I know I know!! But just mearly prooves my point. A lot of “emotions” are involved when ever we start a topic. I guess I am just not sensitive enough to them lol. For examply I understand that in some culture certain postures are a no no, but we are a western rite, and the Church should not need to give in to other cultures, but instead that culture should immerse itself into the Church. This is comming from a Hispanic.
I’ve been reading this thread and some posts are really interesting. This one struck me in particular. I’ll tell you why. Because I’m a Franciscan. Franciscans, Dominicans and Jesuits have a long history of blending culture and Catholicism. I guess my question is, why would you want us to stop something that we’ve been doing for 800 years?
I can give examples.
When the Franciscans went to China and to Japan, we put aside the habit and put on the dress of the local peasant. There is a very famous letter by St. Maximilian Kolbe, when he was the superior of the Franciscans in Japan. He wrote back to Poland to request more friars and he specifically tells them not to bring their habits, because that’s not how the local people dress and they don’t understand it.
When the Dominicans arrived in South America, they incorporated a lot of the art into their construction and language into catechesis and prayer life.
Francis of Assisi incorporated drama into the mass, that’s how we get the Christmas pageant and the live stations of the cross. That’s his creation, because the local people told stories through drama, not through preaching and books.
The Jesuits in North American incorporated Native American architecture into the chapels and buildings that they built among the indigenous people. They even created statues using that art form.
Franciscans dropped Gregorian chant during Francis’ lifetime, because the common man could not sing it. Francis would write a form of hymn called a Lauda, which was in Italian or in French. When the ordained friars celebrated mass, this is what the people sang. In Germany, they used hymns in German. Latin was used along with the local languages. The local languages were not excluded, nor were the music or the art and architecture.
When Mother Teresa asked for permission to found her new congregation the one thing that she insisted on was that it be Indian. They took many customs from the Hindus. The sari is a Hindu form of dress. The Missionary of Charity Brothers are not allowed to wear a habit or any kind of Christian symbol, because it’s not the way Indian men dress. They have always worn khaki pants, a white shirt and sandals. They kneel on the floor, but the way that they kneel is very different from that of other Latin religious. I tried it once and thought I would break my back. They go forward and their head almost touches the floor. It was very interesting, they were founded in 1946, and Mother Teresa decreed that their official language would be English. When asked why not Latin, she said that the Jesus wanted an Indian congregation and the two major languages of India were Hindi and English. She opted for English, so as not to offend the Muslims. Apparently, they did not speak Hindi. I believe that they speak Pakistani. I’m uncertain. I would not want to see them in a Western habit. Would you? All Western women that join them must wear the sari and learn the Indian postures for prayer and other religious functions. They do what we do when they’re with us, not when we go to their chapels. Then they expect us to get down on the floor like them. Mother would always look at the Westerners with a little grin when they could not bend over, because she was old and she could still do it.
When the Missionaries of the Poor arrived in Jamaica, they adopted a form of liturgical music that sounds like Calypso. The words are very beautiful as are the rhythms. But they are not European and have never been so.
It is part of Latin Catholic Tradition that Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Missionaries of Charity, Missionaries of the Poor and probably others have always incorporated local culture by Christianizing it. I’m remembering some of the churches in some parts of Spain which were built by Franciscans. They look like mosques. The local people were Christian and Muslim. In those days they were called Moors.
Even among the dominant European cultures there are practices among Catholics that are typically Polish, Spanish, French, German and so forth. I’m remembering those beautiful statues that the Spanish dress up in very regal clothing. That’s not universally Catholic. That’s very Spanish. One of the most beautiful ones that I remember seeing, while in Europe, was the Sorrowful Mother. She does not look like a peasant from Nazareth. She looks like a royal Spanish Señora. That was started by Franciscans in order to bring the local art into the liturgy of Good Friday. Today, no one thinks twice about it. Teresa of Avila introduced it into the Carmelites as well as singing Spanish hymns at mass along with Latin. In other words, The entrance might be in Latin and the Communion in Spanish. It made no difference to Teresa or the early Discalced Carmelites Friars who celebrated their masses.
I’m really curious whether you would now ask all of these groups to stop what they have been doing for hundreds of years, integrating local culture and Catholic customs? Is it fair to these groups? Is it even appropriate to as them to give up what has become part of Catholic Tradition? Would it not be better to allow each group to continue to do its work the way that it has always done it and to Christianize local culture rather than exclude it? I think it would be very sad to stop something that is part of the Church’s history.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
