No Clapping, Dancing at Mass, Vatican to Warn

Reuters ^ | Tue, Sep 23, 2003 | Philip Pullella

[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.

[Pyro7480]

I invite you to go to a Catholic Mass, and see how disruptive "sponaneous praise" would be. There's a time and place for everything.

[sinkspur]

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.

You think?

I suspect there will be no ban against altar girls, and the practice of applauding during Mass will also be dropped, since the Pope himself is often applauded in St. Peter's, and has been for a hundred years.

[Desdemona]

The Vatican's continued insistence that women are 2nd-class citizens (the only explanation for their abhorrence of women taking more-active roles in the Church) will cause them great harm in the future as more and more Catholic women wake up and smell the coffee.

I am a Catholic woman and my place is not on the altar. It's actually in the choir loft.

The problem isn't active roles. It's VISIBLE ones. Women have always been the bedrock of the faithful. The sisters have forever done work that men don't. Yes, it's not prominant to MEN but it is to God. God knows and that's really all that matters.

[ArrogantBustard]

I'm not trolling for an argument, I'm calling someone on the carpet for making vile and scurillous comments. And the Mass/Liturgy isn't the time for "do your own thing". There's plenty of opportunity for any of a wide variety of forms of individual prayer within the Church.

[ArrogantBustard]

OBTW, I read the article as good news.

[Skooz]

Thanks for the report. Very cool.

[smith288]

Never cared for the funeral like atmosphere at Catholic Churches.... As Southern Baptists say

"Mass is boring....(always followed with) Bless their hearts"

(and no, i dont hate Catholics or the Pope... So save any knee jerk reactions)

[NeoCaveman]

in fact they didn't BUILD kneelers into the place.

Ah the spaceship in Warren, built in 1997. I was only in there for a cousin's baptism and that was enough.

[Pyro7480]

Mass isn't about entertaining the congregation, it's about being reverant towards God.

[Paulus Invictus]

OOPS! This new order of things will mess up the mariachis that play loudly in Mexican cathedrals, not to mention the walk-on singers and musicians that make their messy masses into mass entertainment.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Actually, Catholic Monasteriess sing all the Psalms every week.

Not that you would know that, just as you don't understand a "joyful noise" doesn't have to be a Hootenanny.

[irish_links]

The reportage is poorly worded, as one would expect from Reuters, but seems to suggest that some positive changes are in the offing. I am particularly heartened by the suggestion that the Vatican is retreating from its advocacy of communion in the hand. This is a slack practice that has led to many other inappropriate changes to the Mass and the configuration of the church, like the introduction of dreadful "pop" songs ("Morning has Broken" comes to mind)and the removal of the sanctuary from the center of the alter to a side alter, as is mentioned in another post.

Perhaps the seeds of orthodoxy that JP II has sown are beginning to take root in Rome. The germination of those seeds cannot come a day to soon.

[Pyro7480]

God save us from that! I witnessed mariachi music at Mass twice in my life, and that was two times too many!

[Hermann the Cherusker]

His people are "sacred" but inanimate buildings never can be.

Why does Canon Law refer to "Sacred Places"? Why is there a rite for the "Reconciliation of a Church Building After a Sacrilege"?

[Protagoras]

I would revolt if they let girls serve.

Just curious, what form would that take?

[smith288]

Mass isn't about entertaining the congregation, it's about being reverant towards God.

Didnt take long for the knee jerk response to humor... *sigh* I shall stop my Catholic persecution...I suppose.

[Hermann the Cherusker]

I love it!

[Pyro7480]

I don't consider it to be persecution at all. Just setting the record straight ;-)

[smith288]

Not that you would know that, just as you don't understand a "joyful noise" doesn't have to be a Hootenanny.

Doesnt NOT have to be a hootenanny either...or is there scripture im missing? Joy means happy doesnt it? Hootenanny is a fun time...you been to a hootenanny? I guarantee you will have fun at a hootenanny.

[Phantom Lord]

Never cared for the funeral like atmosphere at Catholic Churches.... As Southern Baptists say

"Mass is boring....(always followed with) Bless their hearts"

I never cared for Southern Baptists Holier Than Thou attitude. And their seeming need to control the lives of all in the communities in which they live.