This happened during mass and I was upset

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Brittany said:
My Baptist church is very low-church. I didn’t even know what a liturgical calendar was until a few months ago, and I’ve been in this church for 13 years. In fact, I didn’t know what “liturgy” even meant, only seeing it on Catholic sites. The church I attend more of a where-the-wind-takes-you kind of church. But perhaps this kind of church is a minority among Protestants. I’m not too sure; I haven’t researched many different denominations on this area.
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Although I do not know much about the baptist church other than, I believe, under the name “Baptist,” lies a variety of beliefs that different Baptist churches teach: drinking vs. no drinking, dancing vs. no dancing, etc. However, I would not place the Baptist church under the heading of Pentecostal, where many “foreign” things happen that you would not see in a main stream church: “slain in the Spirit” (although I have witnessed this at a special “healing” Mass in a Catholic church), etc.

Since your description was “where-the-wind-takes-you kind of church,” I would believe that you do not follow a a specific ABC cycle (meaning for most Sundays and Holy Days, one year is A, next year is B, etc., then it repeats every 3 years) Sunday Lectionary that a liturgical church would follow, Catholic and Protestant churches.

Per April:
It was freaky, I thought maybe I was caught off guard because I’ve never seen anything like this happen in the past. He started out by making odd noises and sobbing so in the church it sounded kind of like it came from everywhere.

In this case, I betcha these guys are coming down from an intense weekend from a Men’s retreat or better still a “Cursillo.” This movement is shared by Catholics and Protestant churches alike. You can Google it. I went to one many years ago. It is an intense weekend of sharing and speakers. Most people come back with a sense of new life, a conversion of sorts, and find themselves rather spiritually “high.” And, yes, the Holy Spirit is usually the main theme of a Cursillo weekend. Everyone’s take away from this event is different. Our Mass to close the weekend was a private Mass at a local church, not within a regularly scheduled weekend Mass, something I think is wrong to do, as per your parents case.

Anyway, I don’t think calling the Bishop is really necessary. I would just call the church office and ask about the guys in the red shirts…“did they come back from a retreat or Cursillo (cur-see-oh) weekend.” There in lies your answer.

Hope this helps.
 
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LaughingBoy1503 said:
Well, a woman went up to the ambo and declared "Since there is no higher form of worship than dance, we are going to have dancing today’ and some young girls came in and did liturgical dance.
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First of all, to say “there is no higher form of worship than dance” is a personal feeling and should not have been said.

Please read this:


Although inappropriate in the western world of Catholicism, some Catholic Eastern cultures use dance as a form of worship and therefore acceptable. If I am not mistaken, I believe that Hawaiian Catholic churches use “liturgical dance” tastefully. We are just not used to it, so to us it is so wrong! We all need to look at the whole Catholic world, especially those in oppressed areas of Africa, etc. where dance is very appropriate in all that they do in worship and praying to God for rain.
 
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April29 said:
or maybe I’m wrong. I am confused and afraid of saying something that could offend Our Lord.
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I shouldn’t be amazed at how many people here on CAF don’t recognize their shepherd, but I am. As only two or three posters in this thread have recognized the work of the Holy Spirit.

This man in question had an experience with the Holy Spirit and what have most people here done? The same thing the crowds on the street did to the Apostles at Pentecost, accused them of all manner of things. Wow, just wow.
 
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1Lord1Faith said:
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April29:
or maybe I’m wrong. I am confused and afraid of saying something that could offend Our Lord.
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I shouldn’t be amazed at how many people here on CAF don’t recognize their shepherd, but I am. As only two or three posters in this thread have recognized the work of the Holy Spirit.

This man in question had an experience with the Holy Spirit and what have most people here done? The same thing the crowds on the street did to the Apostles at Pentecost, accused them of all manner of things. Wow, just wow.
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What’s the problem? As the OP described it, the actions of the group were way out of line- not in keeping with the solemnity of the celebration of the Mass. They were calling attention to themselves when the focus should have been on the consecration, and their outbursts were no doubt distracting (and as the OP proves, even distressing) to the congregation. These actions have zero place in a Mass setting.
 
1Lord1Faith said:
This man in question had an experience with the Holy Spirit and what have most people here done? The same thing the crowds on the street did to the Apostles at Pentecost, accused them of all manner of things. Wow, just wow.
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Oh please, you do not know if the man was mentally ill or not. Even The Church does not require us to believe private revelation but only things from The Deposit of Faith. It takes nothing away from God if I doubt a man making a scene at Mass is divinely inspired. People follow cult leaders because they think that person is being led by God sometimes.
 
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rondirect said:
Although inappropriate in the western world of Catholicism, some Catholic Eastern cultures use dance as a form of worship and therefore acceptable. If I am not mistaken
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I am quite aware that dancing at Mass is acceptable in other parts of the world such as Africa but not here in the states. I would not be upset if I was visiting a tribe in Kenya and that happened so I was in no way “not looking at the Catholic world as a whole” as you said. I just know whats appropriate here in the states or not and here in California it is literally not allowed. It has nothing to do if people are use to it or not or whether I care for dancing or not. It is literally considered a liturgical abuse.
 
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I did liturgical dancing in college for a Christmas mass once and it was incorporated into the mass nicely such as the procession and at the end of the mass. This was choreographed and planned. It was a wonderful experience and it was done to the Christmas music. I have not experienced a liberal style mass though. That would have caught me off guard.
 
I personally know some Bishops and one Archbishop. They are all very interested in what their flock has to say. Perhaps you have had a bad experience, but, do not paint all of our Shepherds with the same brush.
 
☝️ I agree, You see I have been in mass in places like Mexico, and for the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Aztec people usually dance in her honor, but from what I’ve seen they stay outside of the church out of respect or wait until mass is over to come dance for her, but they don’t ever do this during mass. Dance has its place, and I’m sure Our Lord and Lady really enjoy seeing it when done out of love and respect, but the mass is the mass. The mass is Calvary, it’s heaven. It should be reverent I believe.
 
April did not say they went up during consecration. She said towards the end of Mass
 
I thought she said something about them stretching out their hands and yelling or sobbing during it? 🤷‍♂️ I’ve got a bad memory, though.
 
LaughingBoy1503 said:
Oh please, you do not know if the man was mentally or ill or not.
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Even the mentally Ill, or just plain Ill, can have the Holy Spirit fill their lives.

Maybe this guy found God after decades of losing God.
 
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Yep during it, but only in their pew.

Perhaps it caused others to think about Jesus really in the Eucharist… we don’t know.

In my Cathedral we occasionally have incidents. Everyone ignores them, unless someone is racing around isles screaming or the homeless are late to communion and walk up to follow Father for their turn.
 
I’m sorry Tom, they went up to the altar after mass. The sobbing was before and during consecration ( it started right before the Profession of Faith and kept on going up until the final blessing) along with with shouting. It was during consecration that he screamed out “ Look at me! Look at me! I used to doubt but now I believe! You are here!”. This is all close to when the other man who was with him started to sob too”. I’m wondering if maybe they just didn’t know they weren’t supposed to do this? My mom was just telling me that she believes they may have had a mic? I’m not sure about this myself so I’m not saying this happened at all, but they were terribly loud. Like I said, it was almost impossible to hear Father( and He for sure had a mic) speak, and they were in their pews.
 
Well, if they accept this group, they probably will accept you as well.i don’t know if you are boisterous or quiet, meditative or ostentatious, but I bet whatever you go through, this is a parish that will welcome you and walk with you.

That is my idea of reverence, of caring for everyone even those who do not always behave as expected.
 
LaughingBoy1503 said:
I am quite aware that dancing at Mass is acceptable in other parts of the world such as Africa but not here in the states. I would not be upset if I was visiting a tribe in Kenya and that happened so I was in no way “not looking at the Catholic world as a whole” as you said. I just know whats appropriate here in the states or not and here in California it is literally not allowed. It has nothing to do if people are use to it or not or whether I care for dancing or not. It is literally considered a liturgical abuse.
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Um, LaughingBoy, I am was agreeing with you. I don’t think you read my post correctly or read the pdf I provided, or I was not clear enough. I was taking this whole thread as stating that dance is not appropriate in any Catholic church, anywhere.
 
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People do all kinds of things because they feel the spirit is moving them. It does not make it true. All I’m saying is that I can’t judge correctly but I look at people making scenes at Mass with suspicion. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong but I don’t think so. You can give someone the benefit of the doubt, that’s your right but I can likewise look at it with caution. I’m sure lots of people get moved by God during Mass but they respect what is going on at the liturgy. What will Mass be like if anyone can yell and do whatever they want and people say “well, the spirit moved them”? God is a God of order, not chaos.
 
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