BigMack
Yup. Here's more on what's been going on under the "reformed" Vatican II Church:
Hula liturgies in Honolulu
The issue of dance in Catholic liturgy came to a head in Hawaii two years ago. The Church in Hawaii seems to have tolerated dance in liturgy for some time. A January 9, 1999 story on NandoNet, an electronic news service, claimed that
"The dance [hula] has now been performed during all types of church services, including First Communion, weddings and funerals, by both men and women. It was even performed at [Bishop Francis X.] DiLorenzo's installation as bishop in 1994.12"
A February 1998 article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin described a meeting of the 40-year-old Sacred Dance Guild at Chaminade University, a Catholic college in Hawaii. The article featured Brazilian santeria dancers explaining how dancers seek to get in touch with orishas (pagan gods), and an "Afro-Caribbean" dancer explaining, "People dance to get themselves into a trance. With movement and drumming, you can connect with that part of the goddess in yourself. That is my connection, finding the places where we resonate with those deities. Part of the quest is self-realization."
One participant in this New Age smorgasbord, according to the article, was Marianist Brother Dennis Schmitz, who said that "we have some form of liturgical movement every week" at the Sunday Mass at the campus chapel. The article added that "the Rev. Mario Pariante, St. Louis High School President, participates."12
In 1997, however, a Maui woman complained to her bishop, and then to the Vatican, when she was offended by a hula performance during Mass, apparently a regular occurrence. The complaint resulted in a ruling from the CDW reiterating the ban on dance in liturgy. The incident received sensationalized coverage from the Hawaiian press, which spun it as an example of authoritarian Rome clamping down on local spiritual traditions. Articles likened the Vatican's ban on dance to the suppression of Hawaiian native traditions by Yankee missionaries in the 1820's.
Is it "dance" or "sacred gesture"?
After Honolulu Bishop Francis DiLorenzo met with CDW officials during his regular ad limina visit in 1998, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin proclaimed that Bishop DiLorenzo "is allowing hula and other native Hawaiian `sacred gestures' to be performed during Roman Catholic services."
Did the CDW in fact reverse its ruling or allow an exception? The Hawaiian press thought so. The Honolulu Advertiser proclaimed on December 29 that "the church is promoting openness and inclusiveness in the best tradition of the Islands. Accommodation rather than fiat has thankfully carried the day."13
The Associated Press's headline of January 9, 1999 read "Vatican eases stance on native Hawaiians' sacred gesture during Mass". The accompanying story said that Bishop DiLorenzo's new guidelines were issued "with the Vatican's approval".14 "Catholic pastors can allow hula as prayer" read the headline in the December 22 edition of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin .15