Not Catching The Clap With Pope Benedict The XVI
LIKE you we too have read The Spirit of the Liturgy by the then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger.
He’s now followed in the footsteps of Bono, Mr G9 and lead singer of U2, and changed his name to something more catchy, namely The Pope. Now his words echo with renewed vigour:
Whenever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of the liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment.
Clapping is not on. The Pope may command attention, be voted into his post, preach and kiss babies but he is no politician hungry for applause. The transcriptions of his oratory are not peppered with pauses for “APPLAUSE” and a prayed for “OVATION”.
If Catholic were encouraged to clap were, churches may soon feature clapometers.
Points could be awarded for loudness, heartiness (overhead clapping), purity (clapping in time) and the time-honoured happy clap, in which shiny-eyed evangelists clap like macak monkeys in a vivisectionist’s lab.
On the Catholic Exchange website, Mary Anne Moresco wonders:
Having read Cardinal Ratzinger’s words on clapping, I wondered how I could continue to clap at Mass in good conscience. As one who has been to Masses where there was clapping for just about everyone, from musicians, lectors, altar servers and church decorators to priests giving homilies and lay people giving testimonies, I began to wonder why we clap at Mass at all.
It cannot go unmentioned that “clap” is slang for venereal disease, another reason, surely, for Catholics to abstain. Another reason is that churches are dull and often cold and clapping serves to remind the gathered that they alive…
Posted: 23rd, July 2008 | In: Strange But True Comments (11) | TrackBack | Permalink
