(As posted on Catholicism for the Modern World, but with some revisions.)
What comes into your mind whenever Minecraft is mentioned? Blocks? Monsters? Creepers? All of those three words are correct. In fact, Minecraft has become so popular that it spawned countless memes, videos, and even recreations of popular music videos.
But have you ever heard of Minecraft being used as a means to preach about Christianity?
You must have recalled the story of a priest who used Minecraft to teach a young kid about the Catholic faith. Or you might have even heard of the Vatican’s official Minecraft server, which was attacked as soon as it was launched.
Better yet, have you ever heard of a Minecraft server that is dedicated to providing a secure and safe avenue for players to have fun while practicing Catholicism? Look no further than PRO DEO MC, formerly known as Catholic World MC!
So how did the server come into being? I’ll tell you the story!
I was introduced to Minecraft by an old friend from college when I saw her playing the Bedrock Edition (then known as Pocket Edition) of the game on her Android tablet, and the simple yet sublime graphics, together with the limitless creative possibilities, immediately piqued my interest. I downloaded the Java Edition of Minecraft on my PC, and as soon as I started learning the game’s controls and playing it, I was immediately hooked.
I clearly remember the very first structure that I built: an enormous Cathedral of my own design. It was a cruciform Church made of sandstone blocks, the left-wing containing an image of the Church’s patron (the Church was named after St. Uriel, who is one of the Seven Archangels) and the right-wing housing the Chapel. The spires were then made of lapis lazuli blocks and the crosses were made of glow stones. Other builds soon followed: the St. Uriel belfry, the YF (Yuri’s Fair) park, rollercoasters, and so much more.
I temporarily stopped playing Minecraft in order to focus on my final project, then I went back approximately one or two years just before the pandemic hit. At that time, I was also on Catholic servers on Discord, and so I have decided to start the Catholic World MC Discord server. The rest, as they say, is history.
The server has gone through numerous changes throughout its more than 1 year of existence, including having to run the server on virtual networks. The first virtual network host is Radmin VPN, then I switched to ZeroTier One when I discovered that the former has no mobile version. I continued using ZeroTier until I discovered an online Minecraft server hosting site called Shockbyte, which promises excellent quality hosting at affordable prices. Now, the server is online 24/7 and has been like that ever since. As the server grew, more plugins and a resource pack were added, improving gameplay and overall enjoyment. Recently, I have decided to revamp and reinvent the server, and that includes the name change to Pro Deo MC (Special thanks to Kuzi8440 for suggesting this cool and fitting new name).
We at Pro Deo MC express our love for Christ and His Church through various ways. One such way is by building Catholic-inspired architecture such as Churches, monasteries, and convents. Some of our players are excellent builders, and they have created awesome Churches. Additionally, we have religious icons on every Church, thanks to a plugin called ImageMaps.
Another way in which we express our love for Catholicism is by roleplaying priests and nuns (I myself roleplay as a Cardinal), and we do this without any intentions of mockery or disrespect. Let’s face it: a Catholic Minecraft server is NEVER complete without the Eucharist! As part of the roleplaying aspect, we celebrate Masses and various liturgies from both Western and Eastern Catholic rites; the Maronite Qurbono is one of those. In fact, we put disclaimers after every roleplay Mass that they have no sacramental value at all, and that we even encourage our players to fulfill their Sunday obligations by attending real-life Masses.
Also, I would like to add that roleplay Masses in games such as Minecraft and Roblox (yes, they also do roleplay Masses in Catholic Roblox servers) do not constitute a violation of the Canon Law, because the provisions have clearly stated that there will only be a violation if the two following conditions are met:
- It happened in real-life, in real-time.
- It was done with the intention to deceive the faithful.
In addition, Freck (who took on the roleplay name of Cardinal Ioannes), one of the former Senior Administrators of Pro Deo MC, consulted with a priest, a seminarian, and an apologist regarding this issue, and all three gave us the go signal since they are in agreement that there is no violation of Canon Law involved. If roleplaying Masses in any form of medium is indeed a violation of Canon Law as what our detractors claim, then they should start calling out those who celebrate Masses in Roblox, as well as actors who are portraying the role of priests in movies and TV shows.
The Pro Deo MC server is committed to spreading Catholicism through Minecraft and will continue to do so for a very long time. In spite of the issues being thrown at the server by our detractors, we managed to stay strong, and we continually strive to make our server better and more enjoyable for our Catholic community who are avid Minecraft gamers like us. Lastly, we will continue to bring the positive side of video games by using them as modern tools to spread the Catholic faith and bring about a positive influence on the world while having good, clean, and wholesome fun at the same time.