Cosmos-Liturgy-Sex

That is the sound-bite that the Indy Star took from rationale that Gregory Hancock and his dance theater give for imposing his “Flamenco Mass” on unsuspecting Catholics. While liturgical dance is not prohibited by name in liturgical documents, it is certainly a novetly which Redemptionis Sacramentum rules out in its prohibition against introducing elements not contemplated by the liturgical books. Any changes in the Mass of this sort must be proposed by a conference of bishops and always have prior approval of the Holy See.

Besides being illicit, it is just bad liturgical theology. Hancock says he wants to offer another vision of Mass as an alternative way of worship showing that there is more than one way to speak to God. I guess I don’t have an argument with these assertions in themselves: it is certainly another vision of the Mass, it is an alternative way of worship, and there is more than one way to speak to God. The problem, of course, is the apparent presupposition that the structure of the Mass is a man-made method of speaking to God and so any Tom, Dick or Gregory can change it at will. It is not.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted on this kind of presupposition from The Spirit of the Liturgy. This attitude that we can make worship whatever we wish fits so well with what Cardinal Ratzinger called a “cry in the dark.” While I have no doubt that Flamenco dancing can be a very emotional experience, perhaps even more so for the performers, emotion is not the same as an experience of the Transcendent. Cardinal Arinze has identified the primary problem with liturgical dance, he has said that it draws away from the vertical and focuses on the horizontal level. He means that dance is inherently appreciated as entertainment rather than as liturgical worship. Why is that? I think that it is for the very reason that good liturgy is not spontaneous. In the Mass we are, as the Mystical Body of Christ, offering back to the Father, the Sacrifice of the Son. If we do not know the dance we are more apt to be drawn in by its novelty and (presumably) beauty than we are drawn to join ourselves with the act and together offer it to the Father. In fact, unlike prayers and singing, it does not seem to me that dance lends itself to a corporate act of worship. That is probably the reason that we have never seen dance in the liturgy until it started popping up a decade or two ago.

Assuming that it is well done and not obscene, I am all for offering this Flamenco Christmas pageant in the parish hall. My question is, why do so many insist on co-opting the Mass and separating the worshiping community from the authentic liturgy of the Church by imposing their personal sense of creativity on us when it is at odds with liturgical rubrics and liturgical theology?