The Altar.. Used for stage performance?

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JesusmyLord

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I’m abit offended looking at the place of sacrifice as a stage performance
(Reminder: My Church is Novus Ordo)
Is it appropriate to dance infront of an altar?? The only place of sacrifice??
 
Before mass.
Sometimes on Sunday 4:00 pm (Childrens mass) there are dancers while the priest is praying
 
What kind of dance? Certain cultural things are permitted in certain parts of the world.
(Reminder: My Church is Novus Ordo)
Correction: A church cannot be Novus Ordo. Only the Mass and other liturgies can be Ordinary Form or Extraordinary Form.
 
My church covers up the big cross with curtain before they set up a stage on the altar stage for Christmas Carol act.
 
Is it appropriate to dance infront of an altar?
The pastor will decide whether or not something is appropriate. Many things are done in front of an altar. Some churches use the nave as an auditorium for school events like Christmas plays. The steps in front of the altar are used to photograph events like baptism and first communion. If dance is included in a children’s Mass in front of the altar then that’s okay too as long as the pastor thinks it’s appropriate.
 
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My parish has hosted piano recitals multiple times but they do it off to the side and not on the actually sanctuary so this is better. But I don’t really like seeing choirs standing right in front of the altar or tabernacle, seems kind of like Moses wearing sandles on the holy ground with the burning bush. But I don’t know enough about this to have a full opinion
 
My parish had on a weeknight recently a big high school choir filling up the whole sanctuary. Surrounding the altar, in front of the Tabernacle. I don’t want to comment how I felt about it lest I am admonished to ask my pastor why he allowed it. I will say the choir was lousy and I didn’t stay long.
 
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Generally it is okay to use a church for performances, if certain norms are followed. Obviously it should be moral, and not anti-Catholic, anti-God, etc. Admission is not supposed to be charged, if I recall (free will donations are okay). If anything secular is being done, Jesus is not supposed to be present in the Tabernacle, so the consecrated Hosts need to be removed to another place of repose like an Adoration chapel or the rectory or school chapel. And you are allowed to do some stuff before or after Mass that would be forbidden during Mass. Stuff like that.

I think the USCCB website or the Vatican website has the rules on performances.

There is a very important division at all times between the altar area that would be the actual sanctuary, and the nave or other areas of the church. Basically, nobody has any business doing non-church, non-sacred things in the sanctuary or sacristy.

But the nave is relatively fair game, the vestibule and outer areas have very few restrictions, and the areas outside church but in church grounds have even fewer restrictions. But there are always some, because church grounds are sacred ground.

Ideally the choir would maintain more decorum in front of the altar, even though they are in the nave. But dancing per se is not forbidden, and there are things like the sword dance performed by young boys in Seville (I think?), which is done in the nave right outside the sanctuary. And that has been going on for five hundred years or so, specifically for Jesus to enjoy.

Shrug. There is a lot we can do, but it takes prudence and taste to decide whether it should be done, and how one should do it.
 
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