P
Phillip_Rolfes
Guest
Since the OP’s personal experience has been brought up and questioned by both those who agree with him and those who don’t, I would like to share my personal experience of the exact same situation (albeit at a different time and possibly a different campus).
What is seeming like more and more years ago I attended Franciscan University of Steubenville. I lived in “Trinity,” a men’s dorm that was unique among the dorms on campus in that our dorm housed the pre-theologate students/household. I was fortunate enough to live for most of my time on the basement level of the dorm, the same level as the chapel. The same sign mentioned by the O.P. hung outside the chapel, and we were all very respectful of the Lord’s Presence within. In fact the majority of us would reverently make the sign of the Cross as we walked passed, and many would actually genuflect. Some would even crack the door open a bit in order to see the Tabernacle and pay due reverence. Overall, all the men in the dorm were VERY respectful of our Lord in the Tabernacle.
That being said, we did have a weekly praise and worship session within the chapel that was scheduled and approved. I attended some as an observer (I was a bit tentative with my involvement for a time), and later was a very active participant. I was drawn into it quite simply because the men worshiping there were so reverent and prayerful. They were not just having a concert and partying, but were actually and truly praying. Much of the time the majority of the men from the pre-theologate program also attended. Many of those men remained in that program all the way through college, attended seminary afterwards, and are serving the Church as priests and deacons today! Having known them personally, I can say that they were all very holy men and extremely respectful of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The same can be said of the other men who lived in the dorm and attended the praise and worship meetings.
My own household held praise and worship meetings a couple of times a week, and even hosted the Tuesday night all-campus praise and worship meetings for a time. Only once a month did we get the privilege of holding our praise and worship meetings in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and we all felt very grateful for that time. In our prayer we were 100% focused on Christ’s Eucharistic Presence I can assure you.
As to the other things, folks need to remember that the Church doesn’t sanction any one particular posture for prayer, nor does it say that prayer can only be silent or recited. St. Augustine himself said that, “He who sings prays twice.” St. Dominic - that’s right, the founder of the Dominican’s - had 9 different postures that he used during prayer time. The great mystics of the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches also talk about different postures for prayer; standing, sitting, kneeling, prostrating, hands held at your side, hands held at shoulder level, hand raised on high, etc., etc., etc. In the Roman tradition there are even multiple liturgical postures apart from the various postures that folks use in their personal prayer life - kneeling, standing, sitting, one-knee genuflection, two-knee genuflection, prostration, and even lying on your face! In some Catholic traditions, such as the Ethiopian (Eastern/Oriental) Catholic tradition, there are even forms of liturgical dance that date back to ancient times.
King David himself, one of the greatest figures in the Old Testament, played music and danced before the Arc of the Covenant, which was for the ancient Israelite the equivalent to what the Blessed Sacrament is to us!
The last thing that I will point out here is that this was NOT a liturgical event. This was a group coming together simply for a private devotion, the same way a rosary society meets to pray the rosary. The Church, at least at the level of the local bishops, has approved Praise and Worship meetings as appropriate forms of devotion and private and/or public prayer. Whether or not it is appropriate for liturgical use is a different question as, again, this event was not liturgical.
I can only suggest that, if Praise and Worship meetings do not add anything to your personal prayer life, then simply don’t attend. There is nothing that says that the LotH must be prayed in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Allow others, especially groups of men, the benefit and blessing of being able to worship in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the way that draws them more deeply to God, and rejoice that they are being drawn more deeply to God and not into the temptations of the world. It’s only once a month for about 1/2 hour to an hour. Heck, I’d be willing to be that if you invited them to pray the Little Office with them afterwards, a good chunk of them would stay behind and join you!
What is seeming like more and more years ago I attended Franciscan University of Steubenville. I lived in “Trinity,” a men’s dorm that was unique among the dorms on campus in that our dorm housed the pre-theologate students/household. I was fortunate enough to live for most of my time on the basement level of the dorm, the same level as the chapel. The same sign mentioned by the O.P. hung outside the chapel, and we were all very respectful of the Lord’s Presence within. In fact the majority of us would reverently make the sign of the Cross as we walked passed, and many would actually genuflect. Some would even crack the door open a bit in order to see the Tabernacle and pay due reverence. Overall, all the men in the dorm were VERY respectful of our Lord in the Tabernacle.
That being said, we did have a weekly praise and worship session within the chapel that was scheduled and approved. I attended some as an observer (I was a bit tentative with my involvement for a time), and later was a very active participant. I was drawn into it quite simply because the men worshiping there were so reverent and prayerful. They were not just having a concert and partying, but were actually and truly praying. Much of the time the majority of the men from the pre-theologate program also attended. Many of those men remained in that program all the way through college, attended seminary afterwards, and are serving the Church as priests and deacons today! Having known them personally, I can say that they were all very holy men and extremely respectful of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The same can be said of the other men who lived in the dorm and attended the praise and worship meetings.
My own household held praise and worship meetings a couple of times a week, and even hosted the Tuesday night all-campus praise and worship meetings for a time. Only once a month did we get the privilege of holding our praise and worship meetings in front of the Blessed Sacrament, and we all felt very grateful for that time. In our prayer we were 100% focused on Christ’s Eucharistic Presence I can assure you.
As to the other things, folks need to remember that the Church doesn’t sanction any one particular posture for prayer, nor does it say that prayer can only be silent or recited. St. Augustine himself said that, “He who sings prays twice.” St. Dominic - that’s right, the founder of the Dominican’s - had 9 different postures that he used during prayer time. The great mystics of the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches also talk about different postures for prayer; standing, sitting, kneeling, prostrating, hands held at your side, hands held at shoulder level, hand raised on high, etc., etc., etc. In the Roman tradition there are even multiple liturgical postures apart from the various postures that folks use in their personal prayer life - kneeling, standing, sitting, one-knee genuflection, two-knee genuflection, prostration, and even lying on your face! In some Catholic traditions, such as the Ethiopian (Eastern/Oriental) Catholic tradition, there are even forms of liturgical dance that date back to ancient times.
King David himself, one of the greatest figures in the Old Testament, played music and danced before the Arc of the Covenant, which was for the ancient Israelite the equivalent to what the Blessed Sacrament is to us!The last thing that I will point out here is that this was NOT a liturgical event. This was a group coming together simply for a private devotion, the same way a rosary society meets to pray the rosary. The Church, at least at the level of the local bishops, has approved Praise and Worship meetings as appropriate forms of devotion and private and/or public prayer. Whether or not it is appropriate for liturgical use is a different question as, again, this event was not liturgical.
I can only suggest that, if Praise and Worship meetings do not add anything to your personal prayer life, then simply don’t attend. There is nothing that says that the LotH must be prayed in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Allow others, especially groups of men, the benefit and blessing of being able to worship in front of the Blessed Sacrament in the way that draws them more deeply to God, and rejoice that they are being drawn more deeply to God and not into the temptations of the world. It’s only once a month for about 1/2 hour to an hour. Heck, I’d be willing to be that if you invited them to pray the Little Office with them afterwards, a good chunk of them would stay behind and join you!
Just to be clear, I’m not trying to be hard on the OP, but I do think we need more information before we can start attacking what happened, from what has so far been provided it does seem very possible that the OP overreacted.