dangerous compassions

I call you / from the comet's cradle

Saturday, October 07, 2006

mass

Today we went to 5:15 mass at my friend S's church in midtown. I know her from Vedanta, but she's also Catholic. She does something I hadn't heard of before called Sacred Movement, which is praying with the body, sacred dance. From what she said, I gathered that this was the most liberal a church could be and still be Catholic.

I was impressed and interested in the idea, so Erik and I went. It was fun. I was happy to see S's dancing.

posted by Laura-Marie @ 7:40 PM  

4 Comments:

  • At October 08, 2006 5:50 AM, Blogger Alan Phipps said…

    Glad you liked it, Laura-Marie! I myself have seen liturgical dance done well... and I've seen it done not so well, when it becomes distracting. It's currently part of a large debate in the american church.

    Liturgical dance is a normal part of worship in catholic churches if you go to african and some asian communities. But in the west, dance has had a difficult time fitting in, and by and large, most american catholics find it more distracting, and so it's future is bleak. It's still around in various places, as you have found.

    In fact, Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, allows liturgical dance at his annual religious education congress (and has stirred up a lot of controversy for it). Here are some pictures of one of the liturgies. (of course, pictures of dance never look right because of the whole lack of movement thing!)

     

  • At October 08, 2006 9:06 PM, Blogger Laura-Marie said…

    Thanks for the comments and the like to the pictures, Alan.

    What I heard was that the dancing was objected to because it was mostly women doing it--the objection was about sex.

    I had no idea it was common in Asia and Africa. I appreciate the info. I'm interested in how Catholism changes over time.

    It was Erik's first mass that wasn't a funeral, so it was an excellent learning experience for him, especially considering he's a history buff.

     

  • At October 08, 2006 9:41 PM, Blogger Alan Phipps said…

    Yeah, actually, most of the serious complaints I have heard against liturgical dance have little to with sex, as there are male dancers as well (in the scenarios I have seen). The debate has rather to do with the actual level to which dance enhances the worship experience.

    In Africa and parts of Asia, dance is an integral part of worship and has been for a long, long time. In the West, dance can often be seen as more of a social activity or something that is observed or participated in. So the argument is that if liturgical dance is nothing more than a performance for spectators in an audience, then it isn't necessarily directing their attention in worship toward God. On the other hand, if dance is done well, then like music, it can be provide visual stimulation to focus our attention towards divine things. Because dance was never really an integral part of catholic worship in the west (i.e. European), introducing it is not easy.

    The struggle over how elements affect the worship experience is a general issue in American Catholicism. It is present, though to a much, much lesser degree, in modern debates over music in the mass (and more specifically, the types of music). Same questions apply, however, music has been a part of the western liturgical tradition for ages of ages, so it's not going anywhere.

    One last note - when Pope John Paul II would go anywhere around the world, his papal masses would almost by necessity include some sort of liturgical dancing. Interesting! Often times, it was in the context of the particular country he was visiting (e.g. Africa); however, there were Aztec dancers in Mexico, and modern dancing at some of the World Youth Day papal masses (I was in attendance at one of those!).

    So, anyway, there it is... :)

     

  • At October 08, 2006 9:45 PM, Blogger Alan Phipps said…

    Oh, I wanted to add w/ regard to dance and objections about sex, that it is generally argued that dance in the western world, aside from being more social, also has sexual connotations (salsa, anyone?), and so perhaps this is how it might influence people's attention in various ways. So sex does figure in to the arguments, but in my opinion, the real question is about dance, in general, and whether some forms of dance can enhance worship... traditional connotations aside. It's worth exploring, so we'll see.

     

Post a Comment

<< Home