Gone but not forgotten!
My previous post about the outlandish dancing Mass liturgy associated with the relics of St John Bosco has had the video link removed by the owners as they have removed it from their site - Salesian Link. It was a public Mass and the video was put up by those running the event in a public forum. It is a little late to remove it now as it has been picked up by a number of other people and you can view it on You Tube here - along with more than 6,000 other viewers. The liturgical dance caused a lot of traffic on my own site as well as being spotted by:
I did notice that a Salesian from Salesian Link has commented on the post saying, among other things that we should be "focusing on what unites us rather than what divides us." What unites us is belonging and being in communion with the rest of the Church through our union with the See of Peter. That unity has specific teachings, guidelines and laws - in liturgy and certainly in the celebration of the Mass - which, when all adhere to them, do indeed unite us. If they are ignored, then we whittle away at that unity.
The post was not criticising the fact of the relics being made available to people up and down the country, indeed I applaud the idea but the context in which they are presented to the faithful is also important in what it teaches about God in our worship. Which is presumably why the Church in its teaching and documents determines the limits within which its public worship must be carried out - particularly within the context of the Mass. We could indeed dance for the glory of God but perhaps this form of expression should not be shoe-horned into the structure of the Mass. There is certainly no suggestion in the Roman Liturgy for the western world that it it should be - indeed there is a definite direction against doing so.
It might just as easily be argued that a liturgy such as St John Bosco experienced in his day and gave to his young charges would be a great thing for young people today to experience - as suggested by our Holy Father, Pope Benedict. After all that liturgy inspired and sustained the saint and those whom he in turn inspired. That liturgy was his daily prayer and the prayer he gave to his young people. Surely young people are not so different today.
4 comments:
I notice from the web-site of the Leeds Diocese(sede vacante) that Liturgical Dance featured as part of a Mass in Wakefield to inaugurate an Academy Trust of seven local schools. The Mass was presided over by Bishop Emeritus David Konstant after whomm the trust is named. Does he approve of this activity?
"O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in't".
—William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, Scene I
My, Leeds has been truly blessed in the last thirty years in having two such holy, self-effacing,humble & competent bishops as +David & +Arthur. What a "brave new church that has such people in it!"
So it was the local Salesians who were responsible for so disastrously embarrassing Bishop Thomas Williams and the whole Archdiocese of Liverpool.
The next time they want to book a pole dancer for their party in a sleazy night club, they should make sure they get the address right: Seel Street, not Mount Pleasant.
What an insult to poor Don Bosco!
Well said, Father.
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