Dance at Mass?

Catholic Exchange ^ | November 15, 2008 | Mary Anne Moresco

[NYer]

“A recent craze associated with so-called active participation promotes the idea that there must be dance at a solemn Mass,” writes Francis Cardinal Arinze, prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, in his book Celebrating the Eucharist (p. 53). Before we kick off our shoes, don ballet slippers, and inadvertently find ourselves or our children sashaying in the Sanctuary, it is important to understand what Holy Mother Church teaches about dance at Mass.

To enter a Catholic church is to leave the world behind and cross a threshold into that which is holy. The church building itself symbolizes heaven. “The visible church is a symbol of the Father’s house toward which the People of God is journeying…” (CCC 1186) For this reason, everything we encounter at Mass ought to speak of God and holiness.

The problem with dancing at Mass in western culture, especially in this age of dance “reality” shows on television, is that it tends to bring to mind worldly aspects of our culture and our lives. Thus, rather than having our thoughts elevated at Mass toward God and heaven, we can find that, when exposed to dance in church, our thoughts are instead made banal. The Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship issued a document called “Dance in the Liturgy.” This document addresses the connection between dance and banality when it states that in western culture:

[D]ancing is tied with love, with diversion, with profaneness, with unbridling of the senses: such dancing, in general, is not pure.

For that reason it cannot be introduced into liturgical celebrations of any kind whatever: that would be to inject into the liturgy one of the most desacralized and desacralizing elements; and so it would be equivalent to creating an atmosphere of profaneness which would easily recall to those present and to the participants in the celebration worldly places and situations.

Neither can acceptance be had of the proposal to introduce into the liturgy the so-called artistic ballet.

To introduce dance into the liturgy is to introduce enjoyment, and thus entertainment. Entertainment at Mass makes it easy for us to forget why we come to Mass at all, so that our time at church is spent thinking of dance rather than our prayers. As Francis Cardinal Arinze stated:

Now, some priests and lay people think that Mass is never complete without dance. The difficulty is this: we come to Mass primarily to adore God — what we call the vertical dimension. We do not come to Mass to entertain one another. That’s not the purpose of Mass.

[W]hen you introduce wholesale, say, a ballerina, then I want to ask you what is it all about. What exactly are you arranging? When the people finish dancing in the Mass and then when the dance group finishes and people clap — don’t you see what it means? It means we have enjoyed it. We come for enjoyment. Repeat. So, there is something wrong. Whenever the people clap, there is something wrong — immediately.

Why make the people of God suffer so much? Haven’t we enough problems already? Only Sunday, one hour, they come to adore God. And you bring a dance! Are you so poor you have nothing else to bring us?

Cardinal Arinze wrote, in Celebrating the Holy Eucharist (p. 53-54) about the misguided notion that we must dance because we are both body and soul:

Our answer must be 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 never included dance. …

Dance easily appeals to the senses and tends to call for approval, enjoyment, a desire for 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 theatres and parish halls, presuming that the dance in question is acceptable, which cannot be said of them all?”

Nor is it acceptable to use dance as a means for “evangelization” or to “attract” people to the church or the Mass. Pope Benedict the XVI, then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote in The Spirit of the Liturgy (p. 198) that:

It is totally absurd to try to make the liturgy “attractive” by introducing dancing pantomimes (wherever possible performed by a professional dance troupe), which frequently (and rightly from the professionals’ point of view) end with applause.

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued directives indicating that it is not permissible for dance (including ballet, children’s gesture as dancing, the clown liturgy) to be “introduced into liturgical celebrations of any kind whatever” (NCCB Bishops Committee on the Liturgy, Newsletter April/May 1982).

Dance at Mass can generate feelings of disappointment and betrayal by believers who come to Mass to pray to God only to find that religious entertainment awaits them instead. One pastor explained the feeling of disappointment and betrayal he had when dancers appeared at Mass as he stood in persona Christi:

As a priest who stands in persona Christi to offer the sacrifice of the Mass, I felt disappointed and betrayed when liturgical dancers appeared at the Mass that opened our diocesan synod. The believers present for this Mass deserved to partake of the liturgy under the proper rubrics outlined by the Holy See. It would not be an exaggeration to say these believers were ambushed by an act of spiritual and liturgical terrorism.

The Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a precious gift from God. This gift belongs to the church, and must be preserved in accord with liturgical norms. To ensure that preservation, to promote Catholic unity, to honor the Magisterium, and to show charity towards fellow believers who have a right to “partake of the liturgy under the proper rubrics outlined by the Holy See,” each of us must remember we are not free to add to the Mass whatever suits our personal fancy.

Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC 22:3) sated that “no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.” May each of us come to embrace the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a beautiful and perfect gift — in the perfect form it has been given.

To view Francis Cardinal Arinze as he discusses dancing at Mass, access: http://www.wikio.com/video/379459.

[trisham]

I wonder why no one has ever suggested having cheerleaders?

Or have they?

It's all just a distraction, imho.

[netmilsmom]

The funny thing is when I was on the Catholic Answers forums, people defended things like saying the mass with the Priest or handholding. They stated that it doesn’t say “not to” in the GIRM.

BUT when those of us who were against these innovations stated that “it doesn’t say we can’t BBQ in the choir loft” they got all bent out of shape.
Go figure.

I’ll have to remember the cheerleading. Good point.

[trisham]

BUT when those of us who were against these innovations stated that “it doesn’t say we can’t BBQ in the choir loft” they got all bent out of shape.

****************

LOL!

[vox_freedom]

So we give Him one hour a week to fall on our faces and show him that we are not worthy of his light.
We relive His crucifixion at our Holy Mass and there was no dancing while He hung on the cross.

That! Thank you, netmilsmom.

[vox_freedom]

One more for the novus ordo dance Mass photo collection:

[netmilsmom]

Thank you my FRiend!
I often ask those who want to hold hands or gladhand at the sign of peace, what would you do if Our Lord stood in his earthy body right there on the altar? Would you be concerned with the person next to you? I think not.

Well He is there. Right there, on the altar. The Body and Blood of Christ is right there. Act like it.

[vox_freedom]

You are most welcome, my FRiend.

For those who stand to receive Communion, I ask if they will stand, bow or lie prostrate before Him on judgment day.

And ... if they think that Mass "is just a meal" and that dancing will get them into heaven...

[Ballygrl]

That pic is beautiful!

[Ballygrl]

I personally think if people feel the need to dance then they should do it at home, or at a nightclub. I don’t want to see dancing, laughing etc. at Mass.

[GOPmember]

The Liturgical Referee would not approve.

Example Liturgical Signals
	No Crucifix in sanctuary.
	Liturgical dance detected.
	Member of laity giving homily - to be evicted from lectern.
	Incomplete or no consecration. Occurs when illicit matter is used, wrong formula used, only one of the two elements of bread or wine is not properly consecrated, or no validly ordained male priest/bishop is present. In case where only one element is consecrated a replay is called for.
	Illegal use of hands. Normally called when the celebrant has left the sanctuary to shake everybody's hands.
	Questionable or just downright heretical theology used in homily. When detected the Liturgical Ref pulls on his lips in a downward direction.
	The "What the heck am my hearing" signal is one of the most common signals and indicates syrupy banal liturgical music or the inappropriate use of secular music such as show tunes and popular music (especially from the seventies).
	Disregarding the prescribed text of the Order of Mass. This is another common liturgical penalty despite the fact that no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority. (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy)
	Illicit Posture. Usually called when you are being asked to stand instead of kneel or any other poster adaptation not specified by the GIRM or set by your bishop's conference or licitly specified by your local ordinary.
	Illicit purification of sacred vessels. This is called when the purification of the sacred vessels is done by an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion despite the fact the the Pope revoked the indult in the U.S. for this permission.
	Illicit Participation. Called when too many people are in the sanctuary. For example occurs when EMHC arrive before the fraction rite or when some members of the congregation are invited into the sanctuary to pray with the priest during the consecration.
	Un-Christian Like Conduct. Can be called when elements of other religions contrary to Christianity are introduced such as new age beliefs. Un-Christian Like Conduct is also often called in the parking lot after Mass.
	Illegal Pass. The celebrant is simply not allowed to make a pass at anybody.
	Stole Infraction. Normally occurs when the celebrant wears his stole on top of the chasuble. Another penalty can be added if the celebrant does this and the stole is also horrendously ugly or has an seventies themes.
	Illegal Receiver of Holy Communion. Those who are excommunicated or interdicted after the imposition or declaration of the penalty and others who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.
	Clowns in the sanctuary - run for your life.
	Excessive use of inclusive language. Penalty is thrown when grammatical awkwardness is detected in avoiding male pronouns and every other sentence begins brothers and sisters.

[netmilsmom]

Amen!

[NYer]

ROFL!!! Where did you find that!! It’s a keeper :-)

[netmilsmom]

You forgot one..

Illegal usurp of the Orans Position by the laity.

[AnAmericanMother]

Yikes!

I've seen that pic before, and the girl in the middle is the only 'liturgical' 'dancer' that I have *ever* seen with good line. She's obviously ballet trained.

The two girls flanking her have very BAD line and look frumpy, which is more typical of this sort of purported 'dancer'.

My considered opinion (as the daughter of a professional dancer and the holder of a Certificate in Theater and Dance from my university, as well as a Scottish Country Dancer and former competitive Highland Dancer) is that the sort of dancer you find in churches is almost always the sort that can't find a gig ANYWHERE else! And the priests (like that one in the background pretending he's down with all this) are so ignorant of dance that they allow them and figure they must know what they're doing.

The only time the rector of our former Episcopalian parish got a liturgical dancer on board, I made such merciless fun of him (and to a lesser degree of her) that he never did it again. He knew that I knew what I was talking about. She was truly awful.

[trisham]

LOL!

[mrs. a]

“Whenever the people clap, there is something wrong — immediately.”

When my husband and I were consulting with the priest about our Nuptial Mass, I asked him to please NOT introduce us as “Mr. and Mrs. A” when the ceremony was complete, as I didn’t want the congregation to burst into applause.

I never saw such a wide smile on the face of a priest!

BTW, I always felt that liturgical dance was neither...

[GOPmember]

Where did you find that!!

Click the link in my post. It's from The Curt Jester.

Just to add a (disturbing) visual to the original post.....***VIDEO BARF ALERT***

Of note, that physically beautiful church in the video was struck by lightning in 2007 and burned. Coincidence? Or, God's wrath? Hmmmmmmm.

[dsc]

You guys are all doing better than I have been.

Must...do...better...