Posted on 09/23/2003 7:50:20 AM PDT by presidio9
No dancing in the aisles or applause in church, please, we're Catholic. And we'd prefer altar boys to altar girls.
Those are some of the warnings contained in the draft of a document the Vatican (news - web sites) is preparing to crack down on what it considers "liturgical abuses" of the mass, the focus of Roman Catholic worship.
According to the authoritative Italian Roman Catholic monthly magazine "Jesus," a draft document urges the faithful to notify their bishop or the Vatican to report suspected abuses.
The magazine released an advance text of the article which will feature in its October edition.
If issued in its draft form, the document, known as a directive, could have wide-ranging ramifications on some worship practices that have come into common use in many developed countries, particularly the United States and in western Europe.
According to the magazine, the draft says the use of girl altar servers should be avoided "unless there is a just pastoral cause" and that "priests should never feel obliged to seek girls for this function."
The Vatican in 1994 gave individual bishops the power to decide whether to allow altar girls in their dioceses. But some conservative Catholics are against altar girls, saying their presence has eroded a traditional recruiting ground for priests.
Traditionalists have also seen altar girls as a foot in the door to a female priesthood, which the church bans.
Italian media reported that the initial reaction to the draft, circulated to the world's bishops, has been negative and the document may have to be at least partially modified.
The draft document also discourages applause during masses and "dances inside the sacred building."
Ironically, Pope John Paul (news - web sites)'s sermons during masses, even those in St Peter's Basilica, are often interrupted by applause.
Some of the pope's masses in Rome and around the world have included dancing, particularly those celebrations marking Asian, African or Latin American events.
The document, drafted by two Vatican departments which oversee doctrine and liturgy, was ordered by the pope who will eventually have to approve a final version.
The draft also warns against the use of non-Biblical language during the mass, such as readings from poets.
It discourages the practice where the faithful receive the wafer and wine at communion.
Catholics believe Christ is present in the wafer and wine but the document says it is preferable just to receive the wafer.
"Self-service" communion is also frowned upon. This appeared to be a reference to the faithful taking the consecrated host directly from the chalice instead of receiving it on their tongue from the hand of a priest.
I've only ever seen construction workers and similar do it.
Even one case of pedophilia in the priesthood is inexcusable. But don't let the sensationalized news stories cloud your view of the entire priesthood. A solid relationship with a priest can be a very positive experience for a young boy. It is your job as a parent to get to know and trust such a man before hand, and to make sure junior is well aware of what types of behavior are and are not appropriate. I had a very strong relationship with a parish priest from the time I was an alterboy until the day he died in my 20's. I learned a great deal from that man, and I still miss him today.
That doesn't even begin to suggest a logical argument.
Did you serve alongside altar girls?
SD
But every now and then, even he stepped on his dork.
That song left some major league footprints on it.
Have you noticed that they are attacking me? They are attacking my therapist. Do you know that my therapist is a very kind person? Does that matter in the bigger scheme of things?
Not one person has commented on some of the things I said. Not one person commented on what my therapist told me about what the nuns taught her.
I asked her if it made her angry. She said "yes". It made me angry, too, that the nuns taught her that. She was not alone. Why does no one care to comment on that and some of the other illustrations I made to point out how things are?
Attack the messenger. That's the name of the game.
They think I'm bad because I had the audacity to say how I feel inside about how external things and what is wrong with me. There is nothing wrong with them. I got a long post about sin, sin, sin. Don't they think I know about sin? That's all we are. Walking bags of stinking sins.
I disagree with this also. If you are in it for perfection you had better wait to sing until you get to heaven I guess. God is FAR more concerned with the relationships we have with each other and him than how perfect our presentation is.
But I do think it is a thrill to sing challenging music with an excellent group. We sang Wuorinen's Genesis with the Minnesota Orchestra - as well as Beethoven's "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage" -- (which wasn't nearly as challenging but fun all the same) -- under Edo De Vaart when I lived there back in 1991-92. In smaller towns we did Bach's St Matthew Passion wherein I had the "where is my jesus gone" solo - and lost myself in the music so much that everything vanished but the music, in my mind. And in one performance I had to stop and get ahold of myself during a choral part (Right after the disciples ask "is it I?" -- the choral part "t'is I who should be sharing..." nails me just about every time!) . A few others did the same, and the director, although he warned us earlier to detach ourselves emotionally so that didn't happen, was very understanding about it... because he was a pastor and loved the Lord, I am convinced. He knew perfection was not the main concern here, even though excellence is always something to strive for. We also had solos sung by not so nice voices as well, which he helped compensate for (gently) by having them done as a small group with a few stronger voices to support their wanting sense of pitch - and the audio balance on the recording is really lame.
There have been times I choked up singing in church too, especially when I am really struggling with something of course - and then beat myself up about it because it screwed up the song, only to find out that everyone was moved by my emotion.
I grew up in a tiny church where my best friend and fishing buddy was a retired old man who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, and yet he was not bashful of singing heartily during the service or throughout the day wherever he was. And we all loved it. At the same church was a little old lady who'd sung under my dad and who couldn't play piano worth a lick but would do so in a pinch when no one else was available. (she knew she couldn't play well and that wasn't my problem with her...) She would also not hesitate to offer gossipy criticisms just loud enough for us to hear, of my or my mom's choice of song, me when I was a teenager just getting used to the idea of really *singing* solos in front of church.
And then there are my siblings who are professional musicians - one plays French Horn extraordinarily well, but doesn't know the Lord, as far as I know...
And one who is an excellent flautist who studied under Rampal for a time. She's kind of flaky and also doesn't know the Lord and is actually kind of destructive as far as the family goes.
So basically I find all I can do is follow the Lord's leading as best I can, and try not to take criticism too seriously, whether it comes from pros or from "armchair quarterback" type musicians. I'd rather go about with the "poor lot" that Christ went about with. They are much more 'real.'
Not that there aren't such men. But Phil Donahue doesn't get big ratings anymore, so the view is less common. ;-)
I've got grandchildren.
Do you pray the rosary with your children and tuck them in bed at night? Or does your wife do that? There's no hardfast rule that I know; it's just that we are really fused to our roles and what is expected of us by others.
I am not taking cheap shots at the Catholic Church. I am stating some truths about sexism in the church that evidently some of you don't want to hear.
Did the nuns really teach her that? Because if they did, those nuns were wrong. I doubt you can find their comments supported by the Cathechism. There is a difference between 'something said by member of Catholic clergy' and 'the teachings of the Catholic Church.'
What "sexism" are you talking about, besides the fact that women can not become priests?
SD
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