I believe that we have two topics going on here at the same time. That’s the first problem. The second is that we’re creating a whirlpool in a glass of water. Finally, we’re forgetting who the pope is.
I attended a Mass at a parish in south Florida. There were dancing women dressed in costumes so thin you could see through some of them. This is called “liturgical dance”. They came down the aisle holding some kind of purple-ish see-through clothes and swirled around the altar brushing their purple clothes across it. I can assure you that liturgical dance was very popular in the 70’s and 80’s I also taught in a school where the principal had the children dance around the altar too. Do you think I would make this stuff up? In another school I taught in in the midwest, a priest brought stuffed animals and put them on the altar instead of the candles and crucifix. He turned them around so that the children could see the faces. He then had his face made up as a clown and wore a red clown costume. He then invited the children to come up during the Consecration and hold the stuffed animals of their choice while the Blessed Sacrament was on the altar. I attended a Mass in Florida where the priest dressed up as E.T. I attended another Mass in Indiana where the priest had his dog in the sanctuary during Mass and shook it’s paw during the sign of peace. He then sent his dog to shake paws with the rest of the congregation.
I have to tell you that this is the fourth or fifth time I have been attacked on this forum for voicing my opinion. Each time has been in the name of “Catholicism”. I am not going to do this anymore. I am going to leave this forum because if this is what you think Catholicism is all about, then I don’t belong here. I will be keeping you in my prayers.
When I was a very young friar I did children’s liturgies. I’m speaking of the early 70s. Rome did allow a experimental mass for children until about 1980 or so. I can understand the stuffed animals. The experimental liturgy was pulled because it did not work. There is no shame in trying something and no shame in admitting that it does not work.
The dog in the sanctuary is not an unusual thing. I have seen this in many places. It’s not part of the liturgy, obviously. Recently, there was an article about a dog that followed his master’s coffin into the mass. We have a dog at our house. He attends Divine Office and mass with us. He’s better behaved than our nieces and nephews.
I’ll speak about the dancing below.
This was at Liverpool Cathedral earlier this year…
youtube.com/watch?v=DyMYt75toLg
Personally, I have never liked liturgical dance in the West. First of all, it’s just bad ballet. It’s not very artistic. I’m of the idea that if you’re going to use art for worship, you should use good art. Secondly, I don’t find it uplifting. It makes me feel uncomfortable. HOWEVER, I would never call it vulgar or any other such term. I have never seen a dancer wearing anything more revealing than what you would see at the theater. If something is vulgar in Church, then it should be vulgar everywhere. There is no such thing as vulgar here and appropriate there. I think that those who do not like it may want to check their reactions. Responding to what one considers a wrong with hostility is not a virtue either. In addition, I can count in one hand the number of times that I’ve seen liturgical dance in the West.
im so glad that Pope Francis is doing this,like he said… the carnival is over…
The pope never said this. The media says that he said this. According to the MC, he offered the pope the mozetta and the Holy Father said, “I’d rather not.” Then he offered him something else, I can’t recall what it was, to which the Holy Father responded, “Just leave it there.” The Holy Father did not make any disparaging remarks. People who know him have said that it is out of character for him to make disparaging remarks. The Msgr’s story sounds more credible.
Getting back to this Holy Thursday mass, the people objecting to it are forgetting several important points.
a. The pope is the papacy. Without him there is no papacy. He is the highest ranking legislator.
b. As Pope Benedict told the SSPX, the pope decides what is consistent with tradition and what is not, not anyone else. Those who are trying to tell the pope that this is not tradition, are doing the opposite of what Pope Benedict said and doing exactly what is causing so many problems with the reconciliation of the SSPX. Maybe we need to stop telling the pope what is and is not tradition.
c. The pope is not trying to be humbler than humble. He is doing what comes naturally to him, because it’s what he has always done. Do we want to change this man’s personality? I remember that at some point during Pope Benedict’s pontificate there were complaints that the Holy Father spent more time pouring over his research than taking care of Church business. The fact is that he was a lifetime scholar. That’s to be expected. This pope is a lifetime hands on pastor and he’s a Jesuit. Do we want him to give up Jesuit behaviors, customs and ways of thinking about the Church? Replace them with what? Is it even possible for a 76-year old man who has been a Jesuit for 46 years to stop being a Jesuit?
This is not a performance. It is who Jorge Mario Bergoglio is.
Finally a principal is not a bishop or priest so you can’t blame the Church for what he did.
