QUAERITUR: teenage girl dancers during Easter vigil

3 Comments

1. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf says:

   12 April 2010 at 3:10 PM

   From one reader:

   I can’t say it better than this:

   “Dancing is not a form of expression for the Christian liturgy. In about the third century, there was an attempt in certain Gnostic-Docetic circles to introduce it into the liturgy. For these people, the Crucifixion was only an appearance…Dancing could take the place of the liturgy of the Cross, because, after all, the Cross was only an appearance. The cultic dances of the different religions have different purposes – incantation, imitative magic, mystical ecstasy – none of which in compatible with the essential purpose of the liturgy as the ‘reasonable sacrifice’.

   Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
   
   (now POPE BENEDICT XVI)
   
   SPIRIT OF THE LITURGY
   
   Ignatius Press
   
   Page 198
   

    
2. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf says:

   12 April 2010 at 3:11 PM

   From a reader:

   Fr. Z,
   
    
   
   http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/teach/litudanc.htm
   
    
   
   Above is the best source that I have found against liturical dance. It’s authority however may be questionable. Key thing is what is at the bottom:
   
   NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
   
   (BISHOPS’ COMMITTEE on the LITURGY) NEWSLETTER.
   
   APRIL/MAY 1982.
   
   FROM THESE DIRECTIVES, from the NATIONAL CONFERENCE of CATHOLIC BISHOPS, all dancing, (ballet, children’s gesture as dancing, the clown liturgy) are not permitted to be “introduced into liturgical celebrations of any kind whatever.”
   
    
   
   Pax,

    
   
   “TrueLiturgy”
   
    
   
    
   
   “The faithful have a right to a true Liturgy, which means the Liturgy desired and laid down by the Church, which has in fact indicated where adaptations may be made as called for by pastoral requirements in different places or by different groups of people. Undue experimentation, changes and creativity bewilder the faithful. The use of unauthorized texts means a loss of the necessary connection between the lex orandi and the lex credendi. The Second Vatican Council’s admonition in this regard must be remembered: “No person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove or change anything in the Liturgy on his own authority.” [Sacrosanctum Concilium] And Paul VI of venerable memory stated that: “Anyone who takes advantage of the reform to indulge in arbitrary experiments is wasting energy and offending the ecclesial sense.”[Paul VI, address of August 22, 1973: “L’Osservatore Romano,” August 23, 1973.]
   

    
3. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf says:

   12 April 2010 at 3:14 PM

   From a reader:

   perhaps this would be useful, Father…
   
    
   
   http://www.usccb.org/liturgy/innews/803.shtml
   
    
   
   “Dance and the Liturgy
   
    
   
   In the course of their meeting on June 17-18, 2003, the Bishop members, consultants, and advisors of the Committee on the Liturgy considered the question of dance and the Liturgy.
   
   Recalling the recently revised General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), the Committee was conscious of the need to take “due regard for the nature and the particular circumstances of each liturgical assembly, [so that] the entire celebration is planned in such a way that it leads to a conscious, active, and full participation of the faithful both in body and in mind….” (GIRM, no. 18) Particular note was taken of the attention paid by the new Roman Missal to gestures and movements at the Mass, which “ought to contribute to making the entire celebration resplendent with beauty and noble simplicity, so that the true and full meaning of the different parts of the celebration is evident and that the participation of all is fostered.” (GIRM, no. 42)
   
    
   
   The “nature and the particular circumstances” (GIRM, no. 18) of certain ethnic communities was also considered, particularly by Catholic immigrants from Zaire, where dance has been approved as a part of the liturgical books of their native land. The importance of a careful observance of the rubrics of such books in regard to the quality and role of dance in the Sacred Liturgy was emphasized by several of the Bishops.
   
   The place of dance in the liturgy in other parish Masses, however, was examined in the light of the 1975 “qualified and authoritative sketch” published by the Holy See in the journal Notitiae. The article prescribes that in western cultures, dance “cannot be introduced into liturgical celebrations of any kind” and that when dances outside of the liturgy are envisioned, they may take place only “in assembly areas that are not strictly liturgical.”
   
    
   
   Recalling the large number of liturgical issues before them and the fact that only a limited number can be adequately prepared for presentation to the Congregation at any given time, the Committee decided not to pursue the question further at this time. At the same time, the Committee cited the need for further scholarly studies of a “historical, anthropological, exegetical and theological” (Varietates legitimae, no. 30) nature which might explore forms of movement which might be found to serve as an appropriate part of processions, which do not take on the appearance of spectacle per se, and which accompany the liturgy, rather than interpret it.”
   

    

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