Using the altar as a stage

[Connolly]

Is it ever appropriate to use the altar as a stage for the performance of religious skits? What if the occurence is outside the Mass and in the context of an event for high school students, where the performers are the students?

If it is not, I would be very grateful to anybody who can provide me with authoritative citations.

 

[puzzleannie]

the altar, never under any circumstances, can be used for any purpose other than the Blessed Sacrament & Mass.

The sanctuary can be used in very specific and limited circumstances, the Blessed Sacrament should be removed, or the tabernacle covered behind a screen, and the purpose cannot be secular or profane in nature. For instance, the Cathedral in Corpus Christi hosts a Christmas concert each year, which is entirely religious in content, care is taken to protect the sanctuary and furnishings, and protecting the altar and Blessed Sacrament is the first priority. Also they do not charge for tickets, because that is forbidden in such a case. Another example might be a passion play offered by the parish youth during Lent or something similar, or a concert of contemporary or traditional worship music.

 

[benedictgal]

Is it ever appropriate to use the altar as a stage for the performance of religious skits? What if the occurence is outside the Mass and in the context of an event for high school students, where the performers are the students?

If it is not, I would be very grateful to anybody who can provide me with authoritative citations.

Do you not have a parish hall where this can be performed? Does it have to be in the sanctuary? Puzzleanie gave some good advice. Remember that this space is sacred and is meant for the celebration of the sacraments. The examples she mentioned are certainly worth noting.

However, in the case of the OP, anything else should be taken to the parish hall.

 

[Aramis]

the altar, never under any circumstances, can be used for any purpose other than the Blessed Sacrament & Mass.

Wrong. It can be used for any of the valid and licit rituals prescribed in the Sacramentary and Pontifical. Quite a number of which are not the Sacrafice of the Mass, and not in themselves Sacraments. To Wit: Exposition and Benediction, Solemn renewals of vows outside the mass, Installation of Officers of Papal Knighthoods, Liturgy of the Hours as a large group. There are more…

I agree that using it as a stage is not appropriate.

 

[Connolly]

We do have a parish hall, which is where I believe the skits should be performed.

I’m not sure to what degree our priest is involved in the planning, but he would probably forbid or at the very least discourage the performance in the sanctuary if I had an authoritative source saying it was inappropriate. If I try to tell him constitutes appropriate use of the sanctuary without providing a citation, he’s not going to pay any attention.

 

[agapewolf]

the Cathedral in St. Louis has a concert series every year…with groups from all over. Many of the pieces performed are not Sacred or classical

 

[rpp]

I have attended three different parishes regularly. In two of them, including the one that has the Latin Mass, the only permitted use of the church is for Mass or Eucharistic Adoration. Retreats, talks, presentations, etc. are all done in the parish hall. In the other parish I attend, occassionally a retreat speaker is permitted to make a presentation.

However, in all three of these parishes, the pastors absolutely forbid the use of any part of the altar, sanctuary or ambo for anything other than Mass or Eucharistic Adoration.

 

[FrDavid96]

We do have a parish hall, which is where I believe the skits should be performed.

I’m not sure to what degree our priest is involved in the planning, but he would probably forbid or at the very least discourage the performance in the sanctuary if I had an authoritative source saying it was inappropriate. If I try to tell him constitutes appropriate use of the sanctuary without providing a citation, he’s not going to pay any attention.

Ask him to read canons 1205 1210 1211 1214 1235 and ask himself if what is planned is in accord with these. I’m not saying that it is, or is not, just that those are the relevant canons which I believe is what you are asking about.

 

[puzzleannie]

Wrong. It can be used for any of the valid and licit rituals prescribed in the Sacramentary and Pontifical. Quite a number of which are not the Sacrafice of the Mass, and not in themselves Sacraments. To Wit: Exposition and Benediction, Solemn renewals of vows outside the mass, Installation of Officers of Papal Knighthoods, Liturgy of the Hours as a large group. There are more…

I agree that using it as a stage is not appropriate.

I intended my post to cover all legitimate liturgical usages,
the installation of Officers, LOTH etc. do not use the altar per se, only liturgical rites having to do with the Eucharist, such as exposition, to which I refered, use the altar itself. this discussion will be more useful if we differentiate between use of the altar itself, and use of the sanctuary

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

Is it ever appropriate to use the altar as a stage for the performance of religious skits? What if the occurence is outside the Mass and in the context of an event for high school students, where the performers are the students?

If it is not, I would be very grateful to anybody who can provide me with authoritative citations.

Personally I do not believe that anything should take place in the sanctuary area except official liturgical actions.

 

[MomblessedX3]

Are the pictures that were formally taken of the First Communicants on our alter something that should not have been done?

I know that isn’t using it as a stage but the pictures weren’t part of any liturgy…just for memories of First Communion.

 

[jmcrae]

Are the pictures that were formally taken of the First Communicants on our alter something that should not have been done?

I know that isn’t using it as a stage but the pictures weren’t part of any liturgy…just for memories of First Communion.

Personally, I can’t see anything wrong with that - where else would you take them?

At the parish where I am working, they often use the sanctuary area as a kind of “stage” for various kinds of performances, even though we have a perfectly serviceable stage in our Parish Hall. I don’t know the reason, other than maybe that the Church is easier for visitors to find than the Parish Hall?

I don’t think our priest is all that comfortable with it, but he hasn’t really said anything.

 

[Sarabande]

I have attended and have been a performer for classical music concerts (sacred and secular) in Catholic churches in the US and Europe. In all cases, they never used the altar for anything. As a performer, the people involved do know that it is still a sacred place and treat it as such, and I know that special care is taken to protect the Sanctuary. The pastors at most of these churches are very astute in this and will keep their eye out with this. A church is one of the best places to hear a sacred music concert, especially.

 

[EasterJoy]

Assuming you mean that the sanctuary will be used, and not the altar itself, one would have to define “skit”. Something along the lines of a morality play or a pastorella, though, would not be inappropriate, even though these sometimes include farcical or comical elements. It isn’t a sin to laugh in church, as long as the cause of the laughter also conforms the soul towards grace.

It isn’t out of place to use a sanctuary as a performance space, particularly when the subject matter is religious and good acoustic quality is necessary, but suffice it to say that the entire performance would have to be reviewed in detail by the pastor. I don’t know of a pastor that would not require this, except perhaps if the production was under the supervision of someone whose judgement he thinks is beyond question. In the end, though, it is the pastor’s responsibility to defend the sanctuary against improper use.

If a table is needed for the performance, though, it may not be the altar, nor a table that might be mistaken for the altar. It must clearly be just a table, for the sake of avoiding scandal. The altar itself should either be behind a screen or continue to be given the proper respect it would always merit, except whenever the performers were clearly required by “being in character” to do otherwise. That is, the performers’ awareness and respect for the altar should not be in question, even though, for instance, some of them would be talking and acting the parts of vices or evil spirits in something like a pastorella, or even the good characters might be in an imaginary setting that doesn’t have an altar in it, that kind of thing. That’s OK: everyone knows what that’s about.

I don’t know if any documents require it, but IMHO for the sake of not giving scandal the Blessed Sacrament should be removed to another chapel. I have even seen some churches go so far as to put drapes in front of the main crucifix when the church wasn’t being used for a liturgy, office, or prayer of some kind. (I could see a pastor taking a different stance, if the topic of the performance was clearly catechetical in nature, though.)

It is OK to have secular music, if the music is not profane, particularly if it is instrumental and if it is not bombastic in tone or clearly reminiscent of profane tunes.

 

[Lux_et_Tenebrae]

Personally, I can’t see anything wrong with that - where else would you take them?

At the parish where I am working, they often use the sanctuary area as a kind of “stage” for various kinds of performances, even though we have a perfectly serviceable stage in our Parish Hall. I don’t know the reason, other than maybe that the Church is easier for visitors to find than the Parish Hall?

I don’t think our priest is all that comfortable with it, but he hasn’t really said anything.

Our parish uses the area in front of the sanctuary for pictures. The altar is visible, but no one enters the sanctuary.

Lux

 

[Lux_et_Tenebrae]

ps
Here are the canons which Fr David mentioned

Can. 1205 Sacred places are those which are designated for divine worship or for the burial of the faithful by a dedication or a blessing which the liturgical books prescribe for this purpose.

Can. 1206 The dedication of any place belongs to the diocesan bishop and to those equivalent to him by law; they can entrust the function of carrying out a dedication in their territory to any bishop or, in exceptional cases, to a presbyter.

Can. 1207 Sacred places are blessed by the ordinary; the blessing of churches, however, is reserved to the diocesan bishop. Either of them, moreover, can delegate another priest for this purpose.

Can. 1208 When the dedication or blessing of a church or the blessing of a cemetery has been completed, a document is to be drawn up, one copy of which is to be kept in the diocesan curia and another in the archive of the church.

Can. 1209 The dedication or blessing of any place is sufficiently proven by one witness who is above suspicion, provided that no harm is done to anyone.

Can. 1210 Only those things which serve the exercise or promotion of worship, piety, or religion are permitted in a sacred place; anything not consonant with the holiness of the place is forbidden. In an individual case, however, the ordinary can permit other uses which are not contrary to the holiness of the place.

Can. 1211 Sacred places are violated by gravely injurious actions done in them with scandal to the faithful, actions which, in the judgment of the local ordinary, are so grave and contrary to the holiness of the place that it is not permitted to carry on worship in them until the damage is repaired by a penitential rite according to the norm of the liturgical books.

Can. 1212 Sacred places lose their dedication or blessing if they have been destroyed in large part, or have been turned over permanently to profane use by decree of the competent ordinary or in fact.

Can. 1213 The ecclesiastical authority freely exercises its powers and functions in sacred places.

Can. 1214 By the term church is understood a sacred building designated for divine worship to which the faithful have the right of entry for the exercise, especially the public exercise, of divine worship.

Can. 1235 §1. An altar, or a table upon which the eucharistic sacrifice is celebrated, is called fixed if it is so constructed that it adheres to the floor and thus cannot be moved; it is called movable if it can be removed.

 

[Phemie]

These responses illustrate perfectly why it is so important to use proper terminology when speaking of these things.

The altar is a specific thing but the inappropriate use of the term can lead to major confusion as I discovered when doing a refresher with a student who wanted to read while home from university.

I told her to put the Gospel Book on the altar when she went up in procession (no, we have no Deacon). When she went up she placed the Book on the floor in front of the altar. When questioned about this she adamantly insisted that she had placed it on the altar because all her life she’d been told to make sure to behave when she was “on the altar” and the thing on which things were set was ‘the Table’. There are at least 2 generations in my parish who have NOOOO idea what the sanctuary is. Anything that happens in the sanctuary happens “on the altar”.

 

[Sarabande]

Our parish uses the area in front of the sanctuary for pictures. The altar is visible, but no one enters the sanctuary.

Lux

At my parish where we were married, no photos after the wedding is permitted anywhere in the Cathedral. During the wedding, Photographers and Videographers must stay outside of the sanctuary. They had to do this because back in the 80s these vendors would use the Sanctuary as if it was their photo backdrop. Very irreverent. Luckily at the Cathedral, we still have the marble altar rail and the doors are kept shut except for where the couple and priest enter. Now to get them to stop trying to crawl up onto the organ bench while the organist is playing to take pictures even after you ask them to stay away or situate the other musicians around the organ so that they can’t do it. They still try to go in between.

 

[Aramis]

These responses illustrate perfectly why it is so important to use proper terminology when speaking of these things.

The altar is a specific thing but the inappropriate use of the term can lead to major confusion as I discovered when doing a refresher with a student who wanted to read while home from university.

Anything that happens in the sanctuary happens “on the altar”.

In the Byzantine Rite (Both Catholic and Orthodox), anything behind the iconostas is the altar. The tables within are the Holy Table and the Proskomedia Table, and sometimes a credence table.

If anything, the Latin Rite use of the term for just the holy table is the aberration, albeit longstanding and well propagated.

In older documents, the altar is everything inside the rail, and the table(s) within are the Altar of Sacrifice and, if separate, the Altar of Repose. A credence table was also common.