performative aspect, or the sense of collective importance that makes the difference? And how could interactive media help bridge this gap — not by turning liturgy into spectacle, but by supporting participation, reflection, and personal meaning?
This impulse reinforced my intention not to approach my research from a didactic or missionary perspective. Instead, it encouraged me to observe, analyze, and learn from existing practices. The episcopal ordination made visible how carefully designed processes can shape spiritual experiences — and how interaction design already operates within religious contexts, often implicitly. Understanding these dynamics will be crucial for developing thoughtful, respectful, and meaningful interactive interventions within liturgical or spiritual settings.
Links:
- https://www.erzdioezese-wien.at/site/home/nachrichten/article/135622.html
- https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000305542/gruenwidl-wird-zum-wiener-erzbischof-geweiht
- https://religion.orf.at/stories/3233915/
Dissclaimer: AI was used here for a better wording and structuring
