In need of sources clearly condemning liturgical dance for Latin Rite

[Saoirse]

JMJ

okay, I have found several different links all to the same document - this one - which, may I mention with its various typos, may be convincing enough for someone like me who naturally is opposed to the practice, might not convince my friends in the local deanery.

Here’s the situation; there is to be a deanery wide celebration today for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. It has come to my attention that liturgical dance is being included in the celebration of the Mass; there is also to be a Bishop celebrating this Mass, and I am not sure if he is aware that there is to be liturgical dance.

My first instinct was just to see if there was another parish I could attend Mass at; no luck. This particular Mass is the “principle Mass for the deanery” on that day, so other parishes have been… discouraged… from offering another Mass - not that that’s really a problem, anyways, as only two local parishes even bother to offer weekday Masses for Mondays on a regular basis.

So now I intend to go to this celebration. Sing in the choir, because my choir director is leading the music and wants us there. But I want to bring documents that clearly indicate that liturgical dance is really just liturgical abuse, and bury them in evidence, so to speak.

But so far I have found hundreds of links, all to the same document. I’ve printed this document, but if there’s anything more… anything that could help me… how do I find it?

I’m surfing through the vatican pages right now, but if anyone thinks of anything… would you be willing to help?

Pax Christi

 

[benedictgal]

While this is not an official document, this is the interpretation given by Francis Cardinal Arinze, the prefect for the Congregation on Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments:

There has never been a document from our Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments saying that dance is approved in the Mass.

The question of dance is difficult and delicate. However, it is good to know that the tradition of the Latin Church has not known the dance. It is something that people are introducing in the last ten years – or twenty years. It was not always so. Now it is spreading like wildfire, one can say, in all the continents – some more than others. In my own continent, Africa, it is spreading. In Asia, it is spreading.

Now, some priests and lay people think that Mass is never complete without dance. The difficulty is this: we come to Mass primarily to adore God – what we call the vertical dimension. We do not come to Mass to entertain one another. That’s not the purpose of Mass. The parish hall is for that.

So all those that want to entertain us – after Mass, let us go to the parish hall and then you can dance. And then we clap. But when we come to Mass we don’t come to clap. We don’t come to watch people, to admire people. We want to adore God, to thank Him, to ask Him pardon for our sins, and to ask Him for what we need.

Don’t misunderstand me, because when I said this at one place somebody said to me: “you are an African bishop. You Africans are always dancing. Why do you say we don’t dance?”

A moment – we Africans are not always dancing! [laughter]

Moreover, there is a difference between those who come in procession at Offertory; they bring their gifts, with joy. There is a movement of the body right and left. They bring their gifts to God. That is good, really. And some of the choir, they sing. They have a little bit of movement. Nobody is going to condemn that. And when you are going out again, a little movement, it’s all right.

But when you introduce wholesale, say, a ballerina, then I want to ask you what is it all about. What exactly are you arranging? When the people finish dancing in the Mass and then when the dance group finishes and people clap – don’t you see what it means? It means we have enjoyed it. We come for enjoyment. Repeat. So, there is something wrong. Whenever the people clap – there is something wrong – immediately. When they clap – a dance is done and they clap.

It is possible that there could be a dance that is so exquisite that it raises people’s minds to God, and they are praying and adoring God and when the dance is finished they are still wrapped up in prayer. But is that the type of dance you have seen? You see. It is not easy.

Most dances that are staged during Mass should have been done in the parish hall. And some of them are not even suitable for the parish hall.

I saw in one place – I will not tell you where – where they staged a dance during Mass, and that dance was offensive. It broke the rules of moral theology and modesty. Those who arranged it – they should have had their heads washed with a bucket of holy water! [laughter]

Why make the people of God suffer so much? Haven’t we enough problems already? Only Sunday, one hour, they come to adore God. And you bring a dance! Are you so poor you have nothing else to bring us? Shame on you! That’s how I feel about it.

Somebody can say, “but the pope visited this county and the people danced”. A moment: Did the pope arrange it? Poor Holy Father – he comes, the people arranged. He does not know what they arranged. And somebody introduces something funny – is the pope responsible for that? Does that mean it is now approved? Did they put in on the table of the Congregation for Divine Worship? We would throw it out! If people want to dance, they know where to go.

Although he was saying this in a question and answer segment, it is pretty consistent with the documents. Now, where are you at? The reason I ask this is because of the juxtaposition of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Lext me explain. Deeply rooted with the ancient Mexican veneration of the Blessed Mother is a special dance performed by the Matachines, descendants of the Aztecs and other indigenous Mexican people. Before the Mass begins, the Matachines perform a sacred, cultic dance in front of an image of the Blessed Mother. Mind you, this should be done before the Mass. This kind of cultic worship has been around for nearly 500 years, springing directly from the original veneration of Our Lady of Guadalulpe.

Because the dates are so close, this might well be part of a bigger scenario taking into account both Marian feasts, as, for Mexican-American Catholics, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception falls within a nine-day novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe.

That is the only thing that I can think of to justify what could probably happen in your parish. However, if it’s little girls peforming some interpretive dance in gauzy, willowy outfits, then, that is a no-no.

 

[Saoirse]

benedictgal, thank you for that very informative answer.

I’m in Canada, and I’m pretty sure anyways that what I witnessed on Monday night was not anything like what the Mexicans would possibly do.

during the Offertory, five or so girls and one guy, dressed in black, stood up in the front of the Church so that they were between the people and the altar. they procceeded to preform some sort of interpretative dance while we (the choir) sang an admittedly beautiful version of the magnificat.

Then two young women placed an altar cloth on the altar, in the middle of the Mass, spread it out over the altar and returned to their seats while the dancers also returned to theirs. Because of where the dancers were, the poor (retired) bishop who was celebrating couldn’t get down to where he was supposed to be in order to recieve the offerings of the people and the gifts.

I shared what I had printed with one of the priests there, that one link, and he said that he didn’t think the arguments were very sound or convincing at all…

I’ve written a letter, including quotes from that one article off the ewtn website, just to indicate my dissapointment that so-called liturgical dance was inserted into the Mass… I’ve tried to be polite and assumptive of good intentions on all parts, at the same time as being firm.

I think I’ll send it to the priest who is pastor of the parish where the Mass was celebrated (he’s also our episcopal vicar), and I’m going to record when I sent it and what type of response - even if it’s none - I receive. That way I can take the issue a step further if I have to do so, in order to prevent future displays like that one.

anyways I have four minutes left on the computer total.

Pax Christi
Elena

 

[benedictgal]

Maybe this approach might help. It is taken directly from Redemptionis Sacramentum, the authoritative document of the Holy See that treats the matter of liturgical abuse:

6.] For abuses “contribute to the obscuring of the Catholic faith and doctrine concerning this wonderful sacrament”.14 Thus, they also hinder the faithful from “re-living in a certain way the experience of the two disciples of Emmaus: ‘and their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him’”.15 For in the presence of God’s power and divinity16 and the splendor of His goodness, made manifest especially in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, it is fitting that all the faithful should have and put into practice that power of acknowledging God’s majesty that they have received through the saving Passion of the Only-Begotten Son.17

[7.] Not infrequently, abuses are rooted in a false understanding of liberty. Yet God has not granted us in Christ an illusory liberty by which we may do what we wish, but a liberty by which we may do that which is fitting and right.18 This is true not only of precepts coming directly from God, but also of laws promulgated by the Church, with appropriate regard for the nature of each norm. For this reason, all should conform to the ordinances set forth by legitimate ecclesiastical authority.

…11.] *** The Mystery of the Eucharist “is too great for anyone to permit himself to treat it according to his own whim, so that its sacredness and its universal ordering would be obscured”.27 On the contrary***, anyone who acts thus by giving free rein to his own inclinations, even if he is a Priest, injures the substantial unity of the Roman Rite, which ought to be vigorously preserved,28 and becomes responsible for actions that are in no way consistent with the hunger and thirst for the living God that is experienced by the people today. Nor do such actions serve authentic pastoral care or proper liturgical renewal; instead, they deprive Christ’s faithful of their patrimony and their heritage. For arbitrary actions are not conducive to true renewal,29 but are detrimental to the right of Christ’s faithful to a liturgical celebration that is an expression of the Church’s life in accordance with her tradition and discipline. In the end, they introduce elements of distortion and disharmony into the very celebration of the Eucharist, which is oriented in its own lofty way and by its very nature to signifying and wondrously bringing about the communion of divine life and the unity of the People of God.30 The result is uncertainty in matters of doctrine, perplexity and scandal on the part of the People of God, and, almost as a necessary consequence, vigorous opposition, all of which greatly confuse and sadden many of Christ’s faithful in this age of ours when Christian life is often particularly difficult on account of the inroads of “secularization” as well.31

This last paragraph certainly applies to the situation you witnessed. It is no where in the approved liturgical documents of the Holy See. Furthemrore, the former prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments specifically stated that it is forbidden.

If you get no response from the priest, then, the next thing is to write to your bishop.

 

[Ruthie]

Benedictgal,

Can you post a link to that wonderful quote from Cardinal Arinze?

Please?

Elena, I’ll pray for you in this fight!

Edit: I found a source for you, from the Vatican website, here. Scroll down to number 17.

Emphasis mine.

Among some peoples, song is instinctively linked with hand-clapping, rhythmic corporeal movements and even dance. Such are external forms of interior sentiment and are part of popular traditions, especially on occasions such as patronal feasts. Clearly, such should be genuine expressions of communal prayer and not merely theatrical spectacles. The fact of their prevalence in one area, however, should not be regarded as a reason for their promotion in other areas, especially where they would not be spontaneous.

Blessings,

Ruthie

 

[Saoirse]

Thank you, both of you, for those sources. I not sure how long I should wait for a response, but I’m guessing that since this is a busy season for priests, it could be a while. I’m thinking, mid-to-late January for a response…

Pax Christi
Elena

 

[JPUSC]

benedictgal, thank you for that very informative answer.

I’m in Canada, and I’m pretty sure anyways that what I witnessed on Monday night was not anything like what the Mexicans would possibly do.

during the Offertory, five or so girls and one guy, dressed in black, stood up in the front of the Church so that they were between the people and the altar. they procceeded to preform some sort of interpretative dance while we (the choir) sang an admittedly beautiful version of the magnificat.

Then two young women placed an altar cloth on the altar, in the middle of the Mass, spread it out over the altar and returned to their seats while the dancers also returned to theirs. Because of where the dancers were, the poor (retired) bishop who was celebrating couldn’t get down to where he was supposed to be in order to recieve the offerings of the people and the gifts.

I shared what I had printed with one of the priests there, that one link, and he said that he didn’t think the arguments were very sound or convincing at all…

I’ve written a letter, including quotes from that one article off the ewtn website, just to indicate my dissapointment that so-called liturgical dance was inserted into the Mass… I’ve tried to be polite and assumptive of good intentions on all parts, at the same time as being firm.

I think I’ll send it to the priest who is pastor of the parish where the Mass was celebrated (he’s also our episcopal vicar), and I’m going to record when I sent it and what type of response - even if it’s none - I receive. That way I can take the issue a step further if I have to do so, in order to prevent future displays like that one.

anyways I have four minutes left on the computer total.

Pax Christi
Elena

LOL, that sounds hilarious.

Did it resemble this: youtube.com/watch?v=x7KdQERbVkA