Too much time in the southern sun, methinks.

From Fides et Forma and …

… direct from Bari… it’s… the SUMMER SOLSTICE!

E’ accaduto ieri nella Cattedrale di Bari: il parroco, don Franco Lanzolla, ha ritenuto opportuno organizzare in occasione del solstizio (quando i raggi di sole filtrati dal rosone illuminano un mosaico circolare al centro della navata), uno spettacolo di danza, “liberamente ispirato al mito platonico della caverna”.
I wonder what Msgr. Nicola Bux thinks about this.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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32 Comments

  1. Fr Matthew says:

    Dear God, enlighten these people for real, please…

  2. Alex S. says:

    Wow, talk about pagan.

  3. MaryW says:

    And Jesus cried.

  4. Patti Day says:

    Yipes! I don’t even need a translation.

  5. amenamen says:

    Platonic?

    I noticed the word “platonico” in this item. So I was curious.
    The google translation is:
    It ‘happened yesterday in the Cathedral of Bari: the parish priest, Don Franco Lanzolla, has decided to organize on the occasion of the solstice (when the rays of sunlight filtered through the rose window, illuminating a circular mosaic in the center of the nave), a dance show, “freely inspired by the Platonic myth of the cave. ”

    Platonic. Yes. That is what comes to mind.

  6. jules1 says:

    And Jesus cried.

    WE are crying out ! This is what ‘new age’ distortion has done to Catholics! The poor people who think this helps shed light on the truth.

  7. FranzJosf says:

    But does he really know about the ‘myth of the cave’? (I learned it, in high school, as the ‘allegory of the cave’.) The lesson contained therein is about the tacit co-operation with evil, what today might be called a negative contract.

    Oh, the irony.

  8. digdigby says:

    She’s not wearing a veil.

  9. JKnott says:

    “My house shall be called a house of prayer!” – Jesus

  10. moon1234 says:

    I think the only praying (and preying) being done here is to and by the evil one.

    I am so saddened by this display. The world really is going mad. All you have to do is look out at society and you see babel or sodom. I really fear that people are losing their minds.

    When things like this happen and it goes unanswered, you really have to wonder what the leaders in the Church are thinking? 100 years ago this would have garnered immediate desecration of a sacred place…..

  11. Tony Layne says:

    “My house shall be called a house of prayer!” … but you have turned it into an amateur arts festival. Sheesh. At least, thieves don’t pretend they’re doing something ennobling and enlightening.

  12. jflare says:

    And here I intended to ask for a translation….

    By the way, I’m not the least bit acquainted with a myth of a cave?
    How does the story go?

  13. Schiavona says:

    jflare,

    The story is short, written by Plato as a dialogue, and very readable, for example, here:
    http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/platoscave.html

  14. Mundabor says:

    The priest in Bari reminds me of the young “modern priest” here.

    He needs a cardinal like the one in the video.

    M

  15. chironomo says:

    By the way, I’m not the least bit acquainted with a myth of a cave?
    How does the story go?

    If you’ve seen “The Matrix” you’ve seen a pretty good modern version of Plato’s allegory.

  16. Joe in Canada says:

    I presume St Nicholas is checking which list Fr Franco Lanzolla is on.

  17. jasoncpetty says:

    A priest decides to have a young, barely-dressed woman prance around his church and be gazed upon. ‘Cause, you know, it’s for . . . a festival . . . or something.

    Sorry, but my creep-dar is going off.

  18. digdigby says:

    She is naked. When the sun shines through her diaphanous nightie she is Miss Occasion of Sin 2011. Not vaguely, not sort of. Naked.

  19. chonak says:

    Too bad he didn’t think of something worthwhile that might be beautified by the solar illumination: e.g. Vespers before the Blessed Sacrament.

  20. Sid says:

    Not only a devotional but also an aesthetic outrage. This is one of the most beautiful Romanesque churches in Italy, rivaled only by the Cathedral in Trani. Now with something ugly.

    And clearly neo-pagan, something I had thought Italy largely had avoided. Soon expect Celtic full moon ceremonies.

  21. irishgirl says:

    This is in a church?!? Oy vey….
    Whoever thought this up deserves a slap on the side of their head!
    ‘My House shall be called a House of Prayer’…not a dance hall!
    St. Nicholas, please lean down from heaven and give a slap like you did to Arius!
    Sheesh….

  22. Augustin57 says:

    Reminds me of the story I heard from a priest who was visiting a particular parish where they had “ministers of the water” (seven of ’em, if I recall) who were dressed in leotards with flowing cloth of some sort draped on ’em, each carrying some sort of vessel with water from each of the seven major bodies of waters in the region (lakes, rivers, etc.). At the appropriate time in Mass, they danced down the aisles, to and fro, to music, and eventually all poured the water into one vessel of some sort.

  23. jbpolhamus says:

    This is perhaps the finest example yet of the failure of the Diocesan system of church governance. It should be pointed out that Diocesans are only one of several systems by which to govern the church. They need to be bypassed. They have failed, and through their failure we have become that people whose hearts go astray, and who shall not enter into His rest. I predict that God will not suffer this indignity much longer.

  24. Kieninger says:

    If it wasn’t for the magnificent architecture in the background, this could be at any public Mass during the LA Religious Educators’ HeresyFest. I’m sure OCP has musical arrangements for solstice liturgies…

  25. Dr. Eric says:

    Domine Miserere!

  26. Here we see graphically demonstrated the value of wooden pews, lots of them, enough to fill the nave of a church and prevent at least this sort of misuse.

  27. catholicmidwest says:

    Digdigby, you are correct. No veil. In fact, no pants. Kind of puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?

    This kind of new age worship of the mystical for itself is what we are up against and it’s very powerful now. Primitive & powerful. And evil.

  28. AnAmericanMother says:

    digdigby,
    Be of good cheer (at least as cheerful as we can under the circumstances).
    After examination of the photographs individually over at Fides et Forma, it appears to me that the alleged dancer is wearing a skin-tight leotard under her translucent outer attire.
    So she may still be Miss Near Occasion of Sin, but at least she isn’t “nekkid” under her nightie (and it’s clearly a nightie, not a jazz or ballroom dress, as can be seen from the first photo in that series).
    And other than the two heavily-breathing male photographers in the center aisle, it appears that most of the spectators are little-old-lady tourists, who probably believe (judging from their expressions) that they are attending something very Artistic and High-Minded and Symbolically Significant.
    And, yeah, any priest that would allow himself to be photographed in that languorous pin-up pose has got a screw loose – maybe two or three.

  29. jesusthroughmary says:

    Why is there a [circular mosaic on the floor in the center of the nave that is illuminated through the rose window on the solstice] in the first place?

  30. jesusthroughmary says:

    Bari… Bari… That bishop has been mentioned on this blog before… Hmm… Bari…

  31. Alex S. says:

    Jesusthroughmary: Probably as a medieval time-keeping device so they would know when the solstice was.

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