To Kathryn Mihelick:

     I recently read the article in the 06/08/03 edition of the Stow Sentry regarding dancing during Catholic liturgies. The article quotes you as saying, "Dance's appropriateness in the church has been questioned by some, and church documents are not clear on the issue, according to Mihelick."

     The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is thoroughly outlined with every available option in the holy book known as both the Roman Missal and The Sacramentary. The Sacramentary is written in a style known as the positive affirmative. This means that ALL that is mandated (and how) and ALL that is permitted (and when) is included within the rubrics and instructions of the sacramentary. In other words, what is permitted during Holy Mass and what is mandated during Holy Mass appears in The Sacramentary. If it is not in The Sacramentary it may not be done! Dancing of any type is not authorized during any portion of the Holy Mass. If I have not explained this (from the Sacramentary) to your satisfaction, please advise me and I'll try to do better.

     There are new general instructions of the Roman Missal effective this year, approved by Rome in book form copyrighted in 2003 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Inc. It is available in both paperback form (I ordered mine from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops) and in electronic form on the internet.These new instructions for celebrating Holy Mass refer to music, singing, musical instruments, roles of the laity, etc., etc. NOWHERE do these new instructions refer to, suggest, infer or allow any type of dancing during any part of the Holy Mass. You gave a 'litany' of places in the Mass on your website of where dancing would be (according to you) appropriate. These same places during Mass are described in detail in the above book. Again, NOWHERE is dancing infered or permitted.

     Allow me to quote expert David Gregson on 06/12/03 at the EWTN Catholic Q&A forum regarding liturgical law: "Church laws, particularly those issued from Rome, have divine authority. That's one of the implications of Our Lord's words to Peter, 'whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven', (Mt. 16:19). The laws have divine authority. Jesus never broke a divine law. It doesn't matter how fine a point of law a rubric or other liturgical instruction may seem to be, but rather what authority it has. And if it came from Rome, it has Peter's authority, which is to say, God's."

     You refer to Notitae Vol. XI (1975). Part of this document quite plainly says, "But the dance always took place outside the liturgical actions. Conciliar decisions have often condemned the religious dance, as not befitting worship, and also because it could degenerate into disorders...hence, it is not possible to introduce something of that sort in the liturgical celebration; it would mean bringing into the liturgy one of the most desacrilized and desacrilizing elements; and this would mean the same as introducing an atmosphere of profanity, which would easily suggest to those present worldly places and profane situations."

     You are a college instructor or professor and I am a mere janitor but I have no difficulty in understanding that Rome has definitively decided that there can be no dancing during the Mass. A good Catholic will not try to find 'loopholes' to get around this. If your pastor or other clergy have advised you contrarily, they are both in error and are being disobedient to Rome and existing liturgical norms. Liturgical dancing is a quite serious matter and will be a leading act of division within Holy Church leading to the Great Apostasy of which St. Paul spoke.

Ronald Smith, Chardon, Ohio.