Laywoman Incensing the Altar

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Victory9

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****I have tried to research this but am unable to find an answer. During our Holy Thursday Mass, our pastor had a Native American woman bring up a bowl of incense to the altar and she danced around the altar and used a feather to spread incense from the bowl around the altar. This seems to me to be highly irregular, illicit. My understanding was that once the Liturgy of the Word was complete and have moved into the Liturgy of Eucharist, no lay person was allowed in the altar area (other than altar servers of course), and only the priest was allowed to incense the altar. Has anyone heard of such a thing as a layperson doing this? Does anyone know the rules in this regard? I was unable to find anything about it in the rubrics of the Mass.
I also found out that our pastor intended to use Native American drums during the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday evening, but one of the musicians refused because it wasn’t right. Our parish is in a small town and is not Native American, but our pastor is fascinated by Native American spirituality.
 
The easy answer is that no liturgical dance is allowed. The more difficult answer is that the sanctuary should remain as such, but innovations abound in this regard. For instance, it is almost common to see people standing around the altar during the consecration. EMHC’s invade the sanctuary before the priest has even consumed.

I don’t think that there is a rule against it explicitly, but I think that it would be simple to understand that the Liturgy of the Eucharist is no time or place for innovation.
 
Has he brought in any other of his fascinations into the church house or was this a one time deal?
Still think it wasn’t proper though 😉
Jesus said that His house is a house of prayer…but men are turning in to a den of thieves. God’s house is a holy place to be reverenced. Not calling your minister a thief or anything.
Keep your eyes and ears open to make sure your pastor isn’t bringing his own agenda into the church house.
Hobbies need to be saved till after Mass. 🙂
 
Victory9 said:
****I have tried to research this but am unable to find an answer. During our Holy Thursday Mass, our pastor had a Native American woman bring up a bowl of incense to the altar and she danced around the altar and used a feather to spread incense from the bowl around the altar. This seems to me to be highly irregular, illicit. My understanding was that once the Liturgy of the Word was complete and have moved into the Liturgy of Eucharist, no lay person was allowed in the altar area (other than altar servers of course), and only the priest was allowed to incense the altar. Has anyone heard of such a thing as a layperson doing this? Does anyone know the rules in this regard? I was unable to find anything about it in the rubrics of the Mass.
I also found out that our pastor intended to use Native American drums during the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday evening, but one of the musicians refused because it wasn’t right. Our parish is in a small town and is not Native American, but our pastor is fascinated by Native American spirituality.
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This “incensing” is called smudging. In Native American Masses, in areas where it is the culture, this is sometimes done. It is debatable whether the local custom “clauses” allow this or not. Most will say no, but still it happens.

It is normally at a Mass which is scheduled and held for a specific NA cause though, as in the annual celebration for Kateri Takekwitha.

The dancing is part of the smudging and the entire building is part of it before Mass starts; the key word being, before. In the Mass it is not licit as far as I know.

I wouldn’t think this is appropriate for a community that is not predominately NA. I also would say, the pastor’s personal preference is not valid reason to have this take place. JMHO:D
 
I would think that this violates the GIRM in multiple places. You may want to talk to your priest about this.
 
Victory9 said:
****I have tried to research this but am unable to find an answer. During our Holy Thursday Mass, our pastor had a Native American woman bring up a bowl of incense to the altar and she danced around the altar and used a feather to spread incense from the bowl around the altar. This seems to me to be highly irregular, illicit. My understanding was that once the Liturgy of the Word was complete and have moved into the Liturgy of Eucharist, no lay person was allowed in the altar area (other than altar servers of course), and only the priest was allowed to incense the altar. Has anyone heard of such a thing as a layperson doing this? Does anyone know the rules in this regard? I was unable to find anything about it in the rubrics of the Mass.
I also found out that our pastor intended to use Native American drums during the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday evening, but one of the musicians refused because it wasn’t right. Our parish is in a small town and is not Native American, but our pastor is fascinated by Native American spirituality.
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I think this is quite out of order for a Catholic priest. Talk to him about ending such practices and if it happens again his Bishop needs to be informed.
 
Victory9 said:
****I have tried to research this but am unable to find an answer. During our Holy Thursday Mass, our pastor had a Native American woman bring up a bowl of incense to the altar and she danced around the altar and used a feather to spread incense from the bowl around the altar. This seems to me to be highly irregular, illicit. My understanding was that once the Liturgy of the Word was complete and have moved into the Liturgy of Eucharist, no lay person was allowed in the altar area (other than altar servers of course), and only the priest was allowed to incense the altar. Has anyone heard of such a thing as a layperson doing this? Does anyone know the rules in this regard? I was unable to find anything about it in the rubrics of the Mass.
I also found out that our pastor intended to use Native American drums during the Easter Vigil Mass on Holy Saturday evening, but one of the musicians refused because it wasn’t right. Our parish is in a small town and is not Native American, but our pastor is fascinated by Native American spirituality.
Click to expand...
Our altar servers are laity and incense the altar, father, the congregation, the book of the gospels. About the only thing that ONLY father incenses is the monstrance.
 
Evan said:
Our altar servers are laity and incense the altar, father, the congregation, the book of the gospels. About the only thing that ONLY father incenses is the monstrance.
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As far as I know the only thing that a Lay Minister may incense is the Blessed Sacramemt during the Elevations. They may, in the absence of a Decon also incense the People and the Priest. I am 99% sure that it is meant to be the celebrant who incenses the Altar and the Deacon (or Priest) who proclaims the Gospel who incenses the Book of the Gospels.
 
This is a ridiculous use of incense in the mass, I cannot explain it at all. The use of incense on Holy Thursday is to incense the Gospel, Cross, Altar, Priest, and people (later the Blessed Sacrament is incensed). During the consecration of a church, a large basin can be filled with charcoals and incense and sat there to burn , but thats it. I at celebrations, no deacon is available, the altar server has the right to incense the priest. This is something I would definetley talk to the priest about, then the bishop. 🙂

Lumenchristi
 
Thank you all for your responses. A friend of mine did meet with our pastor to talk about it, but he said it was “merely an act of reverence, the same as the ladies laying the altar cloths on the altar, or placing flowers around the church.” I think it was a cop-out excuse, to justify himself. Apparently the same thing happened last Holy Thursday as well, in 2011, but I wasn’t at either that Mass or this year’s. It seems to me that any personal, unauthorized addition to the Mass is a liturgical abuse, and a blatant disregard for the parishioners who do not agree with or appreciate any additions to the Mass that are not officially sanctioned. Some parishioners apparently thought it was ‘beautiful’, but there are so many Catholics who just go along with whatever, thinking that if the priest does it it must be ok. Then those that do protest are ignored, which seems to me to be a form of persecution. Perhaps “persecution” is the wrong word, but look how Christianity as a whole is being treated in America today. My friend was right when she quoted Pope Paul VI to our pastor, that the smoke of Satan has entered the Church.
 
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