One Reason For The Current Chastisement?

This sacrilegious debacle happened four months ago, I don't know where.  Because these priests and congregation treated their Mass like a cheap baudy show, it's no wonder that they think it can be so blithely scuttled because of a virus.  May God have mercy!

Cardinal's Appeal Is Unappealing

Today at Mass most parishioners in the Archdiocese of Washington (DC) were presented the flyer at the right, along with a preliminary pitch from the celebrating priest.  I've no doubt that the priests were directed from above to incorporate it into their homilies.  Today we heard that one primary purpose of the Appeal was to finance the formation of seminarians within the archdiocese, mostly at the Saint John Paul II Seminary that is adjacent to Catholic University.  If the flyer at the right is any indication of the formation these good young men are receiving, we have much cause for concern.

Do you see the problem?  Don't feel bad; I missed it too!  Fortunately a friend pointed it out to me via email.  Look at the top picture.  That is not just a stage presentation.  A closer examination will reveal clergy, vested for Mass, seated behind the dancers.  What we are seeing here is the liturgical abuse known as "liturgical dance".  In Churches in the West, liturgical dance is forbidden.  Period.  The fact that this picture of liturgical dissidence is featured in an archdiocesan publication - and located on the front top section, no less - is an indication of the abysmal ignorance (or possibly cavalier disregard) for the rubrics of the liturgy on the part of highly-placed archdiocesan officials.  I hope the seminarians are availing themselves of real information regarding the proper celebration of the Sacraments.

At any rate, this flyer that the Archdiocese seems to think will drum up dollars is indicative of why they may not be the best stewards of your contributions.  Now we are commanded by the Precepts of the Church to "support the Church's work".  The promotion of "liturgical dance" (and some of the other archdiocesan escapades exposed on this and other blogs) is NOT the work of the Church!  There are plenty of other worthy recipients of your donation dollars.  The much-beleaguered Little Sisters of the Poor and/or the Missionaries of Charity comes to mind, as well as pro-life pregnancy centers and others.

A Woman-Priestess-Wannabee Enthuses Over The Dancing Bishops

We all recall the sorry spectacle that some bishops made of themselves at World Youth Day.  Some of us called them out for belittling the dignity of their sacred ordinations.

Enters now Sister Martha Ann Kirk, a "liturgical dancer" herself and priestess-wannabee.  Both of these proclivities put her at serious variance with the Magisterium.  To me, it's no surprise that a dissident would wax ecstatic about that incident.

Sister notes that a choreographer called "Fly" led them in the routine.  Last month I posted about Fly's, uh, "career".  Consider that the bishops allowed themselves to be played the fools by this man.   She then tries to justify the debacle with some quotes of various saints, but these quotes fall flat on their face.  St Francis de Sales probably would not consider that performance the "honey to catch flies".  St Teresa of Avila speaks of a "sense of humor".  Part of having a sense of humor is knowing when something is NOT humorous, but rather ridiculous.  Further down she attempts to use Matthew 11:15-19.  Isn't is odd that she doesn't see fit to quote Jesus' entire statement?

We see Sister quoting the New Yorker, and that in turn opines that "Pope Francis sidesteps the issues of dogma and Church law.." to "embrace the core of Christ's Gospel message."  Don't you just wonder how this touchy-feely crowd intends to define "the core of Christ's Gospel message" without dogma and Church law?  Oh, what am I thinking?  These are the new progressives who know so much better than did the Apostles, Church Fathers and millions of faithful Catholics who preceded us these past two thousand years.  They will lead the way, as they twirl and pirouette anytime and anywhere they can.  Heaven forbid that they be "pushed into a limited corner of thought and reaction".

Pray tell, what is their difficulty with "thought"?  After all, are we not made in the image and likeness of God particularly in our faculties of intellect and will?  What we might be seeing in Sister's piece is a little "tipping of the hand", as we see a none-too-subtle attempt to short-circuit thought and reason as it was so aptly done by Fly and his team.

She does whine and pout about us "angry bloggers" who will not sit silently while our leaders not only make fools of themselves but belittle the very Gospel that they are called to preach.  Too bad.  No more will they get away with such travesties.

Liturgical Dance At St Camillus In Silver Spring

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, in "On Sacred Music", had this to say about about liturgical dance: "Dancing is not a form of expression for the Christian liturgy."  He ended that work by saying, "I am convinced that the crisis in the Church that we are experiencing today is to a large extent due to the disintegration of the liturgy."

Every Church Should
Be One

I've written before about various episodes of nonsense at St Camillus, just inside the beltway off New Hampshire Avenue.  We've seen pro-abortion folks speaking there and we've heard jibber-jabber about "ecological conversion" and other new-age tripe.  So it comes as no surprise to me that the loathsome boil known as liturgical dance is festering at St. Camillus.  If some think "loathsome boil" is a tad too harsh, consider that this and other such nonsense have contributed to lack of understanding of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Catholic faith in general and perhaps jeopardized the salvation of many people.

For an example, I've posted a video of a Mass at St Camillus being profaned by one such dance session (ht to Dawn for this video).  Why, oh why, do these folks think it's so wonderful to be treated to the sight of a bunch of women wiggling on the ground and traipsing all over the place while they flail their arms in the air?  Notice at 1:30 they join their hands as though to block the congregation from the altar?  And yes, they did have a little girl lying on the steps of the altar.  What a horrible lesson for her to learn!

In case anyone might think the Archdiocesan chancery had no way of knowing about this travesty, I hardly think that can be the case.  The Catholic Standard interviewed a St Camillus parishioner and this woman made mention of the "liturgical dance group".  Reminder - the Catholic Standard is the official archdiocesan publication.  Why, oh why, was not someone alerted when this obvious red flag started to fly?  Can it be that the Archdiocese just didn't give a rat's rump?

Let us pray that during this conclave that the next pontiff will have the will and strength to rein in the "loosey-goosey" priests and prelates and put a stop to these sorts of insults to the Sacraments.  That will be indispensable to the restoration of the Church.

God Bless Cardinal Arinze!

Cardinal Arinze has great words to say about abuses at Mass such as liturgical dance and applause. (Click here if you can't see embedded video).