WWYD if your parish had liturgical dancers?

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Look for another parish.

In my personal case, I would start attending Mass at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament. I can guar-awwwwwn-tee that there won’t be any liturgical dancers there 😛

DaveBj
 
Leave.

Our church (Lutheran) has everone “stand and greet your neighbors” - something started a decade ago - and I even find that not quite right just before church. It winds up being everyone moving around their pews and talking/shaking hands to a few dozen people.
 
I would praise God that we live in a country where we people are allowed to openly express their love for the Living God in a manner the Holy Spirit has called them.

Besides, what’s worng with Liturgical Dancers? Didn’t David dance before the Lord with all his might (2 Sam 6:14)? Aren’t we told to “Praise His name with the dance” (Psalm 149:3)? Isn’t there a time to dance (Ecc 3:4)?
 
I would run…to the nearest TLM. 😉

(and that wouldn’t be a short jaunt either!)
 
dhgray said:
I would praise God that we live in a country where we people are allowed to openly express their love for the Living God in a manner the Holy Spirit has called them.

Besides, what’s worng with Liturgical Dancers? Didn’t David dance before the Lord with all his might (2 Sam 6:14)? Aren’t we told to “Praise His name with the dance” (Psalm 149:3)? Isn’t there a time to dance (Ecc 3:4)?
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Cardinal Arinze on Dance

8. Dance in the Liturgy
Some people want to introduce dance into the sacred liturgy. The Latin Rite liturgy has not had any such practice. We have therefore to ask those who want to bring in the dance to state their case.
(see the article in the official bulletin of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: Notitiae 106-107, June-July 1975, pp. 202-205. Editor’s note: this article is available on the Adoremus web site at www.adoremus.org/Dance.html)
 
dhgray said:
I would praise God that we live in a country where we people are allowed to openly express their love for the Living God in a manner the Holy Spirit has called them.

Besides, what’s worng with Liturgical Dancers? Didn’t David dance before the Lord with all his might (2 Sam 6:14)? Aren’t we told to “Praise His name with the dance” (Psalm 149:3)? Isn’t there a time to dance (Ecc 3:4)?
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Sure he did…but just because David did it doesn’t mean we should. (wasn’t he also naked? ;))

Besides, he did it out in the fields…not in public worship.

See chapter VIII of The Instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum
 
Let me be a voice of dissent. Don’t run away. Not just because of the dancers anyway.

Is it just the dancers? Or are they a symptom of a bigger problem in the parish? If the only problem is dancers, talk with the pastor and/or liturgy committee. Maybe they just don’t know it’s wrong. Your first step should be to try to correct the problem, not run from it.

If the problem is deeper, a more systematic disregard for direction from Rome, your best course of action may be to leave. DH and I were initiated at a parish that is rather anti-Rome. We moved away from the parish (for other reasons) and I realize now that we would not have been able to make many changes there. No one wants to hear the voice of conservativism there. If your parish is similar, leaving is likely the only thing you can do. Pray, of course, for the pastor and other leaders to have a change of heart and mind, but take care of your spiritual needs elsewhere.

MJ
 
:amen:
buffalo said:
Cardinal Arinze on Dance

8. Dance in the Liturgy
Some people want to introduce dance into the sacred liturgy. The Latin Rite liturgy has not had any such practice. We have therefore to ask those who want to bring in the dance to state their case.
If they say that the reason is to make the Mass interesting, the answer is what we have just considered. We come to Mass to worship God, not to see a spectacle. We have the parish hall and the theater for shows.
Others say they welcome some dance in order to express fully our prayer, since we are body and soul. The answer is that the liturgy indeed appreciates bodily postures and gestures and has carefully incorporated many of them, such as standing, kneeling, genuflecting, singing, and giving a sign of peace. But the Latin Rite has not included the dance.
It is not easy for dancers not to draw attention to themselves. Granted that some very refined dances in some cultures can help to elevate the mind, is it not true that for many people dances are a distraction rather than a help to prayer?
Dances easily appeal to the senses and tend to call for approval, enjoyment, a desire for a repetition, and a rewarding of the performers with the applause of the audience. Is this what we come to Mass to experience? Have we no theaters and parish halls, presuming that the dance in question is acceptable, which cannot be said of them all?
Is it true that in many parts of Africa and Asia there may be a cultural habit of graceful body movement which, with due study and approval of the local Church, may go down well within a liturgical celebration. The Ethiopian rite has known graceful rhythmical movements and the procession for the Gospel. The Roman Rite Mass approved for the Democratic Republic of the Congo has similar entry movements.
But this is very different from what the ordinary person in Europe or North America thinks of when the concept of dance is evoked. Can we blame people who associate dance with Saturday evening, ballroom, theater or simply, innocent enjoyment? The liturgical books approved by the bishops and the Holy See for Europe and North America understandably do not authorize the importation of dance into church, let alone the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. (see the article in the official bulletin of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments: Notitiae 106-107, June-July 1975, pp. 202-205. Editor’s note: this article is available on the Adoremus web site at www.adoremus.org/Dance.html)
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I would write a letter to my archbishop complaining, with a cc to the pastor. I would also be looking for a nice traditional mass elsewhere.
 
Send the appropriate documentation to your pastor.

No response: Take a video and send it to the bishop. CC: Cardinal Arinze. A parish in California did this and the liturgical abuses were terminated virtually overnight.
 
EGADS! Dancers! I’d be in the ear of your pastor, the litugical committee, the music ministry and anyone else in the parish that thought this was a good idea. When visiting my brother in Texas I attended a church that had dancers…it detracted from the solemnity of mass and it distracted the congregation. My gosh, the mass is not a performance forum…it is not someplace for people to show off their musical, dancing, oratory or other personal talents. Music and liturgical practices should compliment and elevate the mass. No matter how well intended any musical or liturgical activity that takes focus away from the mass is inappropriate at the very least and may even be sacrilegious.

Iowa Mike

Iowa Mike
 
My parish has liturgical dancers every year before the Christmas Eve Mass. Is that allowed?

My daughter was one of them this year. I never knew there was anything wrong with it. The pastor there is very “by the book”, so I never thought he would allow something that was wrong. :confused:
 
If there were liturgical dancers in my parish…

I would get up, move to the front and try to outdance them :D.

Seriously, though, I might want to leave but the ideal thing to do is to confront the priest. Unless, of course, if my parish is in Africa which is not.
 
Just out of curiosity, does your parish offer different mass times with different themes? Our parish offers two “family masses” on Sunday and three “traditional” masses. It is understood that at the family masses there will be crying babies, many small children, and the Priest has the children come up for the gospel reading and homily and then again during the Eucharist. Those who don’t like this or don’t want to listen to all the “noise” come to the other masses.

I agree with the others, though. Try writing a letter, stating your opinion and include the references here. If it’s ignored, I would find another parish.

Good luck and God bless,

Trish
 
Right now, it wouldn’t happen. Father is trying to get things more in line with GIRM, not less. He’s already been requested to stop several innovations, and seems a bit miffed at having to purify after Communion himself.

If it happened, though, I would run…to the “Ask An Apoligist” section of CAF and find a q&a on liturgical dance. If there wasn’t one, I’d ask and wait for an answer. I would print it out, then give it to Father, politely.

If that didn’t work, I’d be in conference with the diocese director of liturgy. He’d be a tad upset, as he is a very conservative man who wants GIRM followed to the letter and can tell you the whys of every part of the Mass. And in short order, there would be no liturgical dancers at our parish!
 
I would make a big stink when it happens and leave. Then I would inform the Bishop and ask for and investigation and removal of the ones that approved it. If I get no satisfaction I would escalate it until I get that satisfaction.

In the mean time, I would go to another parish, but still send in my envelopes with a not that the money earmarked for the parish are being goven elseware
 
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