Dancing Our Prayers Away?

TCR News ^ | June 2003 | Carrie Tomko

[NYer]

Once the liturgical dance is accepted, the idea of performance at liturgy will become an element of ritual which will cause us to see the priest in a different light. He will become not "In Personna Christi" but rather the priest "performing" as the celebrant at Mass. He will also be evaluated by performance criteria just as the dancers will be evaluated.

This MUST be stopped .... NOW!!!

[NYer]

As ALL of you know, liturgical dance is my hot button. I strongly suggest a letter writing campaign to our bishops, beginning right now! Otherwise, this is what you will be facing the next time you attend mass.

In general, experimentation is gravely wrong, as stated in Vatican II's Instruction on the Orderly Carrying out of the Constitution on the Liturgy (Liturgicae Instaurationes):

"The effectiveness of liturgy does not lie in experimenting with rites and altering them over and over, nor in a continuous reductionism, but solely in entering more deeply into the word of God and the mystery being celebrated. It is the presence of these two that authenticates the Church's rites, not what some priest decides, indulging his own preferences."

"Keep in mind, then, that the private recasting of ritual introduced by an individual priest insults the dignity of the believer and lays the way open to individual and idiosyncratic forms in celebrations that are in fact the property of the whole Church."

Those of you who wish to join me in this campaign (I can hardly type, my hands are shaking), please let me know. I have already researched this topic and have extensive references that are proven to stop the introduction of liturgical dance.

[Salvation]

The new GIRM is slated for implementation on July 1st in all Arch/dioceses!

Contact your bishop via email, phone or fax to make sure this is happening in your area!

U. S. Catholic Bishops contact page by state or diocese

[Loyalist]

O Torquemada, where art thou?

[Salvation]

**Contact your bishop via email, phone or fax to make sure this is happening in your area!**

this=implementation of the new GIRM

And that the dancing is NOT happening!

[ArrogantBustard]

two other reviewers refer to belly dancing as a style of sacred dance.

Some people have a queer idea of "sacred". Of all the pieces of "liturgical experimentation" to which we have been subjected, "liturgical dance" is by far the most evil. The 9AM Folk Group and the 11:30 Downbeat Combo Band are bad enough, but these dancers clearly and undeniably pervert the God-centered Holy Sacrifice of the Mass into a Man-centered performance.

[wideawake]

At St. Joseph's Parish of the Polish National Catholic Church in Florida

These jokers are schismatics anyway.

There's no point in complaining to anyone in the hierarchy about people who think that being Polish is more important than being Catholic.

I believe that Cardinal Ratzinger made the point some years ago that dancing in the West has always been associated with recreation and physical courtship and its only religious associations have been with highly immoral fertility cults.

Artificially introducing dance into the Roman liturgy is, on its face, an attack on two thousand years of Western liturgical tradition.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

I have seen this before. One of my parishes back home, had this at one of the Masses. She danced up the aisle to the altar, leading the procession of the priest and altar servers. I was a little shocked. I don't want to see this.

[ninenot]

Well---this attack would simply be one more in a long list (e.g., altar "girls.")

[ninenot]

A very quick once-over of the USCC site does NOT yield a list of members of the LitCommit. Disappointing.

[wideawake]

Precisely. They should be recognized as such.

Parishioners who are treated to such spectacles should inform the pastor that they are personally insulted and that they are concerned for the well-being of the parish.

[NYer]

I was a little shocked. I don't want to see this.

Then you MUST act NOW!! I have already written to my bishop this year but I am only one voice crying in the wilderness. It took two letters and lots of freeper guidance and help but it was prevented!

Here is the subtle nuance that the parishes and dioceses currently use to permit liturgical dance. According to the Notitiae, issued in 1975, the bishops authorized that dance be commended for further study. In other words, the parishes currently using this illicit practice do so under that guise. HOWEVER, in the same Notitiae, the same document specifically sets forth standards for such a study.

The first: to the extent in which the body is a reflection of the soul, dancing, with all its manifestations, would have to express sentiments of faith and adoration in order to become a prayer.

The second condition: just as all the gestures and movements found in the liturgy are regulated by the competent ecclesiastical authority, so also dancing as a gesture would have to be under its discipline.

If the proposal of the religious dance in the West is really to be made welcome, care will have to be taken that in its regard a place be found outside of the liturgy, in assembly areas which are not strictly liturgical. Moreover, the priests must always be excluded from the dance.

There will be a professional dancer there, at the request of the Cleveland Diocese diocese (one of the MOST liberal) to speak on behalf of liturgical dance.

How does one demand equal time?

Is it too late to have someone speak at the conference?

Who must they contact to do so?

[drstevej]

Pope Piel I

The Pocket Fisher of Men

Now taking applications for positions once the white smoke goes up and yours truly dons the white and gold chest high waders.

Coming Soon:

• A Three Par Golf Course on the Vatican Grounds

• A Vatican QVC channel hosted by Mrs. Pope Piel

• A High-tech Surround Sound Sistine Theater run by the Pope's (yes they are legitimate) kids

• A Worldwide Chain of Torquemada Hotels where guests can leave their heresy behind (or else)

• A Worldwide Pay-Per-View Humiliation and Expulsion of the Lavendar Mafia to raise Funds for the victims.

 

Not Coming Soon:

• No Koran kissing or sniffing

• No clown or hula masses

• No Altar-ettes doing New Age swirling dances and offering loaves of Wonder Bread

Suggestions are welcomed via freepmail.

[drstevej]

***O Torquemada, where art thou?***

Only a white puff of smoke away... Black Elk and Calvinist_Dark_Lord (assisted by his faithful companion CCWoody) are ready!

[wideawake]

How does one demand equal time? Is it too late to have someone speak at the conference? Who must they contact to do so?

I wouldn't even bother to make an appearance.

These conferences always utilize the "Delphi" crowd management/consensus consulting method.

No orthodox person can get a fair hearing by definition.

[Corin Stormhands]

Psalm 149:3
Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.

[Salvation]

** I don't want to see this.**

Then email or cal or fax your Arch/bishop.

[Salvation]

**A very quick once-over of the USCC site does NOT yield a list of members of the LitCommit. Disappointing.**

I didn't find it either. But I did find this.

Address on the bottom of the page:
Committee on the Liturgy
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20017-1194 (202) 541-3060

[Salvation]

**cal**

call

[NYer]

No orthodox person can get a fair hearing by definition.

I don't buy that! I demand equal time!

Who do I email at this late hour? Which of the conservative bishops shares our views ... Bruskewitz? Dolan? Who?