Flag During Consecration

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We recently had a military holiday here. I guess it would be like Memorial Day or Veterans Day in the States. During the Mass, the flag was placed on the side of the sanctuary by the priest’s chair. During the consecration, they used drums instead of bells and one of the Army cadets waved the flag. I have never seen this before and I didn’t really like it. Our priest is a little different, but is this normal practice for military holidays? I know Americans tend to be more patriotic than we are, so I thought maybe some here might have seen it before.
 
I’m not sure how I would feel about it. I would guess that if it were a single day of the year, and only to show respect to the military members of the congregation (they are part of the body of Christ as well) then I would be ok with it. If it were a daily occurrence I’d definitely have an issue with it. The flag waving during the consecration seemed to be a bit much, but if it were done respectfully and for the right reasons (asking God to bless the country etc) then I could see it as a good thing as well.

The waving though seems to detract from the consecration, which is the most important part of the ceremony. According to the country as well, some countries may not have a choice on certain days.
 
Cowra_Dude said:
We recently had a military holiday here. I guess it would be like Memorial Day or Veterans Day in the States. During the Mass, the flag was placed on the side of the sanctuary by the priest’s chair. During the consecration, they used drums instead of bells and one of the Army cadets waved the flag. I have never seen this before and I didn’t really like it. Our priest is a little different, but is this normal practice for military holidays? I know Americans tend to be more patriotic than we are, so I thought maybe some here might have seen it before.
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That’s bizarre… I have never heard of such a thing.
 
bmullins said:
The waving though seems to detract from the consecration, which is the most important part of the ceremony. According to the country as well, some countries may not have a choice on certain days.
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Or it draws your attention to it.

At Masses of higher solemnity here incense is used during the elevation. Someone could pretty easily say that the incense distracts from the Eucharist (speaking from personal experience, I was certainly a tad distracted the first couple times I saw it done. Now it doesn’t distract me at all).
 
Cowra_Dude said:
We recently had a military holiday here. I guess it would be like Memorial Day or Veterans Day in the States. During the Mass, the flag was placed on the side of the sanctuary by the priest’s chair. During the consecration, they used drums instead of bells and one of the Army cadets waved the flag. I have never seen this before and I didn’t really like it. Our priest is a little different, but is this normal practice for military holidays? I know Americans tend to be more patriotic than we are, so I thought maybe some here might have seen it before.
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Is there any chance that this was done because the Mass was being offered for military personnel (or perhaps just one military person) who died? If so, RIP to that man or woman.

Although I’m no expert on this by any means, I understand that there is a lot of history and symbolism behind the use of drums in the military. One of the uses that I read about is that drums were played to give the troops courage. A fitting reminder to those of us who are about to go forward to offer ourselves up at the altar and to receive the Body of our Lord Jesus, who was sacrificed for us.

Same with flag waving–lots of history behind this, too. I’ve read that during a battle, the commander oversees the troops, and next to him is the “standard bearer”, a person who carries the standard of the battle, often a flag, and waves it. Since the priest, acting in personae Christae, is our “commander,” it doesn’t seem strange to me to have a “standard bearer” near him to wave the emblem of our country to remind all the faithful of those Christians who have died in service to our country and who now, we hope, are partaking in the Lamb’s Supper with Jesus in heaven.

To me, this all comes back to the idea of remembering our Christian brothers and sisters who have died in Christ while serving our country. It is always appropriate for us to offer Mass for those who have died, and especially so on Memorial Day and other military national holidays.

You don’t say what city/state you’re from. If you are from a city with a large military base, it’s possible that the parishes have developed certain unique local traditions that are allowed because they serve so many military families.
 
YoungTradCath said:
That seems quite distasteful.
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That would be putting it very lightly.

In our own parish our priest has asked that the secular flags (flag of Canada, flag of Ukraine) be placed at the back of the nave and not close to the banners of Christ, the Theotokos and the saints.
 
Cowra_Dude said:
We recently had a military holiday here. I guess it would be like Memorial Day or Veterans Day in the States. During the Mass, the flag was placed on the side of the sanctuary by the priest’s chair. During the consecration, they used drums instead of bells and one of the Army cadets waved the flag. I have never seen this before and I didn’t really like it. Our priest is a little different, but is this normal practice for military holidays? I know Americans tend to be more patriotic than we are, so I thought maybe some here might have seen it before.
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very weird, and quite distracting from the consecration. We are not a nationalist church.
 
I too am uneasy with a national flag being waved at a Sacrament which transcends national boundaries.

But then I ask what about, say waving a plain golden flag at the elevation by children. This could be like sounding drums.

*The Proficiscere *
 
Been to quite a few military funerals, been to quite a few masses honoring military holidays in the US and I have NEVER seen such a display as the OP is describing. I’d be a little concerned.
 
Cowra_Dude said:
We recently had a military holiday here. I guess it would be like Memorial Day or Veterans Day in the States. During the Mass, the flag was placed on the side of the sanctuary by the priest’s chair. During the consecration, they used drums instead of bells and one of the Army cadets waved the flag. I have never seen this before and I didn’t really like it. Our priest is a little different, but is this normal practice for military holidays? I know Americans tend to be more patriotic than we are, so I thought maybe some here might have seen it before.
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That sounds quite disturbing. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Sounds a bit Protestant to me.
I’ve never seen this in a UK Catholic church, only Protestant ones.

Distasteful.
 
Godric2 said:
I too am uneasy with a national flag being waved at a Sacrament which transcends national boundaries.

But then I ask what about, say waving a plain golden flag at the elevation by children. This could be like sounding drums.

The Proficiscere
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I’ve also seen the vatican flag held, not waved, during the consecration. That I’m a little more comfortable with.
 
The Mass was for ANZAC Day, and the holiday includes the military from all the wars. There were veterans in attendance, but our town is not a military town or near a base. The high school cadets were there to do the flag waving. I have served myself and am a firm believer in patriotism but not during the consecration. Flags during the procession don’t bother me on special days but waving it during the consecration just seems wrong.
 
I’ve been to masses where flags were present. Not national flags, but rather flags of semi catholic societies, like students or scouts.
Those flags were always held by someone throughout the mass and at the consecration they were lowered in respect, not waved!
 
YoungTradCath said:
This is true. It is the flag of a temporal kingdom. 👍
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Definitely. While the Vatican is the country run by the Pope, it is not the Kingdom of God. Nor it is meant to be a representation of it. I believe that the only purpose of the Vatican is so that the Pope is not ruled by and influenced by any secular ruler. We’ve learned from our mistakes in the past. Also given the current state of secularization in Europe, it does help that the seat of the Pope is not subject to secular laws. Imagine if St. Peter’s Basilica is in the US today. The Pope would be subjected to the HHS.

To see how complicated a Church is subject to a secular ruler, just look at the hardship of the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox under Turkish rule. They can’t even elect a Patriarch who is not a Turkish citizen to occupy the seat at Constantinople. And given that the country is mostly Muslim, it is even a harder task to find a celibate Orthodox male called to the episcopate to even be considered for the position.
 
Cat said:
You don’t say what city/state you’re from. If you are from a city with a large military base, it’s possible that the parishes have developed certain unique local traditions that are allowed because they serve so many military families.
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No, but the poster did say he/she wasn’t from the United States.

The poster said it was ANZAC day, so I guess Australia or New Zealand.
 
Cowra_Dude said:
The Mass was for ANZAC Day, and the holiday includes the military from all the wars.
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That’s a pretty important day, equal to our Remembrance Day here in Canada. I don’t know all the details, but here in Canada in terms of secular holidays it is the one that I would say is given the highest solemnity.
 
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