Author: Steve

Priests in tights and bunny suits….oh my

Good Emily Stimpson has jumped on today’s liturgical dance bandwagon. My story might beat her’s. This is up there with the Circus Mass and the infamous blue stone toad. It has to do with my old parish in Alexandria, VA, though it happened long before my time. On Easter Sunday the pastor, dressed in a bunny suit, drove a VW Beetle up the isle and came out of the sun roof to begin Mass. I couldn’t find any info on the net about this but maybe some of our readers can dig it up? John was out west and mentioned the name of the parish to a local priest. His face lit up and he said, “Oh yeah! That’s where the pastor jumped out of a beetle in a bunny suit, right?”

Who is going to start on the book about the worst post-Vatican II liturgical abuses?

Hope and healing

Robert Sungenis of Catholic Apologetics International posts a comprehensive article on the scandal and why we should not fear for the future of the Church. I previously slammed him pretty hard over his ideas about orbital mechanics, but I will say again, his books are wonderful and he is one of the most knowledgable apologists we have.

I’ll say it again – we must pray for our leaders in the faith, for the victims, for the direct and indirect perpetrators of this evil, and for our Church. Trust in God’s unfathomable mercy, His love and His promises of salvation and the resilence of the Church in this age. We must also work to be His vehicles of mercy and love – Jesus has no hands but ours with which to heal those who are suffering. He is all-seeing and listens with His whole heart to our prayers. He is be present in the Blessed Sacrament, but it is each of us that He sends forth to be ministers of His love and peace to each other and the world.

I’ve seen liturgical dancing once.

I’ve seen liturgical dancing once. As genuine an expression of faith and joy it might have been for the dancers, it was not shared by the congregation. Just the opposite in fact. It was deeply troubling – like driving by a 20-car pile-up. You didn’t want to watch but you had no choice. Time seemed to stand still in the horror of it all. If these women had worn something besides a leotard it might not have been so heinous. The rule in church as in life is dress for your body size and shape. At least that’s the rule I’ve been following. Maybe they hadn’t heard that one. Just when I thought I would rather staple myself to a burning building than see any more it ended. And there was much rejoicing.

I think Alexandra over at Oremus has something to add!

I’ll say that it can be the same way with music in church. The folk-psalmist is singing their heart out on a bluesy rendition of a psalm. It makes the congregation uncomfortable to see someone emote in that manner. I’ve heard music in church that has given me that feeling. I’m sure I’m not alone. As a private devotion that music is wonderful but music in the Mass is like most everything else in the Mass, a communal prayer. And music in church is not performance, it is prayer – a musical offering. If it looks like a performance, or if someone is acting like it’s a performance, that makes the offering less genuine. Not unlike making a show of a offering in the temple while the widom gave all she had to live on without making a big to-do of it.