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Traditional Catholic Faith => Catholic Living in the Modern World => Topic started by: Charity on October 04, 2022, 12:23:42 PM

Title: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Charity on October 04, 2022, 12:23:42 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiqpWa2838 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiqpWa2838)
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Charity on October 04, 2022, 04:30:40 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiqpWa2838 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZiqpWa2838)


https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf

Becoming a Saint and Dancing
(https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)
Page 1 of 3
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)On May 13, 1917, during the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, in some of the first
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)words that were exchanged between Our Lady and Lucia, Lucia asked her about a girl who had died
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)recently. This girl used to go to Lucia’s house to learn weaving from Lucia’s sister Maria. Lucia
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)asked, “Is Maria de Neves now in heaven?” Our Lady replied, “Yes, she is.”
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Today we are celebrating the feast of All Saints, all those like that friend of Lucia dos Santos
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)at Fatima, who are in heaven, though we don’t know who they are. This is what we are all called
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)to become is saints. God gives sufficient grace for every soul to make it to heaven, and to the level
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)of sanctity that He has called each soul. One of the greatest deterrents for us becoming holy that is
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)neglected is not avoiding the occasions of sins. St. Bernardine of Sienna says that of all counsels, the best
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)of all counsels is the counsel of avoiding the occasions of sin, even calling it the foundation of religion.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Just before the first apparition of Our Lady at Fatima, the parish priest of Fatima gave a
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)sermon at which the three children were present, in which the parish priest addressed a pastime that
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)had become popular. He gave a sermon condemning dancing in public and little Jacinta Marto was
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)disappointed because she had loved to dance. But then Our Lady appeared to the children. And
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)after the visions began, all three children gave up dancing, realizing that this led to occasions of sin.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Now, what is the moral issue here? First off, married couples dancing with their own spouses
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)is not a moral issue for married couples this is perfectly fine. Irish step-dancing is not a moral issue.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)However, what about unmarried young men and women dancing together?
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)To understand this question, let’s keep in mind that a
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)mortal sin against purity can be
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)committed right in one’s mind. We’re not necessarily going to see external sins committed on the
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)dance floor at a well-chaperoned swing dance. But can we say the same of interior sins?
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)So fathers, imagine what you think if you came outside after Mass and saw a teenager with
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)his hands on your daughter in all the places he would have to have them for a swing dance? In
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)other words, if you were to see him holding your daughter’s hands, sliding his hand along her arm,
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)pulling her towards him, and pushing her away, supporting her by the back as she leans back in a
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)dip. His hands in her hands, his hand on her back. Would you have any problems with a teenager
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)having his hands on your daughter like that? I don’t even like describing all that, but that just
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)describes a swing dance. If you saw a teenager holding your daughter as we’ve just described, can
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)you say you know he won’t be tempted with impure thoughts and desires? What makes a teen
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)touching your daughter like that any less an occasion for temptation, simply because at a dance this
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)takes place where it is darker, there are a bunch of teens doing it and there is music? What do you
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)think all that bodily contact in dancing that the boy is not used to disposes him towards?
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Parents, are you over 25 years old? Then physiologically your teenager has stronger drives
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)than you do in this area; statistically up to 50% more more drive means more temptation. So
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)parents, consider that internally your teens have more temptation in this area, less experience in how to
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)handle it, less used to this kind of contact, less maturity and less understanding of the serious consequences
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)of giving in. In other words, the very ones who will be most tempted and most likely to succuмb by
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)an occasion of sin in this area are teenagers and we want them having all this contact? Parents, do
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)we have perfect self-control? Can you see the imprudence of putting one’s more-tempted teens into
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)these situations? Adults have done more and seen more than teens, perhaps. Things that would put
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)a teen into a very near-occasion of sin might not even phase an adult anymore
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Once, a Catholic mother who favored dances tried to explain to me why I shouldn’t oppose
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)dances. This was her reason: she said, “Dancing breaks down the physical barriers between young
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)men and women without involving the marital act.” She knew what dances do they do break down
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Becoming a Saint and Dancing
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Page 2 of 3
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)those physical barriers. Let me ask: with society trying with all its might to make
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)sure there are no
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)physical barriers left between boys and girls, is it a good idea to help that process in any way? Just
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)because there are many things in society that are more immodest than dancing, and that lead to
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)impurity, that doesn’t mean that unmarried boys and girls dancing together isn’t immodest and won’t
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)lead to impurity. The danger of sins of impurity that take place later is one of the biggest dangers in
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)dancing. If one thinks it won’t lead to temptations toward private sins, then one is very naïve.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)How many of our teenagers are ready to get married? If they are not in a position to get
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)married, then what are we doing putting them in positions where they will get swept off their feet
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)emotionally? This is what dancing does to girls.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)One might be tempted to say, “Father, that is
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)your take on it. The reality is that my
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)opinion doesn’t matter.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Does the
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Church have an official position on dances? Believe it or not, the Church
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)does have an official position on dances. Traditional Catholics praise the Baltimore Catechism. Are
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)you aware that the First 3 Councils of Baltimore and the 10th Baltimore Council the same
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Baltimore Councils that gave us the Baltimore Catechism all denounced dances? The Second
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Council of Baltimore (1868) says: “We consider it to be our duty to warn our people against those
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)amusements which may easily become to them an occasion of sin, and especially against those
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)fashionable dances, which... are fraught with the greatest dangers to morals.” Do you know what
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)‘those fashionable dances’ were? Fast waltzes...
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)The Vatican even weighed in on this, addressing America by name because dancing was
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)so widespread here. On March 31, 1916 a decree of the Vatican (the Sacred Consistorial
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Congregation, with the approval of Benedict XV), decreed as follows:
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)“In the century just passed, in the states of North America, the custom began whereby Catholic
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)families would gather at dances... The reason and justification for this was given that Catholics might
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)get to know each other and be united more intimately in the bonds of charity and love, and at the
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)same time they would serve as a fundraiser for some pious works.” The decree went on to say that
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)all priests... and other clerics are absolutely forbidden from promoting and supporting dances,
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)even if they are
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)held to aid pious works or for some other holy purpose. Moreover, all clerics are forbidden to
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)attend such dances, should they be given by lay people. A.A.S., 8 (1916), p. 147-149
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)(http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/docuмents/AAS%2008%20[1916]%20-%20ocr.pdf) You can find this decree
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)on the Vatican’s website today.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)A year after this decree came out, an American bishop asked the Vatican: "Are dances given
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)in the daytime, or at night but
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)not protracted to a late hour... but conducted in the manner
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)commonly called a picnic, included in the condemnation of March 31, 1916?" The reply, dated
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)December 10, 1917, and approved by the Pope himself, stated that yes, dances done during the
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)daytime or at a picnic are indeed included in the Vatican’s prohibition. [AAS, X (1918), 17
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)(http://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/docuмents/AAS%2010%20[1918]%20-%20ocr.pdf)].
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)In a New York Times article dated June 16, 1916, which is in this week’s bulletin, the
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)headline reads, “Pope’s Dancing Ban Sent to Churches. The article opens, “Dancing has been
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)forbidden at all Catholic entertainments.” The Cardinal of New York, Cardinal Farley had the
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)priests of his diocese read the letter you’ll find in the bulletin from the pulpit, in which he said, it is
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)“imperative for us to offset the moral danger that threatens our young people and to
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)positively
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)prohibit the holding of entertainments of any kind whose principal feature is dancing.”
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Becoming a Saint and Dancing
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Page 3 of 3
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Traditional Catholics wish the Cardinal of New York today would have greater courage and clarity.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Why would we not follow when a former Cardinal shows courage and clarity about this moral issue?
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Now I might lose a parishioner or two over this but I’ll be quite honest with you: I would
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)rather lose a couple of parishioners than lose the souls that I will be held accountable for (Heb
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)13:17). The teens of the parish are my spiritual children. One mortal sin that is all it takes to lose
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)a soul. Now, I may not convince all of you, but I would like us to reflect on these words:
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Ezechiel 33:8-9 I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel... if thou dost
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)not speak to
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)warn [him]: that man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. But if thou tell
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)[him], that he may be converted from his ways, and he be
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)not converted from his way: he shall die
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)in his iniquity: but thou hast delivered thy soul.” I have given the warning. I pray that it be received.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)I began by speaking about Our Lady appeared at Fatima, and how Lucia asked her about a
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)girl who had died recently, if she was in heaven, and Our Lady replied, “Yes, she is.”
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Then Lucia asked about another other girl who had also taken weaving lessons from her sister
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)and had also recently died. “And Amelia?” Lucia asked. Our Lady replied, “She will be in purgatory
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)until the end of the world.” I don’t know about you, but I want to make sure that my plans after
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)death don’t include a whole lot of flames. It was not in the children’s plans either. All three
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)children gave up dancing after the visions began, realizing that it was an occasion of sin.
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Let’s close with one last story. Ars, France once had a problem with impurity and
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)paganism. By targeting vice & esp. dances, St. John Vianney got at the
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)root of the impurity. And
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)after putting an end to the dances in his parish St. John was able to boast once, proud of his
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)parishioners as he showed a visitor to Ars the Catholic cemetery here is my collection of relics!”
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)We are all called to become saints this is what I wish for you! that one day the Feast of All
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)Saints will one day be
your feast day also!
 (https://www.stjoanarc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Becoming-a-Saint-and-Dancing-11-1-15.pdf)
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Yeti on October 04, 2022, 06:14:01 PM
Great article! I didn't know this.

The image on that video is not from 1916, though, to judge from the clothing. It looks more like the 40s or 50s. But you see how things get worse and worse if they are not corrected. Now we are in a free fall. :(
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: DigitalLogos on October 04, 2022, 06:32:17 PM
This reminds me of one of the parishioners at my chapel one Sunday morning telling me how one of the younger kids was hosting a barn dance that same evening, as an invitation. I don't think a lot of trads realize that the Church is not about this practice, especially on Sundays. It even mentions dancing in the examination of conscience section of the 1962 Missal as a "profanation of the Holy Day".

Thanks for sharing
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: CoffeeEveryDay on October 05, 2022, 09:38:01 AM
Including at weddings. How sad that a couple who receive the Holy Sacrament go to profane dancing after. 
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Seraphina on October 05, 2022, 01:43:21 PM
This is reminiscent of the thread on “rock” and “pop” music.  Let common and Catholic sense reign.  Just as there are acceptable tunes in a very broad category, the same applies to the broad category of dancing.  There’s a huge difference between dancing the Macarena, folk dancing, square dancing——-and twerking, pole dancing, and giving a lap dance!  

I was once condemned by a “pious” woman for doing the Macarena at a family-friendly neighborhood block party.  She cited St. John Vianney as proof I’d committed a serious mortal  sin.  :facepalm:  

Now, if I’d been clad in Daisy Dukes, pasties, and shiny red six inch high heels, twerking on top of the bar surrounded by salivating men…totally different!  

Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: SimpleMan on October 05, 2022, 02:35:14 PM
This is reminiscent of the thread on “rock” and “pop” music.  Let common and Catholic sense reign.  Just as there are acceptable tunes in a very broad category, the same applies to the broad category of dancing.  There’s a huge difference between dancing the Macarena, folk dancing, square dancing——-and twerking, pole dancing, and giving a lap dance! 

I was once condemned by a “pious” woman for doing the Macarena at a family-friendly neighborhood block party.  She cited St. John Vianney as proof I’d committed a serious mortal  sin.  :facepalm: 

Now, if I’d been clad in Daisy Dukes, pasties, and shiny red six inch high heels, twerking on top of the bar surrounded by salivating men…totally different! 

Not to nitpick, but what is an example of a mortal sin that would not be "serious"?

Not directing this towards you, but in the past 40+ years, there's been a lot of confusion about "serious" sin, "grave" sin, and "mortal" sin.  I'd really like to see sins that cause the loss of the state of grace be referred to as "mortal sins" and in no other way.  I saw it coming a long time ago that the long game of the Newchurchers is to create a new category of "grave but not mortal" sin, giving license to contraceptors, fornicators, invalidly "marrieds", self-pleasurers, and even active ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖs to be able to feel like they have not lost their salvation and may receive communion as "medicine for the sick", to create a safe space of "more than venial, but not mortal".  That way they can live in such a state without fearing hell on account of it.  Am I right?
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: DigitalLogos on October 05, 2022, 03:55:06 PM
This is reminiscent of the thread on “rock” and “pop” music.  Let common and Catholic sense reign.  Just as there are acceptable tunes in a very broad category, the same applies to the broad category of dancing.  There’s a huge difference between dancing the Macarena, folk dancing, square dancing——-and twerking, pole dancing, and giving a lap dance! 

I was once condemned by a “pious” woman for doing the Macarena at a family-friendly neighborhood block party.  She cited St. John Vianney as proof I’d committed a serious mortal  sin.  :facepalm: 

Now, if I’d been clad in Daisy Dukes, pasties, and shiny red six inch high heels, twerking on top of the bar surrounded by salivating men…totally different! 
That makes sense, I agree. To clarify, my anecdote was merely to illustrate the complete blindness that some have to traditional Catholic practices. There's a specific time, such as having a dance on a Sunday, which was clearly laid out as a sinful profanation of the Holy day even in the John XXIII 1962 Missal. Yet, that doesn't mean all dancing whatsoever is forbidden. There's a reason Protestants have historically condemned Catholics for loose morals (while also saying we have strict morals, go figure); and that's because we are able to partake in recreation and fun (gasp!) in moderation.

I remember making the same mistake when I heard the story of St. John Vianney, only to realize later that it was a serious problem among lax Catholics in his flock, therefore necessitating a rebuke to them; not a condemnation of all such activities.

I'm noticing this trend all around due to the hedonism of our times. Where there is a strict adherence to the letter of the Law rather than the spirit of the Law among both Conservative NO's (such as Meaning of Catholic here) and traditionalist Catholics. The sensus catholicus is lacking in favor of almost superstition and scruples regarding anything that is of the world (or attributed to demons, given the recent Ripperger threads).
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: DigitalLogos on October 05, 2022, 04:01:53 PM
It reminds me of those Catholics who will point to the Protestant-made "satanic panic" videos on rock music or other subjects as if they were inherently evil in themselves (impossible, given all things that exist are good to some degree), rather than being used as a tool by the powers of evil.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Yeti on October 05, 2022, 11:58:55 PM
This is reminiscent of the thread on “rock” and “pop” music.  Let common and Catholic sense reign.  Just as there are acceptable tunes in a very broad category, the same applies to the broad category of dancing.  There’s a huge difference between dancing the Macarena, folk dancing, square dancing——-and twerking, pole dancing, and giving a lap dance! 

I was once condemned by a “pious” woman for doing the Macarena at a family-friendly neighborhood block party.  She cited St. John Vianney as proof I’d committed a serious mortal  sin.  :facepalm: 

Now, if I’d been clad in Daisy Dukes, pasties, and shiny red six inch high heels, twerking on top of the bar surrounded by salivating men…totally different! 
.

I find the article convincing. Read the second post in this thread, which explains the problems with dancing at great length. Could you tell us what exactly in there you don't agree with?

This is not at all the same as protestants saying that all rock music will lead people to hell. This is talking about something that provokes sins of the flesh. Need anyone say more?
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Ladislaus on October 06, 2022, 12:53:15 AM
So, the focus here is on the interactions between boys/girls or men/women.

Would a dance where just one gender participated be sinful?

To me, that's what I think of as INHERENTLY sinful, if it would be sinful regardless of extraneous circuмstances.

Then, does this criterion extend to certain types of dances that would be with mixed gender and yet are so designed as to incite very little tedency to impurity?

Of course, there are others today that are probably little more than fornication with clothes on.

I imagine that there's a gradation of sinfulness here, and at what point (with what type of dance) does it cross over into grave sin?  Or, even, at what point does it cross over into even venial sin?

Another aspect might be subjective.  If young teens are dancing, with their raging hormones, probably a much greater occasion of sin than if a some octogenarians were dancing, etc.

So there's a very subtle blend of subjective considerations here.

And even when dancing alone, a woman could make herself a temptation, and yet part of that might be due to her attractiveness and her grace/athleticism, where a less attractive woman who's out of shape migth cause no occasion of sin.

Apart from the aspect of sin, I for one by nature despise dancing.  It's completely contrary to my temperament.  I consider it undignified, in any form ... even if it were some "high-class" ballroom dance.  I find it to be incompatible with holiness.

So, could you imagine either Our Lord or Our Blessed Mother dancing ... even if it were in the most modest manner possible and not in mixed company?  To me it speaks to a certain frivolity, and the motions of the body seem to draw one's mind and nature down toward the carnal, the animal, and the material world.  That might be just me, and this doesn't speak to sin, but I personally detest dancing.  I only ever danced once in my entire life.  I tried for about 2-3 minutes, found it to be so incredibly awkward and undignified (not just because I wasn't particularly good at it) ... and then immediately left the dance feeling as though I had degraded myself, and never danced again (I was about 18 in my first year of college).  It's not that I'm particularly uncoordinnated, as I was a pretty strong athlete in the day with good coordination, balance, and strength.  It was just the gyrations and movements that I somehow found degrading and undignified ... I don't know, somehow animalistic.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Sefa on October 06, 2022, 03:06:24 AM
Until someone actually cites the papal teaching to show the actual nuance about what type of dancing, this discussion is mere navel gazing.

Broad condemnation of all dance is a puritan innovation and condemns catholic tradition and saints.

And when the ark of the Lord was come into the city of David, Michol the daughter of Saul, looking out through a window, saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord: and she despised him in her heart.

Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, the young men and old men together: and I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them joyful after their sorrow.

So Mary the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand: and all the women went forth after her with timbrels and with dances:

(Christ's parable of the prodigal son) Because this my son was dead, and is come to life again: was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. [25] Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing:

(Christ:) But whereunto shall I esteem this generation to be like? It is like to children sitting in the market place. [17] Who crying to their companions say: We have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have lamented, and you have not mourned. [18] For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say: He hath a devil. [19] The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say: Behold a man that is a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners. And wisdom is justified by her children.

And I will build thee again, and thou shalt be built, 0 virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy timbrels, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: ServusInutilisDomini on October 06, 2022, 06:22:02 AM
I would like ti bring this discussion down to earth.

Is there any dance you can think of that might not be sinful?
You probably can't name one.
Is anyone dancing that today?
No.

So when someone asks you is dancing sinful you say: almost every dance is sinful.

We are talking of course about mixed dances which are basically all dances.

If  you want to lean left and right in your room and call that a dance nobody is talking about that.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Sefa on October 06, 2022, 06:46:44 AM
I would like ti bring this discussion down to earth.

Is there any dance you can think of that might not be sinful?
You probably can't name one.
Is anyone dancing that today?
No.

So when someone asks you is dancing sinful you say: almost every dance is sinful.

We are talking of course about mixed dances which are basically all dances.

If  you want to lean left and right in your room and call that a dance nobody is talking about that.
The ones i just mentioned in the bible quotes.

Furthermore, there is no dance that is sinful. This is a form of gnosticism to say so for it conflates concupiscence with the object. Its akin to saying sex is a sin, or beauty is a sin or women are a sin for they can all lead to concupiscence.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Yeti on October 06, 2022, 10:20:21 AM
The ones i just mentioned in the bible quotes.

Furthermore, there is no dance that is sinful. This is a form of gnosticism to say so for it conflates concupiscence with the object.
.
It is a sin to put oneself in the occasion of sin. Dances are an occasion of sin. This is not gnosticism, but simple Catholic morals.

Quote
Its akin to saying sex is a sin, or beauty is a sin or women are a sin for they can all lead to concupiscence.


Tell that to all the saints quoted in the article above, as well as the Holy Office. They said dancing is a sin. They didn't say sex is a sin, or that being beautiful is a sin, or that being a woman is a sin.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Yeti on October 06, 2022, 10:23:21 AM
I would like ti bring this discussion down to earth.

Is there any dance you can think of that might not be sinful?
You probably can't name one.
Is anyone dancing that today?
No.

So when someone asks you is dancing sinful you say: almost every dance is sinful.

We are talking of course about mixed dances which are basically all dances.

If  you want to lean left and right in your room and call that a dance nobody is talking about that.
.

Yes, obviously. We're talking about something people do. The conversation we're having now is like someone posting a sermon saying that drunkenness is a sin, and someone brilliant sophist pipes up and says, "Not necessarily! If you were a sailor on a 17th man-of-war and your leg got shredded by a load of grapeshot and needed to be sawed off with a hacksaw, you would be given a huge amount of whisky by the ship's surgeon to make you pass out so you wouldn't go flying off the operating table when he started sawing off your leg. Therefore it is not true to say that drunkenness is always a sin." Okay boomer. :laugh1:
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: ServusInutilisDomini on October 06, 2022, 10:45:16 AM
The ones i just mentioned in the bible quotes.

Furthermore, there is no dance that is sinful. This is a form of gnosticism to say so for it conflates concupiscence with the object. Its akin to saying sex is a sin, or beauty is a sin or women are a sin for they can all lead to concupiscence.
This accusation of gnosticism has grown quite fashionable these days.

Do you perchance dance occasionally?
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Mr G on October 06, 2022, 11:04:32 AM
Until someone actually cites the papal teaching to show the actual nuance about what type of dancing, this discussion is mere navel gazing.
Papal teachings rarely get that nuanced; they usually provide the principals to follow. Otherwise, you will get people that says, "Look the Pope has specifically condemn X, Y, and Z but he never said anything about Q, so therefore we can do Q!"

That is why the Catechism quoted in the previous article states:
We consider it to be our duty to warn our people against those amusements which may easily become to them an occasion of sin, and especially against those fashionable dances, which... are fraught with the greatest dangers to morals.”

Thus, you must ask yourself if the amusement or dance you are considering partaking in:
1. may easily become to them an occasion of sin
2. fashionable dance that is fraught with the greatest dangers to morals.

If yes, then it is sinful; if no, then go ahead provided it does not violate another moral principal.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Sefa on October 06, 2022, 11:16:36 AM
.
It is a sin to put oneself in the occasion of sin. Dances are an occasion of sin. This is not gnosticism, but simple Catholic morals.


Tell that to all the saints quoted in the article above, as well as the Holy Office. They said dancing is a sin. They didn't say sex is a sin, or that being beautiful is a sin, or that being a woman is a sin.
Dances are not an occasion of sin nor a sin. Otherwise you make David, God, Mary sister of aaron, holy virgins of the OT to be sinners. Tell that to all the saints quoted above from the bible, whom you convenient ignored. They trump some dubious article with no provenance written by some random self appointed lay teacher who people now flock to with itching ears to find the next juicy scandal to condemn to enliven their dull but "pious" lives.

Still no one has provided the papal text.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Sefa on October 06, 2022, 11:18:14 AM
This accusation of gnosticism has grown quite fashionable these days.

Do you perchance dance occasionally?
Oh just weddings and funerals...
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Sefa on October 06, 2022, 11:43:05 AM
This accusation of gnosticism has grown quite fashionable these days.

Do you perchance dance occasionally?
And puritanism is becoming quite fashionable these days too
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Sefa on October 06, 2022, 11:52:20 AM
.

Yes, obviously. We're talking about something people do. The conversation we're having now is like someone posting a sermon saying that drunkenness is a sin, and someone brilliant sophist pipes up and says, "Not necessarily! If you were a sailor on a 17th man-of-war and your leg got shredded by a load of grapeshot and needed to be sawed off with a hacksaw, you would be given a huge amount of whisky by the ship's surgeon to make you pass out so you wouldn't go flying off the operating table when he started sawing off your leg. Therefore it is not true to say that drunkenness is always a sin." Okay boomer. :laugh1:
A true equivalence would be if someone said drinking alcohol is a sin in itself.

I saw a toddler dancing to music and the parents said they didnt teach her that she just does it naturally. Was she sinning?
 
Funny how you pretend to be very pious and contra "modern fashions" on a naturally and supernaturally affirmed good thing which the OT saints did, and yet you use the modern fashionable maxim of "ok Boomer". Seems like you just want to pick and choose whatever modern fashion suits your own will.

Btw i'm not a boomer.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: ServusInutilisDomini on October 06, 2022, 02:45:13 PM
Dances are not an occasion of sin nor a sin. Otherwise you make David, God, Mary sister of aaron, holy virgins of the OT to be sinners. Tell that to all the saints quoted above from the bible, whom you convenient ignored. They trump some dubious article with no provenance written by some random self appointed lay teacher who people now flock to with itching ears to find the next juicy scandal to condemn to enliven their dull but "pious" lives.

Still no one has provided the papal text.
Where does it say any of these engaged in dances with a member of the opposite sex?

And I think the OT people were held to a lower standard than us. If you read the Bible, you will see the OT just are much less impressive than New Covenant saints.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Sefa on October 06, 2022, 03:01:33 PM
Where does it say any of these engaged in dances with a member of the opposite sex?

And I think the OT people were held to a lower standard than us. If you read the Bible, you will see the OT just are much less impressive than New Covenant saints.
Irrelevant to the condemnation that all dancing is a sin. But all the examples depict men and women dancing in the presence of each other if it doesn't explicitly say they danced with each other.

God positively affirmed their dancing, "virgins shall dance" and never condemned them for it. You can't just handwave it away by saying well the OT saints weren't as holy as us, for like the pharisees we take on new traditions of men to become even purer: this random article says we are pure for condemning dancing (nothing to do with my two left feet and hating fun)! And even the jews and puritans and mohamedans don't dance with women so we can't be outdone by them!

John the baptist was an OT saint and "among those born of women there is none greater than him" as Christ said, i think ranking 3rd in the glory of the saints just after st michael according to the confiteor. The OT saints are far more impressive than armchair moralists who have 0 authority to teach much less condemn.

And as the catholic moral maxim goes: where there is doubt, there is freedom.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: praesul on October 07, 2022, 03:31:03 AM

Quote
And even when dancing alone, a woman could make herself a temptation, and yet part of that might be due to her attractiveness and her grace/athleticism, where a less attractive woman who's out of shape migth cause no occasion of sin.
That made me chuckle. 

Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: praesul on October 07, 2022, 03:59:50 AM
... To me it speaks to a certain frivolity, and the motions of the body seem to draw one's mind and nature down toward the carnal, the animal, and the material world...
Careful, this sentiment that seems to be expressed in your quote above is getting close to what is expressed in Gnosticism. Spiritual = good  Material = Bad. 

Although I am right there with you on avoiding animalistic behavior like dancing like some tranced out voodoo priests, We do not want to drift into the thought that the material world is bad. It is, after all part of the created order which is fundamentally good. That doesn't mean I think it is ok for our daughters to be twerking on Saturday night in the club, but you get my point. We can have a celebration and have non sinful fun with one another here in this world. After all, the very first miracle was when Our Blessed Lord provided extra wine for the wedding feast when all the wine was consumed by the participants. That could be called "frivolous" by some. 




Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: AMDGJMJ on October 07, 2022, 06:34:49 AM
Saint Francis de Sales wrote a great chapter on dancing in his book Introduction to the Devout Life:

***

"St. Francis de Sales On Dancing

Taken From - Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III. Ch.33



In themselves, dances and balls are indifferent things. However, in actual practice they tend strongly toward the side of evil, and therefore are dangerous.

People dance at night, and in darkened rooms. This favors certain familiarities. People stay up late and this results in their rising late the next day, causing the morning to be wasted. Consequently, they miss opportunities of serving God. Is it not foolish to turn night into day and day into night and to replace useful work with frivolous pleasure? Finally, at balls everyone tries to outdo everybody else in vanity, and vanity is favorable to the evil affections and dangerous loves which dancing so easily spawns.

Philothea, what physicians say about mushrooms or pumpkins I say about dances: The best of them are not worth much! However, if you must eat pumpkins, be careful how they are prepared, eat only a little of them, and that rarely. In the same way, if you cannot give up going to balls, be careful how you dance, doing so with modesty, dignity and the right intention. Attend balls rarely, because no matter how carefully you conduct yourself at them, there is danger of excess in them, by becoming too attached to them.

Because they are spongy, mushrooms are said to attract the surrounding rot. The same is true of balls and other such night-oriented gatherings. They usually attract sin: quarrels, jealousies, mockery; sensual loves. These activities open the pores of the heart to be poisoned by some loose word or some folly or some wanton glance of love. Yes, Philothea, such amusements are usually dangerous. They scatter one's spirit of devotion, weaken one's strength and chill one's charity. They awaken countless evil affections in the soul. Because of all this, use them with great caution.

After eating mushrooms, one is advised above all to drink some good wine. I personally advise you to think some holy and good thoughts after a ball. These will counterbalance the bad impressions you may have received there.

What are some such holy and good thoughts? While I was dancing, some people were burning in Hell for sins committed at dances or occasioned by their dancing. While I was dancing, monks, nuns and other fervent Christians were chanting God's praise and contemplating His beauty, thus using their time far more profitably than I was. While I was dancing, many souls departed from this world in great anguish; thousands were suffering dreadful pains in hospitals... While I was dancing; the time of my earthly life was hurrying by and death was approaching nearer. See how he mocks and invites me to his dance! In that dance I shall take but one step from this life to the next."
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: AMDGJMJ on October 07, 2022, 06:41:43 AM
From what I understand from having read various Saints and solid Catholic religious writers...

1.  Dancing of itself it not necessarily a sin, but for most people can easily become an occasion of it.

2.  If one is to dance, one should use appropriate dances.  (I remember hearing something before about Pope Pius X ridiculing the Tango and saying if people wanted to dance to do a innocent folk dance instead.). Among such better dances would probably fall British Contra Dancing, Old cινιℓ ωαr Dancing, and perhaps square dancing.  With such dances there is less physical contact and more grace elegance attached.

3. Dancing should take place more during the daytime hours if it is allowed and in moderation.

4.  Also, it is important to remember as of with playing cards and other things...  Everyone is different.  For some dancing may be more of an occasion of sin than for others.


Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: AMDGJMJ on October 07, 2022, 06:44:07 AM
Here is an example of dancing that we learned and taught growing up which is more refined than most modern dancing:

https://youtu.be/Trt8yz1L73c (https://youtu.be/Trt8yz1L73c)

If you are going to dance...do it right!  ;)
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Sefa on October 07, 2022, 07:20:30 AM
Saint Francis de Sales wrote a great chapter on dancing in his book Introduction to the Devout Life:

***

"St. Francis de Sales On Dancing

Taken From - Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III. Ch.33



In themselves, dances and balls are indifferent things. However, in actual practice they tend strongly toward the side of evil, and therefore are dangerous.

People dance at night, and in darkened rooms. This favors certain familiarities. People stay up late and this results in their rising late the next day, causing the morning to be wasted. Consequently, they miss opportunities of serving God. Is it not foolish to turn night into day and day into night and to replace useful work with frivolous pleasure? Finally, at balls everyone tries to outdo everybody else in vanity, and vanity is favorable to the evil affections and dangerous loves which dancing so easily spawns.

Philothea, what physicians say about mushrooms or pumpkins I say about dances: The best of them are not worth much! However, if you must eat pumpkins, be careful how they are prepared, eat only a little of them, and that rarely. In the same way, if you cannot give up going to balls, be careful how you dance, doing so with modesty, dignity and the right intention. Attend balls rarely, because no matter how carefully you conduct yourself at them, there is danger of excess in them, by becoming too attached to them.

Because they are spongy, mushrooms are said to attract the surrounding rot. The same is true of balls and other such night-oriented gatherings. They usually attract sin: quarrels, jealousies, mockery; sensual loves. These activities open the pores of the heart to be poisoned by some loose word or some folly or some wanton glance of love. Yes, Philothea, such amusements are usually dangerous. They scatter one's spirit of devotion, weaken one's strength and chill one's charity. They awaken countless evil affections in the soul. Because of all this, use them with great caution.

After eating mushrooms, one is advised above all to drink some good wine. I personally advise you to think some holy and good thoughts after a ball. These will counterbalance the bad impressions you may have received there.

What are some such holy and good thoughts? While I was dancing, some people were burning in Hell for sins committed at dances or occasioned by their dancing. While I was dancing, monks, nuns and other fervent Christians were chanting God's praise and contemplating His beauty, thus using their time far more profitably than I was. While I was dancing, many souls departed from this world in great anguish; thousands were suffering dreadful pains in hospitals... While I was dancing; the time of my earthly life was hurrying by and death was approaching nearer. See how he mocks and invites me to his dance! In that dance I shall take but one step from this life to the next."
Well thought out responses and teaching from a saint that dance itself is not a sin, therefore is a good thing but like all goods can be perverted by intention and circuмstances.

The armchair moralists without authority should think before blanket condemning goods as sins and people as sinners for they set themselves up impossibly high standards for which Christ taught they will be judged for "judge not lest ye be judged".
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: ServusInutilisDomini on October 07, 2022, 09:40:09 AM
Well thought out responses and teaching from a saint that dance itself is not a sin, therefore is a good thing but like all goods can be perverted by intention and circuмstances.

The armchair moralists without authority should think before blanket condemning goods as sins and people as sinners for they set themselves up impossibly high standards for which Christ taught they will be judged for "judge not lest ye be judged".
Please quote where I said all dancing is bad.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: ServusInutilisDomini on October 07, 2022, 09:42:19 AM

2.  If one is to dance, one should use appropriate dances.  (I remember hearing something before about Pope Pius X ridiculing the Tango and saying if people wanted to dance to do a innocent folk dance instead.). Among such better dances would probably fall British Contra Dancing, Old cινιℓ ωαr Dancing, and perhaps square dancing.  With such dances there is less physical contact and more grace elegance attached.
That was a calumny which thr Vatican vehemently denied. See novusordowatch.org pius x tango dance
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Ladislaus on October 07, 2022, 09:59:39 AM
Careful, this sentiment that seems to be expressed in your quote above is getting close to what is expressed in Gnosticism. Spiritual = good  Material = Bad.

Although I am right there with you on avoiding animalistic behavior like dancing like some tranced out voodoo priests, We do not want to drift into the thought that the material world is bad. It is, after all part of the created order which is fundamentally good. That doesn't mean I think it is ok for our daughters to be twerking on Saturday night in the club, but you get my point. We can have a celebration and have non sinful fun with one another here in this world. After all, the very first miracle was when Our Blessed Lord provided extra wine for the wedding feast when all the wine was consumed by the participants. That could be called "frivolous" by some.

No, I don't think so.  I don't reject physical activity, and have no problem engaging in sports, etc.  There's something about dancing that rubs me the wrong way personally.  I think where it differs from sports is that with sports there's an objective or a point to the movement.  You're doing it for a reason, and the movements of the body follow reason, whereas dancing is just moving for the sake of moving and taking pleasure in the movement itself.

Neither of these comments speak to the moral aspect of dancing either.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Ladislaus on October 07, 2022, 10:05:32 AM
It would seem to me that the rationale behind both the Holy Office statement and what St. Francis de Sale wrote are primarily the aspect of potential inducement to impurity.

So, for instance, if you had a dance that did not include both genders (but one or the other), then it would not be sinful ... at least along those lines.

St. Francis also does mention "frivolity" and wasting time that could otherwise be spent in God's service, but that's not inherent to the dancing itself.  You could waste time doing other activities as well.

But there are other aspects being missed.  Let's say it's just a group of guys dancing and they're thrashing about to "Death Metal".  There are those vodoo people who use dancing to get themselves into trances.

So I think that a consideration can be made also of types of dancing that could be spiritually harmful even outside of considerations of impurity.  It can be thought of as related to why Rock music can be harmful ... even IF there's no impure content or otherwise sinful content (foul language, blasphemy, etc.)  Take one of those Christian Heavy Metal groups for instance.

I still think that it can be harmful for other reasons ... even if it isn't per se directly sinful.

So what I was saying above about frivolous / rhythmic nature of the movement dovetails with what Bishop Williamson has described as the problematic aspect of Rock music.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: epiphany on October 07, 2022, 11:51:40 AM
Well thought out responses and teaching from a saint that dance itself is not a sin, therefore is a good thing but like all goods can be perverted by intention and circuмstances.

The armchair moralists without authority should think before blanket condemning goods as sins and people as sinners for they set themselves up impossibly high standards for which Christ taught they will be judged for "judge not lest ye be judged".
Well said.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: AMDGJMJ on October 07, 2022, 12:19:15 PM
That was a calumny which thr Vatican vehemently denied. See novusordowatch.org pius x tango dance
From the way I understood it...

The calumny was that Pope Pius X APPROVED of the tango.  That he certainly did NOT do.  (This all came up because Bergolio was trying to makes excuses for why he danced it and like it.)

I believe the truth of the story was that Pope Pius X heard how the Italian Royalty were all into the Tango dance and he was questioned as to it's morality.  When shown how it was he suggested that if people wanted to dance ought to do a more appropriate and innocent country dance.  And if I remember right, soon after this event, he arranged for the Holy Office to put out something saying the Tango was not to be danced.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: ServusInutilisDomini on October 09, 2022, 09:45:31 AM
From the way I understood it...

The calumny was that Pope Pius X APPROVED of the tango.  That he certainly did NOT do.  (This all came up because Bergolio was trying to makes excuses for why he danced it and like it.)

I believe the truth of the story was that Pope Pius X heard how the Italian Royalty were all into the Tango dance and he was questioned as to it's morality.  When shown how it was he suggested that if people wanted to dance ought to do a more appropriate and innocent country dance.  And if I remember right, soon after this event, he arranged for the Holy Office to put out something saying the Tango was not to be danced.
He did not endorse any dance or dancing in general. The Vatican was quite adamant to deny this as most absurd.

Quote
Quote
There was no surprise here today at the complete refutation by the Vatican of the story that Pope Pius saw the tango danced in his private apartments, saw nothing wrong with it and recommended the Venetian furlana to tangoers.
“The story is so inconceivably absurd that it does not need a denial,” says a statement from the Vatican.
Pope Was Never Interviewed.
The statement is to the effect that the Pope was never interviewed by anyone in regard to the tango.
The matter of this particular dance was left to the discretion of the various bishops who have explicitly alluded to modern fashionable dancing, and this, of course, included all dances which are equally objectionable and immoral as the tango.
The statement continues:
 “The recent attempts to revive obsolete Venetian dances here as a pretext to hide the tango under an old name with the object of evading the condemnation of such dances are obviously not approved or encouraged by the Pope.
Stories Are Called Ridiculous.
“The Pope’s exalted position, well-known piety, old age and unaffected dignity, which inspire the veneration of the world, render unnecessary a denial of the ridiculous stories of his recommending the furlana to replace the tango and of allowing his servants to dance in his presence.
“The story is so inconceivably absurd that it does not need a denial. Representatives of the Holy See aborad are authorized, however, officially to deny the stories, if they think fit, that the Pope encourages the furlana, which is a vulgar peasant dance, consisting of violent hopping movements, accompanied by slapping of the thighs. The nuncio at Vienna has already denied the stories.
“The Pope deplores the action of dancing teachers in using his name to advertise the furlana, which is replacing the tango, on the pretext that it has been approved by the Pope.”
Will Denounce Modern Dances.
“In his allocution to the forthcoming consistory the Pope will denounce the modern dances which are perverting the morals of the people. He will deplore the insults of his person and the attempts to cast ridicule on Christ’s vicar.
“The Pope recently said that the loyalty and obedience of Catholics and the respect of a majority of non-Catholics consoled him and he trusted in Providence that all right-minded Christians would unite in combating the prevailing wave of immorality which threatens to submerge the world.
“He prays night and day that his last years might not be embittered by the thought that the world was menaced by a new paganism.”
(“Vatican Declares Tango Story False” (https://www.newspapers.com/image/365445375), The Evening Sun, Feb. 3, 1914, p. 9; bold print given.)
Read the whole article here: https://novusordowatch.org/2020/08/dirty-dancing-fake-news-pius10-tango/

Some modernist just invented the story to promote degenerate dances.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Seraphina on October 12, 2022, 11:50:18 AM
.. This is talking about something that provokes sins of the flesh. Need anyone say more?
The Macarena provokes sins of the flesh?  Not that I’ve ever experienced or seen anyone else fall into!  But if all dancing tempts you, then by all means, you must flee from it and anything related that might make you think of dancing.  
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Mr G on October 12, 2022, 12:16:20 PM
This topic reminds me of the unfortunate event of Bob Finklesteinburg, he got addicted to the Hokey Pokey but fortunately with much help, he turned himself around.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: ServusInutilisDomini on October 12, 2022, 12:27:24 PM
The Macarena provokes sins of the flesh?  Not that I’ve ever experienced or seen anyone else fall into!  But if all dancing tempts you, then by all means, you must flee from it and anything related that might make you think of dancing. 
First of all, I don't need to study the choreography of a dance from 1993 to know it's going to be scandalous but I did it anyway. This is a man dancing the macarena: https://youtu.be/rVBHH5DwYFA?t=60

Of course, this is a scandalous dance and Catholic men would be very disturbed by watching a woman dance it.

You are profoundly ignorant of how the visual affects men and I guess that's for the better if you nevertheless dress per Pius XI's instructions and avoid immodest dances (i.e. all dances that are practised today).

The problem is not in the person scandalized by the dance but in the dance itself.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: canis on October 12, 2022, 06:07:26 PM
Two perhaps interesting historical-canonical points about the 1916 condemnation to keep in mind:

1. It does not condemn dancing per se (although it was taken for granted by the moralists that certain dances by their very form were immoral as a rule or tended easily to become occasions of sin) but specifically what was condemned were church fundraising dinners/celebrations that include ball dancing (convivia cuм choreis), especially when they go late into the night and typically alcohol is involved.

The condemnation specifies the priest and a parish's public relation to dances, viz, he (representing the church) can't promote or foster/support (promoveant et foveant) dances, nor can he attend any dance organized by laity. This condemnation was directed towards North America specifically to support the warnings promulgated by the Baltimore Council Fathers.

A series of articles in the Ecclesiastical Review following the condemnation clarify these points (and more), and that journal tended to the more rigorist interpretation of morals. It had more to do with what a pastor was supposed to do or refrain from rather than dancing itself:

"The decree positively forbids the promotion and encouragement of such entertainments on the part of members of the clergy, religious or diocesan: 'quonimus memoratas choreas promoveant et foveant'."

Remember that laws restricting rights must be read narrowly and strictly.

2. The canonists also noted that the 1916 decree still applied after the 1917 Code went into effect and wasn't nullified by it because it was a specific condemnation of a moral abuse that was occurring, not a mere disciplinary law. So it stands to reason that it still has moral force today (similar to how Ratzinger said the Index still has moral force).

That being said, even the moralists who took a more lax view to the 1916 condemnation still tended to be strict on the dangers of dancing as a strong occasion of sin for young, unmarried people. But in my experience, not a few traditional priests are completely unaware of the 1916 decree and the discussions of the moralists that followed it.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Donachie on October 12, 2022, 07:22:44 PM
The Macarena provokes sins of the flesh?  Not that I’ve ever experienced or seen anyone else fall into!  But if all dancing tempts you, then by all means, you must flee from it and anything related that might make you think of dancing. 
Would you like to share with the class what the Macarena's really about? Maybe you don't know? That's hard for me to believe, since I'm nobody and I already know, but I'll leave it to you or somebody else to share the story.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: FarmerWife on October 12, 2022, 07:27:27 PM
The Macarena provokes sins of the flesh?  Not that I’ve ever experienced or seen anyone else fall into!  But if all dancing tempts you, then by all means, you must flee from it and anything related that might make you think of dancing. 
You should read the lyrics of the song.
Title: Re: The Papal Condemnation of Dances, 1916
Post by: Mr G on October 13, 2022, 07:57:47 AM

Here are some of the lyrics:

When I dance, they call me Macarena
And the boys they say que estoy buena
They all want me, they can't have me
So they all come and dance beside me


Move with me, chant with me
And if you're good, I'll take you home with me
Move with me, chant with me
And if you're good, I'll take you home with me