Dance in the Liturgy

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babochka said:
I saw something similar to this (altar girls/students) sprinkling the congregation with water at a Baccalaureate Mass last month for a local Catholic High School. I was horrified.
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At my son’s confirmation, they had a girl dressed in a Biblical type dress carry the incense down the aisle. As she did, she made dancing movements with her arms and hips. I too was horrified, but the bishop seemed pleased. :eek:
 
About four years ago I went to an Easter Vigil Mass at a parish I’d never been to before - we were there to celebrate with someone we know as her teenage son was received into the Church.

Same thing - a woman came out in flowing white scarves, barely covering her tight white unitard. She held a smoking urn, filled with incense, and danced around the Book of the Gospels, wafting the urn up to the book as if it was some god. It was so incredibly embarrassing, saddening, and really made me sick to my stomach that I was there and had to see such an inappropriate display.

I really feel bad for those who call that parish home - they really are being cheated out of what Mass really should be, and distracted by self indulgent nonsense.

~Liza
 
George_Stegmeir said:
Dancing during Mass may be considered a cultural accomodation in parts of Africa, but not in the United States or Canada.
This occurance should be reported to the local Bishop!
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Per the Pope the Africans do it differently, swaying.
 
THE SPIRIT OF THE LITURGY

Dancing is not a form of expression for the Christian liturgy. In about the third century, there was an attempt in certain Gnostic-Docetic circles to introduce it into the liturgy. For these people, the Crucifixion was only an appearance. . . . Dancing could take the place of the liturgy of the Cross, because, after all, the Cross was only an appearance. The cultic dances of the different religions have different purposes - incantation, imitative magic, mystical ecstasy - none of which is compatible with the essential purpose of the liturgy as the “reasonable sacrifice”. It is totally absurd to try to make the liturgy “attractive” by introducing dancing pantomimes (wherever possible performed by professional dance troupes), which frequently (and rightly, from the professionals’ point of view) end with applause. Wherever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. Such attraction fades quickly - it cannot compete in the market of leisure pursuits, incorporating as it increasingly does various forms of religious titillation.

None of the Christian rites include dancing. What people call dancing in the Ethiopian rite or the Zairean [Congolese] form of the Roman liturgy is in fact a rhythmically ordered procession, very much in keeping with the dignity of the occasion. It provides an inner discipline and order for the various stages of the liturgy, bestowing on them beauty and, above all, making them worthy of God.
 
buffalo said:
THE SPIRIT OF THE LITURGY, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger

None of the Christian rites include dancing. What people call dancing in the Ethiopian rite or the Zairean [Congolese] form of the Roman liturgy is in fact a rhythmically ordered procession, very much in keeping with the dignity of the occasion. It provides an inner discipline and order for the various stages of the liturgy, bestowing on them beauty and, above all, making them worthy of God.
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I’ve seen Africans do it (at a Mass in Rome, World Oblate’s Congress) while singing their offertory hymn and while in procession bringing the offerings to the sanctuary. I didn’t think it inappropriate in fact I found it quite moving. I think this is what then-Cardinal Ratzinger is talking about. Their moves were disciplined, most certainly not a free-for-all, and clearly borne out of a very profound devotion.
 
OraLabora said:
I’ve seen Africans do it (at a Mass in Rome, World Oblate’s Congress) while singing their offertory hymn and while in procession bringing the offerings to the sanctuary. I didn’t think it inappropriate in fact I found it quite moving. I think this is what then-Cardinal Ratzinger is talking about. Their moves were disciplined, most certainly not a free-for-all, and clearly borne out of a very profound devotion.
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Indeed, as Cardinal Arinze also so eloquently emphasized in his response to a question on liturgical dance - see the video link in post #16.
 
sedonaman said:
The celebration of the Mass can be “borne out of a very profound devotion” without it, thank you.
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I think you missed my point or didn’t read my entire post. I’m basically in agreement with what then-Cardinal Ratzinger wrote and have seen it done correctly.

We are a universal Church. We have to accept some cultural differences in the liturgy as long as it is within established norms.
 
OraLabora said:
… We have to accept some cultural differences in the liturgy as long as it is within established norms.
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The problem is there are those who do not want norms, established or otherwise. This only encourages more outrageous conduct. :sad_yes:
 
sedonaman said:
The problem is there are those who do not want norms, established or otherwise. This only encourages more outrageous conduct. :sad_yes:
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Maybe the bigger problem is people trying to impose their “norms” on others, such as Americans on everyone who attends Mass in Africa or is of African descent, for example.
The Catholic Church is flourishing in many parts of the world; they must be doing something right over there.
 
ProVobis said:
Maybe the bigger problem is people trying to impose their “norms” on others …
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… or that people ignore the simple fact that the Church has “norms”, and has already spoken on the subject.

But of course, likely the same set would say “it wasn’t infallibly declared”, and thus the directive can be ignored.
 
ProVobis said:
Maybe the bigger problem is people trying to impose their “norms” on others, such as Americans on everyone who attends Mass in Africa or is of African descent, for example.
The Catholic Church is flourishing in many parts of the world; they must be doing something right over there.
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This is a red herring because whoever is in charge will force his norms on the rest. Besides, there is a lot more to Catholicism than dancing.
 
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