I was made aware earlier tonight of a play that will be staged in St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church in Salisbury, Maryland next Sunday. It’s called “Fool’s Mass” and depicts a gang of “village idiots” who try to celebrate Christmas Mass after the death of their Priest. It was created by the experimental theatre troupe called Dzieci.
They are apparently performing it IN the sanctuary, ON the altar.
You can see pictures from past performances here, here and here. Now, to my eyes it looks a bit grotesque and dark, but that doesn’t mean that it is evil. Life is grotesque and dark sometimes. I cannot judge the play as I have never read it nor seen it performed. Apparently, the troupe does work with the mentally ill, so I don’t think they are trying to be exploitative. I don’t know what the motives of the troupe are in respect to a possible parody of the Mass or the Catholic Faith.
My issue is that they are doing this in a real Catholic Church on a real Catholic altar. This upsets me. Build a stage if you want to do a play. It just doesn’t seem right to bring buffoonery and the theatre of the absurd before the altar that represents Our Lord and where that Most Holy sacrifice is offered. This is beyond bad liturgical music.
I love theatre, creativity and the arts, but this just beyond the pale in my estimation.
Am I over-reacting? From what I hear, some of the parishioners share my dismay. Should our altars be used as props? What could or would you do if this happened at your parish?
More info:
Article on the play
St. Francis De Sales Catholic Church
David Bennett
Jennifer
asimplesinner
Fr. J.
Chad Toney
Jorge Flores
Jonathan B
carmelbennett
nicenehobbit
Jason S
jaybird68
papaz
March 6, 2006 at 2:45 pm
simply put: sacrilege.
The altar is not a prop, the sanctuary not a stage. If you want to dress in mime make up and do a skit, do it in the parish hall or something.
March 6, 2006 at 4:15 pm
I am a visual artst {and, for the benefit of others who may not know, a former Protestant minister}, so the use of the arts to the glory of God is very close to my heart.
I have a core belief that all gifts are good gifts given to us by God, for his glory and for our pleasure and I long to see the Church.
The arts are given to us by God because they reflect his creative nature and engery, they are given because when they give us pleasure and reflect God’s pleasure in our happiness- there can be a healthy art for art’s sake, as it were without it always needing to be an aid to teaching. However the arts can be a very effective aid to teaching, to engaging our corporeal self to engage the spirit in unique and powerful ways.
I am all for the Church and all Christians rediscovering appropriate the arts now as during seasons of its great and storied past.
That said, I became Catholic for a reason, for several reasons and one of them is because I believe our {I can now say our} liturgy is sacred, and the Liturgy of the Mass with the Eucharist as the source and summit of our faith does not need the help of fools using the arts to make it more engaging. It is the place of the priests and all leadership to ensure authentic celebrates, engaging and applicable homily, good teaching on what the elements of each of the liturgies mean; I like what our priests do, each week, stopping a long the way to make short teaching points about this or that aspect of a Liturgy {here’s why we are doing this, why we believe that} so people are blessed and well taught about the signs and meaning of what they taking part in. It is also the responsibility of each person to instruct themselves and their children as to these things and thus to fully engage in their own faith.
What could be more tactile, more corporeal than the elements of the Mass, for God sake? We do not just sit and watch or have our ears tickled and mine titillated but our whole being, truly, body mind soul and spirit in the course of a single Mass. But at least half of the bargain is that we are taking responsibility for our own faith.
Those looking for entertainment should attend the church I used to work for. Perhaps they would like the job I gave up in order to join with the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.
So, what am I saying in this belabored comment that might have better been a post itself?
The altar is a sacred place, for the representation of a sacred sacrifice, for the celebratory welcoming of a sacred person who does not need the help of fools, even well intentioned fools who will , in the name of focusing on Christ, distract from him and give us Christeritainment in the place of Christianity.
Sheesh, I guess I have an opinion on this eh?
Via several blogs now but most recently from American Papist here is the kind of idiocy we get when the arts like all things cease to serve Christ more than they serve our flesh: it’s a “Gospel” procession that is just plain , um, insert any blank word of your choosing. If it wasn’t so very sad it would be side splitting funny.
I’m with lutherpunk who put so much more susinctly than I: “The altar is not a prop.”
March 6, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Wow! I mean, WOW! That is the strangest (liturgical) video I have ever seen!
To be fair, however, I can recall be at a candidates retreat when one of the presiders danced during the Gospel procession while holding the Book of the Gospels. I couldn’t focus for the rest of the liturgy.
March 7, 2006 at 5:14 am
sounds sketchy to me. My college recently decided to allow students to perform the Vagina Monologues in front of the altar in our chapel. you better believe I wrote a letter to them expressing my dismay.
the play you describe sounds interesting, but probably would be better suited for a theatre or parish hall.
March 20, 2006 at 4:20 pm
I once saw a one-woman play on Julian of Norwich done in the Sanctuary on the dias. It was in front of the altar, however.
There is also a certain precedant for performing Mystery Plays in the Sanctuary (not to mention the dramatic reading of the Passion), but one must be very careful about this sort of usage.
March 23, 2006 at 6:38 pm
I have not seen this particular play but I have seen things like it (clown “masses” in a Lutheran church…a mimed Eucharist in an Episcopal church…a “Godspell Mass” in a Catholic Church) and, frankly, I found them all, whatever their intentions, silly, unnecessary, annoying, and sacriligious. Our altars and sanctuaries are for one thing only and is the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Offering of Praise and Thanksgiving to God…not for human foolishness.
On a better note, this past weekend I went with my cousin (who is entering the Chruch, thank the Lord) to Mass at St. Rose’s Church in Lima, Ohio. It was so refreshingly holy: The Tabernacle was still on the high altar, the statues of Mary and Joseph were on either side of the altar, the music was sacred, performed by choir and organ, and the Holy Sacrifice was performed with almost regal dignity. It was truly a joy.
April 8, 2006 at 7:20 am
Upsetting. The thing I want to know: are the tabernacle and Eucharist not present?