Call to…Puppetry?
May 6, 2008 by Amy
Last week, the West Coast Call to Action had its conference in San Jose. This blogs links to a video of the Closing Liturgy.
Here’s a direct link to the video.
Playing “spot the liturgical abuse” is not the point. Nor is snarking at the average age of the participants. (Just heading off the predictable commentary at the pass here. Let’s go deeper.)
What I am just not grasping, despite my pretty strong powers of empathy, is the gestalt at work here.
Why does everyone think the giant liturgical puppets are so awesome?
This has got to be one of the oddest things I’ve ever seen.
Well, I admit I’d never imagined something quite like that. “Odd” doesn’t begin to describe it.
Two things in particular caught my attention — besides the giant puppets: during the Eucharistic prayer, the priest said, of the bread, “Which earth has given, and human hands have bought“?! Did I hear that right?
Second, the closing “blessing”, in which he said, “May we bless ourselves in the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier”. I know that latter formula is in use in such circles, but “may we bless ourselves”?! Frankly, Father, my blessing isn’t any good.
Someone is a little too enthralled with Julie Taymor and decided to “try it at home.” Not a good idea…
Well, it sums up why I don’t attend Call to Action conferences. (Despite the urging of some friends.)
I worked in a a parish many years ago which was sort of the “Church of What’s Happening Now.” They even (and might still) made their own wine, let alone bread. Nothing got as bad as these puppets, but they would get bent out of shape if another parish began doing something they were doing. They felt challenged to go further out on the edge, since others were catching up. And they defined themselves on the edge.
My guess is that this puppet goofiness (and I just find them scary) is just the latest manifestation of “What can we do that is new and different?”
Which I also think was behind the Kelly Clarkson version of the Ave Maria at Dunwoodie. (Was I the only person who saw the thought balloon over the Holy Father’s head - “WHAT is she singing???”
To be fair, then, the lefties are not the only ones who succumb to this. On the right, it sometimes takes the form of “What can we do that is more incredibly pious?” My folks went to mass in a parish with a priest who genuflected after the consecration and then intoned two verses of Tantum Ergo each time.
As another friend, (who doesn’t urge me to go to Call to Action) says, “Just do what is in the book!”
To me, it seems to be mostly focused on the “performers,” with the congregation not really participating (they’re reading their programs quite a bit — nothing new there). And when the congregation participates, it seems somewhat lost, although enjoying themselves. I’m sure the “puppets” are supposed to have some deeper meaning (perhaps to remember all peoples from the four corners of the world as Christ, or something like that). It seems that the good that they seek (whether we agree that it is a good or not) is to make the liturgy interesting/inclusive, but I think it fails at both.
My perception is that puppets are often used as a vehicle for passive-aggressive communication. There’s something perceived as “safe” about expressing negativity through this medium. No assertive behavior required.
Notice how old the congregation is! Not a few years ago and this would have been the 7 a.m. crowd.
As an Anglican who has recently fled The Episcopal (clown) Church, all I can say is “I feel your pain!”
Puppets might also represent a comforting ability to control/fashion transcendence according to one’s own wishes, rather than to receive/encounter an Other who might have wishes and desires that differ from our own.
I’m still not sure that explains the liberal obsession with puppets. They show up at everything from anti-war protests to Earth Day to Free Mumia rallies.
You have to take it back a step further: someone sitting at home working for hours on one of these things for this specific purpose: what are they thinking? I think it boil down to pure narcissism. They want to impress others with their time, creativity, and cleverness.
When Eastern icon painters create an icon, they engage in intense prayer and focus deeply on pouring their faith onto the wood through their paints during every stage of the process. They are emptying themselves to allow God to fill the empty spaces and guide their hand. I sense that such a process may be slightly lacking in the puppet people.
Isn’t the he reason you are “just not grasping…the gestalt at work here” is that you are trying to “go deeper”?
Someone should have lamented that the puppets were so small, and, after all, since we are only able to see at all is because we stand on the shoulders of giants, the congregants should have been able to climb up on the giants and walk around announcing just what it is that they can see from moment to moment.
And since even the great saints stand on the shoulders of the predecessors, why not have the giant puppets climbing up on top of one another?
I was a little put off by the restrained dancing. Those were some pretty tame leaps and, as for quaking, I spotted not a single quake.
I found myself watching and wondering, ” Shouldn’t each host be bigger, say, Frisbee sized?” The poor have to walk a lot in life, and you could save them a few steps by zinging them a host. And, the puppets, those poor puppets, why make them bend down, then get all the way back up? Zing ‘em a host, 10, 20, 30 feet up…
I dunno, it is probably just me, but I also missed the traditional tambourine…
Eeew! I thought I had escaped puppet ministry when I became a Catholic.
This brings back painful memories of really bad muppet knock-offs in the churches of my youth, only these are even bigger and scarier.
Jim Henson managed in an uncanny way to infuse his creatures with energy and life, while every puppet ministry I have ever seen does the exact opposite - sucks the life and energy from the audience.
Amy:
I love your blog, but that video borders on liturgical pornography!
Shame on you!
Whatever it is you are not grasping Amy, I’m not grasping it either. It is hard to see what purpose is served by the puppets. But I confess, I’m generally not a big fan of liturgical dance, even without the puppets.
Wow…Liturgical profanity. I’ve never taken the time to watch these alert type videos in the past but they are everything I expected and more.
I was especially troubled by the apparently concelebrating Apostle/puppets…sad that our brothers and sisters are lead from the Church in so many ways!
Isn’t Venice’s Carnivale *before* Lent?
That video is scary.
In a horror movie kind of way.
Seems like they’d rather the Mass become a cultural spectacle than a miraculous meeting.
I don’t understand where they’re going with this: it makes no sense to me. It doesn’t look like worship; more like a WTO protest. I think we have a clue in the use of “the Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier” formula which was recently declared invalid for baptistisms. There’s no evidence of respect for authority, no reverence, neither the Pope nor God receives any. I’m sorry I ‘m no help in discerning the motives here. All I see is a lack of Holy Fear.
I think the puppets were intended to scare away small children. It appears to have worked.
um… a muppet is greater than the sum of its operators?
TLM- I once had a friend who went to a concert and saw a sign for “Free Mumia T-Shirts.” He was greatly upset when he realized that the t-shirts cost money.
Just a guess here…
Imagine some CTA member who can’t sing or dance or speak very well, but who has a great gift for visual arts. Particularly paper maché and costuming. This member offers to create performance-art pieces to represent…hmmmm…the four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Four more members who have gifts in dramatic arts are recruited to wear the costumes.
Thus, even more people and more talents and more individual expressions of faith are incorporated in the liturgy.
I took a look at their website and found this photo caption:
“Larger-than-life puppets call us to be larger than life in our work.”
So that’s what they say the purpose is.
Effective symbols communicate without words, but the meaning behind these is so superficial it fails to resonate within.
It just looks like they’ve brought the culture of the 60s-based permanent revolution movement into the liturgy. The lack of serious thinking and consideration inherent in the attempt to combine the two is reflected in our genuine confusion about these larger-than-life puppets.
I just want to pray for all of them.
Beyond astonishing. But then, it’s “Call to Action,” not Catholics in union with the Church. Yet I still don’t see how these mockeries are allowed to go on. If you want to be really horrified, follow the links to the conference web page.
Cathy - I couldn’t agree more about the balloon over the Pope’s head during Kelly Clarkson’s performance. I was there and all I could was, “Please, somebody, make it stop!’ But just as bad was the pandering and patronizing of the young people by the paid TV personalities who ran the program — trying to get the kids to salivate like Pavlov’s dogs all day long with constant remarks about how Kelly Clarkson is going to be here!! Umm, they were waiting for the Pope. And to have the final act right before the Pope be Clarkson singing secular pop songs was a horror. The many, many young people I talked to would have ALL - yes ALL - rather recited a rosary in prepartion for the Pope, sung Marian or WYD songs, ANYTHING but watch a segment of American Idol.
Having vented, I can say that once the Pope came on stage, the sun came out!
I’m sorry, but I can’t keep shaking my head at this one. I’m really trying not to be cruel, but this is just too much. And yet, I can’t help but think these people look normal.
Forgive me if I’m being judgemental but I can’t believe people would fall this rubbish if there was a real devotion/care to prayer, reading the gospels, involved in caring for the poor, etc. One just wouldn’t have the time, or indeed the “need” for this nonsense.
I can only hope that a good number of the audience members just “went along” with whatever the organizers dreamt up and weren’t actively promoting this type of worship.
From Canada, Tony.
So was this supposed to be funny because I have been laughing my head off.
Ellyn:
Taymor is more artistic and of a later vintage (sorry to snark, Amy). The cultural reference here is to the agitprop Bread and Puppets, which after 45 or so years still goes around with a giant Uncle Sam jabbing a cigar in people’s faces.
I agree with Aleighanne. I watched this in order to be outraged, but I found it hysterically funny.
Those puppets look like the undead.
I guess I don’t really see this as an abuse, since it is not a valid or real liturgy to begin with (i.e. the words at consecration were wrong). So, it’s really just some group of people (including the “priest”
getting together to worship. Now, the obvious is this: they THINK it is indeed valid, which is the problem.
As for the puppets, I have one word: iconography. If you notice, the place was fairly bereft of any imagery. So, the puppets were a kind of “living” iconography.
All I can say in closure is, God bless our beloved Pope Benedict for helping to restore the holy Tridentine mass.
… and the second time of watching it gets even funnier!
Are the puppets in the foreground or the background?
Bless me for I have sinned, I cannot keep from snarking.
I must take issue with the commenters who criticized Kelly Clarkson’s performance of “Ave Maria” for the pope. According to the on-air commentary I heard, Clarkson personally requested the opportunity to perform this song for Pope Benedict. I thought it was a lovely gift to the Holy Father and a example of a mainstream pop artist standing among other young people as a good witness (I assume she is Catholic, but I don’t know for sure).
And hey, it’s not like she sang “Since U Been Gone” or “Miss Independent.”
I’m sorry, I couldn’t watch past the first few minutes of the “dance.” I think it’s sick and disturbing.
Did anyone catch the song after the consecration — one of the African American men was drumming and chanting, “The enemy, the enemy, defeated, defeated.” I used to be pentecostal, so that was nothing new to me. But the gestures the people were making was what did me in — they were sort of swooping with their hands toward *themselves* on “The enemy, the enemy…”
I don’t want to get all Freudian here, but that really didn’t make sense to me.
It’s quite logical:
A) The liturgy is All About Us.
B) The puppets are really big! So therefore…
C) The liturgy is All About Us… in a really BIG way!
It’s the “Hermeneutic of Me”.
In other words, their liturgy is saying: I insist that you focus on ourselves, and not on Christ’s sacrifice, as the true center of the Mass. I’ll do anything I can to distract you from Christ here, even if I have to resort to bad music, dancing, silliness during the homily, ad-libbing the Eucharistic Prayer, or… really big puppets.
Now, everyone please turn to those next to you and introduce yourselves!
I think the puppet heads should have been bigger.
Wow, Amy. In asking us not to snark you’ve set a pretty big challenge. The puppets. . . man, that’s some freaky stuff.
One thing I will say is that my overwhelming impression was that those who prepared this liturgy (if not those attending it) seem to have grown profoundly bored with the Catholic faith and must be desperately searching for some way to rekindle their interest.
Puppets appear to be big in CTA leaning churches. The infamous St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis had a couple of puppet liturgies. Here is a link to the story on their website http://stjoan.com/featuresfr.htm
The link also includes a full video which is creepy.
A couple of quotes indicate that they and perhaps even their pastor do not understand the meaning and purpose of the mass.
The quote: “The rest of the Mass centered on Farmer Rick Klehr and his baby animals.”
And also this: “Around the alter, the Last Supper is prepared as the Jesus mimics Father Jim Cassidy as he performs the Consecration and gathers us for the Our Father and exchanging the sign of peace. “
FC it’s funny you say that. In its day, the Tridentine mass was the show of shows. Meaning, if you were an illiterate peasant, you got music, literature, current events and a spectacular miracle (the consecration). All the rituals and symbols accompanying the mass were understood by the people (i.e. the bowing, the kneeling, the incense and candle lighting). It’s only in our age of electricity and mass media that all the ritual and symbolism has been rendered meaningless to a “culturally” illiterate peasantry of our own creation.
I have no problem with liturgical dance (a poster on a previous thread mentioned the Missa Luba, to which I will add the Ethiopian and Syriac rites). But it is only RELEVANT when it is understood as appropriate. Dancing to the West means getting your groove thing on. Dancing in Africa means “I’m happy, let’s celebrate!” Or “i’m honored to be here with you!” The dancing in the context of the CTA worship service seems to be more one of “look at me! Look what I can do!” And I mean this for the dancers as well as the choreographer (yes…something that awful MUST have been choreographed).
We all come to pass, taking with us our faith and our deeds, just hoping in God’s grace and mercy.
But if one thing can be said is that these people are old and infertile, both physically and culturally. They’ll come to pass and, if God’s merciful, which He is, their legacy will come to pass with them.
May St. Nicholas pray for us and for them.
I had a hard time watching it.
Not the puppets so much but the liturgical dancing, which I have a*really* difficult time with whatever the context.
But on second glance, I wondered if there is an African cultural/liturgical tradition they were drawing from. It might have worked if the music had been better.
And on first glance….. my thoughts were the same as Margaret’s.
You know I have the tendency to play “liturgical cop” in a lot of situations. But, this is almost so bad I just sat back and had a good laugh, instead of getting upset.
Here is my bad interpretation - I think the puppets represent control. They see the hierarchy as puppet-masters and the “people of God” as the puppets they control. So, by taking control of the puppets they are re-claiming the Church in their own identity (or something like that).
It is nonsense.
It is silliness.
But, don’t let it upset you, but rather pray for them.
Don’t let it control your emotions, forgive them.
The next time you go to Mass remember what a great gift the liturgy is and remember that the little things that distract us are the devil attempting to keep us from worshiping in “spirit and in truth”.
“the Kelly Clarkson version of the Ave Maria”
It sounded like the lyrics had some of the old country song “Maiden’s Prayer” mixed in with the Latin. I swear I heard her say “maiden’s prayer” several times.
But that was about a broken hearted Indian maiden, so that can’t be it. It’s been recorded by Willie Nelson, Bob Wills, George Strait. Could it be?
There’s also an old piano piece by that name. We had it lying around the house when I was young.
Cathy, you said: Not the puppets so much but the liturgical dancing, which I have a*really* difficult time with whatever the context.
I can appreciate this, since most likely it is simply not a part of your cultural background. It would be as foreign as making animal noises just before and following the end of the national anthem.
For me, in the Latin Rite context it is not only inappropriate but also offensive, as it tries to mirror or equate itself with legitimate liturgical dance but fails miserably. It’s to me as offensive as making Indian war cries with your hand over your mouth at a Braves game.
But hey, life is only as offensive as you let it. Let’s both offer this one up : )
It’s like watching a really bad episode of HR Puffenstuff from the 70’s. Did anyone notice if Sid and Marty Krofft were in the congregation?
Oh my God!
Maybe the old timers find the puppets help to receive the Kingdom “like a child.”
If anyone wants to further pursue this particular line of liturgical creativity, he or she will want to check out the “Wee Worship Puppet Company” (not a joke) — http://www.weeworship.com/
Larry LOL! Kind of makes you wonder exactly what kind of “incense” they were swinging around there. (FYI, Puffinstuff rulz).
DAN interesting. Reminds me of http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_teachings_of_jesus/on_love/lk06_17p20p27.html
Lay off Kelly Clarkson. She was singing the original lyrics to the song. (Or, actually, the pre-original lyrics.)
The song we know as Schubert’s “Ave Maria” was actually Schubert’s setting of the German translation of a dramatic monologue in Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake. Lady Ellen does indeed implore Mary to “listen to a maiden’s prayer”, and then Scott quoted some of the Hail Mary in Latin, to add medieval atmosphere. Schubert was a German Romantic, and hence loved Scott to pieces (in translation).
The opera Lucia de Lammermoor is another good example of Scott’s influence on Romantics beyond the Anglosphere.
Anyway, Catholics liked hearing the Latin portion of the artsong, and hence decided that they should set the entire “Ave Maria” to the tune. Hence Schubert’s “Ave Maria” (and Gounod’s after that, and….)
The country song came a century or so after Sir Walter Scott, so I think plagiarism is out of the question.
I am certain that the Holy Father has heard the “Maiden’s Prayer” version in German in concerts and on albums of Schubert’s lieder. It probably startled him that a) someone would choose those lyrics for a Catholic event or b) would not sing the German lyrics to a German pope. However, it doesn’t seem to have puzzled him very long, as I’m sure he knew that Kelly wasn’t Catholic and that Sir Walter Scott wrote in English.
Bah. I knew I should have done a podcast of The Lady of the Lake. Nobody reads Scott’s poetry anymore.
The original Lady of the Lake section was called “Ellen’s Song”. The German translation was by “Adam Storck”. Here’s the German words if you’re interested, along with links to Scott and translations into other languages.
Well, I did notice that there was nobody there under 50.
Anybody ever notice that liturgical dancers tend to be people who would never be asked to dance in public for any other purpose? It’s odd.
Why puppets?
What is it about the Catholic Church that so many weird things always happen? This awful puppet extravaganza is just one of many oddities I witnessed as a Catholic. I am thankful to be worshipping Christ elsewhere.
The CTA website stated that the “Larger-than-life puppets call us to be
larger than life in our work.”
Okey-doke.
I contacted a priest friend there who was outraged and will be contacting his bishop. Not sure what can be done after-the-fact.
Looks like the only thing older than the average age of priests is the average age of CTAers.
Yes, an old and very small group. My reactions are: scary, laughable, sad, pointless, heretical, pathetic and, ultimately SINFUL.
Interesting to note the priest was actually a retired BISHOP…from Canada. His name escapes me at the moment but he was a Father of Vatican II which is why this gang probably invited him.
Eliza, if “elsewhere” is ANYwhere other than the Orthodox church, then chances are your sect is either responsible or at the very least participatory in some of the most bizare oddities in Christendom.
I feel bad for the poor kid (acolyte?) holding the book. He’s the only person I saw within 50 years of his age. I wonder if all his friends got to go to the old mass while he got stuck going with grandma and grandpa.
I wonder: where is a good Bishop when he’s obviously needed so much here?
It struck me how actually puzzled and perplexed some faces in the congregation are…
Minnie:
This is a liturgy at a conference of Call to Action. All the folks there are there freely and probably expected a liturgy like this - probably many of them were involved in the planning.
OK, I know we are not supposed to make snarky comments about the age of the folks at this , uh, liturgy, but they are in my age range so I will be snarky if I want! What oh what went so wrong with the Catholics of my generation?
I could say a lot of things, but I won’t that has to be the worst thing poseing fo the mass. Not even in a church in a hotel confrence room. WOW THAT IS REALLY BAD!
This is almost like a Catholic Mass.
Notice “For you and for ALL” not many.
Was this taken at a persistent living center?
Or a hotel ball room?
What do the dancers do when they are not jumping around like special education want to be’s? You know their day job?
Kind of like a little pick Nick.
I love the sign of peace. It proves white men can’t jump.
Was this simu cast on PBS?
So meaningfull, so Charitable so pure, So, so,
I, I, I …..
I need a hug…….
It just brings a tear to my eye.
Jim Dorchak
I doubt very much that that was a valid Mass or a valid Consecration as the substance was not valid. Now we can see what the Pope was talking about when he spoke about rupture. This was rupture with a capital R.
I thank God every day for leading me to the Mass of the Ages every day and after seeing this video I am so much more
thankful.
this is sad really. Almost makes me cry to watch the liturgy desecrated like this. This is NOT the catholic church, no matter how much anyone wants to profess it. Not trying to cast judgement, but this is what happens when you take an inch with the liturgy. Its one thing to have pop music and life masses and that, but this pushes the envelope.
Oh, and he is using a glass chalice. I had thought chalices were supposed to be atleast lined with precious metals?
I saw a Ted Nugent concert in the 80’s with WASP as the opening band–and the WASP set had big scary heads of themselves above the stage that slowly rotated during the set. Waddayasay that was the cultural inspiration at work here?
This is so wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to start! I just came from Confession and Mass, so won’t get into the snark. However, one thing I noticed was that many in the congregation were repeating the words of Consecration along with the priest (who seemed to be wearing a shirt and tie under his vestments), so I’m guessing that this Mass (?) wasn’t valid to being with. About the dancers — I don’t even want to go anywhere neart there. Lord have mercy!
the church exists outside of the culture, always has.
I guess I would ask the question when do we give up trying to “fit in”. We dont. We are the Church. We havent fit in for 2000 years. Why sell ourselves out in a futile attempt at being “with it”
Did these people get something “more” out of this? Maybe. But perhaps instead of expecting shows, songs, and yes, puppets to bring people to God, who dont we rely on what He God, The Father (not creator, that limits Him to a job..)gave us, that being, the scriptures (beware hipocrites who pray loudly in the streets ring a bell?) The Magisterium, and the Apostolic tradition (non of whom were made of yesterday’s funny pages)?
I dont mean to be cynical, but when does the Catholic Church start wanting to be Catholic again? People want to point the finger at the traditionalists for a holier then thou attitude, well sitting at a Mass that is “outdated” is about the only place you can consistently find something truly Holy, and not something that attempts to merge the world with the mass. The Mass is meant to elevate us to God, not drag his presence into the mud.
I will use something to describe what the TLM is for me, and its even pop culture to make the culture people happy. Sarah McLachlan did a song with a group called Delerium, and part of the lyric is “In this silence I believe”
That is what the Latin Mass is to people. There are great oppourtunities to be able to sit back, and listen to what the mass teaches us, because there are no puppets, no rock bands, no clapping, no circuses.
Pray for these people, and Pray for the support of both forms that they can be truly what the Council intended.
I wonder if all this nonsense has some connection to the 60’s hippie generation’s obsessions with dreams and archetypes? It comes from old theories in the field of psychology. I mean, just take any sort of psychology course taught by someone of this oder generation. It will no doubt include attention to dreams and the subconscious, and vague ideas about some sort of spiritual archetypes that the human mind sort of mysteriously plugs into without knowing it. Jung and Freud and so forth. . .
They admit how Freud and later thinkers have been revealed to have had many serious flaws and unscientific ideas based more on their own personal problems and prejudices than on reasonable analysis. But, still, at root, they believe in a lot of it.
I think these puppets may be a holdover of 60’s and 70’s era psychological fads about archetypal spirits or personality types or something like that. It may be that there is little to no real theology behind it at all.
In my anecdotal experience, I have concluded that many of the hang-ups of this generation that seem to be perpetual resistance fighters against the liturgy as it should be, are simply taken straight out of the field of psychology as it existed in the 60’s and 70’s. Have you noticed that in 70’s era pop culture themes taken straight out of the field of psychology at the time are all over the place? This is true especially in movies and music. “New” ideas about the hidden drives of the human person seem to have superseded religious anthropology. In some circles, people decided that psychology held the real key to the deepest truths of the human person and cast out religion from this role in the process. But they kept the surface trappings of religion.
ODD is being kind! I really don’t get these folks… The time to experiment is over… I guess for some it is still in fashion. I guess we have to just continue to pray for them. Keep up the good work on the blog! It is always interesting! God bless! Padre Steve, SDB
This is bizarre. I’ve never ever seen puppets in any liturgy in my life (post Vatican II Catholic here) I’ve seen the liturgical dancing and I’m not enamored with it, but I don’t really know what to make of this. It’s just bizarre.
This is so…….wrong. The first thought that popped into my head was “Pagan ritual”. I’ll offer my rosary tonight for these folks.
I would love to say “unbelievable”, but of course it is very believable. This looks nothing like what I would call “church”, and especially doesn’t sound like it either. This belongs in, say, Methodist circles, not Catholic ones. The Lutherans and Episcopalians would blanche at it too, I’d wager, especially the ones I know.
Perhaps the liturgists who planned this are Washington Nationals fans.
I found this from American Papist, all I can say, is thank God it wasn’t actually in a church and wow, I’m utterly speechless at what I saw. I know we’re not supposed to comment on the age of the people, but this is something I would expect to see at a “youth friendly” event, not for people my parents’ age and older.
I was going to ask if the priest was a bishop because I noticed his ring, but Fr. Selvester answered that question. Thanks.
That poor boy “serving” the “Mass” looked so confused and like he couldn’t wait to get out of there, and I don’t blame him.
Prayers will be said as it appears they are needed.
Just by way of explanation: Puppets are big with role-playing therapy with children these days. The theory is that troubled children can act out and express their feelings safely this way, since to really take on the problem is too much for them. [I am reading about this and many other psych, behavioral issues for adopted children, particularly those from abusive, neglecting homes, including international adoptees.]
So, we might suspect that these folks are expressing some uncomfortable feelings about I have no idea what via these puppets.
That said, it’s all horrific to include in liturgy.
Sigh. Too bad the New Testament never recorded
the puppeteers being driven out of the temple.
Call To Action Figures? But seriously, I think that at a certain age people just start liking puppets again.
On a related note, the following item on CTA’s platform caught my eye:
“We call for a fundamental change so that young people will see and hear God living in and through the church as a participatory community of believers who practice what they preach.”
(http://www.cta-usa.org/index2.php?dest=history.html)
In a separate blog post, we realized that the OCP cover art is EERILY SIMILAR to these puppets.
I finally got around to posting this at my blog - and I figured out those things really are. They’re Mass-cots!!
As to the validity of the Mass . . . I’m not going back to the video to hear the words of Consecration and I’m not quite sure if leavened bread makes the Sacrament invalid or simply illicit (the East licitly uses leavened bread) . . . I will bet that many of those present and participating in Call to Action don’t think that the bread is really the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, so they’re probably better off if it really isn’t? Is that too harsh? Honestly, is it uncharitable to actually HOPE that the Mass was invalid and Jesus wasn’t actually made present?
Praise and thanks be to God that I don’t have to attend Masses like that. At least not anymore.
I first saw liturgical dance at Christmas midnight Mass 30 some years ago at St. Jude’s Church in Havre, Montana. It was dumb then and it is dumb now.
What a waste of a perfectly good hotel ballroom.
One good thing; there was one and only one priest celebrant. Apparently the rest listened to the Holy Spirit and stayed far away from the place. Actually the celebrant did (sorta) follow the text and rubrics for the offertory (sorry, presentation of the gifts) and the consecration. He had his hands full telling the altar boy (it was a boy, wasn’t it?) what to do next. The poor kid looked absolutely mystified.
If I ever have to attend a Mass like that, especially one that was recorded, I would sure appreciate having a mask cosutume so no one could identify me.
Agreed with Amy and with most of above comments on how tacky and sad this is….I particularly resonate with the commentator who felt bad for the book-bearer condemned to go to golden agers’ Mass with grandma.
But, for me the worst part is the inept liturgical furnishing layout
> the silly seating plan (all face one way style) in relation to choreography, so that 1/3 of the people had to break their necks to see the “action”…
> the riser platforms without skirts
> the catalogue cross and candles (don’t CTA people support the arts and real candle-makers?
> seeing the fire alarm box over the celegbrant’ shoulder when he was at altar
> apparently seating the presider where he could not preside
> the shoddy ambo cover (looks like my bed after a long night with my cats)
> nice floral arrangements (how much did they cost, CTA???)
Meanwhile, on the giant puppet topic, have any of you been to religious festivals in Catalonia? I’ve been to a few — in Barcelona, Tarragona, and over the French bosder near Andorra. They invariably include a Mass (usually crowed and quite straight-forward, with strong music, but with neither dance nor puppets nor gospel books whirled around).
Then, out on the streets and in the plaza, phenomenal communal dancing (”sardane”
that is fully intergeneratioanl and to done, not seen…and parades of such giant puppets. There it is part of religious folk custom, and no one needs to explain the meaning to the locals.
Maybe a CTA person was at one of these festivals, where the puppets have been part of the religious expression for many centuries, and then started confusing devotion with liturgy, conflating parade with procession, etc.
One of the central points of popular festivals such as the giant puppet parades in catalonia is that they are satirical takes on the world and not controlled by the liturgists and NOT part of communal sacraments. In other words, they have a very rich communal satire life, communal street festival life, and so they do not feel the least need to let that come to expression at eucharist. Meanwhile. some CTA’ers and other puppet-pushers have church services as the only venue left for any form of communal activity. That may be the most sad part of the picture!
I am quite certain that the Mass was valid. I did not see anything which would invalidate it.
Maureen:
Thank you so much for the explanation of Kelly Clarkson’s song. I had no idea. And Lucia is my favorite opera - I should have connected the dots.
That looks a lot like Bishop Remi Deroo(spelling?) who was at VII and was the bishop of Victoria Canada for many years.
Is this the retired Canadian Bishop?
http://remideroo.com/index.htm
I saw this on the cta website.
Prayers.
So this is how it all ends.
Vatican II provided a space to explore speaking and presenting the Church’s proposition of Christ to the world in updated forms. Almost right away a misguided impulse took over. Men began to abandon faith in the One, True, and living God for …. well for what?
Worshiping the world, the flesh - even ourselves. That was all predictable, and even predicted right on the pages of the New Testament.
But puppets? Or is that Puppets?
We all put our faith in something. If it’s not God, it is usually pleasure, wealth, power, human cleverness. But apparently if you are stuck in the space between the Divine and an honest worship of such classic worldly things, you end up with puppets.
When the Son of Man returns to earth, will he find …. the people bowed down to puppets?
The clergyman in the the video is Remi de Roo. Poor Bishop Remi, once Bishop of Victoria. Not to put too fine a point on things, but judging from the average age of the participants, this whole Call to Action flakiness will be over and done with in about 10 to 15 years tops. Having met bishop Remi on many occasions as a lay employee at the Diocesan offices, I can say with accuracy that he possessed a bright intellect - an intellect misused and bent by listening to all the wrong voices. His dalliance with race horses and shady land deals funded with Diocesan money led to a tragic fall from grace. He was a clever man, an academic trapped by his pastoral assignment, a sentiment he publicly lamented on more than one occasion. His story is a familiar one - a tale of intellectual pride preceding a fall, resentment and fixation on an agenda that serves a purpose other than the will of God. I have long forgiven his former indiscretions, but these current actions merit strong, unequivocal condemnation. When will he learn?
CORRECT VERSION:
AARGGG! To the three people who defended Kelly Clarkson - besides the bad version of the Ave Maria, I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE SONGS SHE SANG ***BEFORE** THE HOLY FATHER CAME!
Did you guys not know that she did a performance of POP SONGS
before the Pope arrived???
What I meant was, during her pre-Pope performance, the kids wanted to be doing the rosary etc!!!
But yes, musically and artistically speaking, Ave Maria was badly performed and as for her wanting to give a “gift” to the Holy Father, the word is that it had quite a bit more to do with her career. But who am I to judge?
Oh my! I had to shut it off as the first puppet was walking out. I couldn’t stomach any more.
Somebody please burn this to DVD and send it to the USCCB, the local bishop who permitted them to meet, and to the Congregation for Divine Worship.
The most important truth displayed by this ridiculous charade is the advanced age of the participants. If the audience is representative of their overall demographic, their movement is likely finished. This kind of silliness is now only a distraction, rather than a real, sustainable movement.
Several years ago, Catholic World Report titled an article about a Women’s Ordination conference as “A Dark and Dismal Goofiness”. Which could be the title for the entire last forty years of liturgical “renewal”. Some are obviously committed to darker, more dismal and more goofy.
An event that seems to defy even the most expanded definition of “strange”…..
John (from comment 80): Many of the more “progressive” folks will not allow concelebration, or are against it, so I am not surprised that there were not any concelebrants. I don’t think we can say one way or another now that there were or were not other clergy present.
My 18 yr.old son saw the video(beginning) and insisted to stop it or he was going to “barf”. If he didn’t I would have!
I agree with Father Steve!
I was curious-being a 57 yr older-most of those in the video were my age and older. Promising thought-since we are all going to die, maybe this horror will die off with these “senior citizens”.
God have mercy on these poor living souls!
Best line so far: “Call To Action Figures”. LOL!
This whole event was liturgical elder abuse.
If those puppets are intended as Christ figures, they send a message, because they’re ugly, sexless (beardless) figures. Ugliest objects I’ve ever seen deployed in a religious ritual, except for that pyramid with an eye on it I saw once in an Advent display at St. Clement’s in Somerville.
Such disrespect for the human body and for the Incarnation fits with the feminist (anti-incarnational gnostic) messages that seem to form the main point of the ‘liturgy’.
I can’t help questioning whether this service was worship of the transcendent God or just a desperate attempt at self-affirmation.
And the celebrant was the Most Reverend Remi de Roo? There’s one more reason to blame Canada.
Oh my good gracious that video is hysterical. Why is heresy often so danged tacky? Does alliance with the evil one take away appreciation for grace and propriety? Does Satan truly delight in making us make look ridiculous? I guess the answer is yes.
Anyone know who the so called priest is in this liturgical masturbation? I sure would not want to be in his shoes should Jesus decide to drop down and say howdy.
As something of a former lefty myself, I remember these type of puppets as fixtures at anti-war protests and the annual protests at the SOA watch down in Georgia. There’s a lot of cross-pollination between the church and these events, especially in Jesuit circles thanks to the Jesuit schools’ presence at the SOA protests.
I think Scott J’s comments above about the Jungian/Freudian roots of puppet-worship are very insightful and are well worth pondering further.
However, there’s a much more cynical thought about the puppets I’ve often had, though, when confronted with spectacles like these. Back in my SOA protest days, we often noticed that the vast majority of the protesters were white middle class liberals. For all the rhetoric about solidarity, muticulturalism, etc., they were largely homogenous affairs (as is evident from the CTA video as well).
[In fact, I've always found that if you want to find real ethnic/racial diversity, go to a Catholic church -- preferably an older one in an urban area...it will be filled with Hispanics, Filipinos, African immigrants, you name it, with very straightforward liturgies, and usually great respect for the Eucharist, confession, and so forth -- none of this kind of silliness.]
So — maybe the puppets (all of whom are obviously representing “people of color”
are kind of a desperate attempt to provide some appearance of ethic “diversity”? Sort of a liberal guilt-expunging mechanism? — “Look at us, we’re “diverse”! We support people of color!” — which only very thinly covers up the fact that 90% or so of the participants are rather obviously color-less…
Apparently these people forgot to think about what they would do at the foot of the cross. How completely disrespectful to our Lord’s crucifixion. I can only chalk this one up to the devil making a mockery of Jesus’ death.
How sad!! I know folks who belong to CTA, even our pastor! Does our parish have problems?? You bet!!
Being over 60 I couldn’t help but wonder if those in attendance weren’t former hippies/flower children because it is obvious that they are more concerned with themeselves than with the ONE whom they are supposed to be worshiping. I pray that they all have deep conversions, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen!
I thought I was watching that dancing guy from “One Who Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest.”
PATHETIC.
Not surprising that the processional hymn was “Sing a New Church into Being”, with lyrics by Sr. Delores Duffner (the tune can be used with other lyrics, which are much better). This must be the anthem of the Hermeneutic of Discontinuity folks. The rest of us feel grateful and blessed to belong to the Church of the Apostles and the martyrs and saints down through the centuries. The Church of Mother Seton, Cardinal Newman, G.K Chesterton, Dr. Takashi Nagai , Dorothy Day and John XXIII. Who needs a new church when the one that Jesus founded is already here?
Well, what can I say? Fools only know how to play a fool’s game. I think it’s safe to say that American Catholic leftist movement is on life support if that’s their idea of the future. Truly trash!
Sorry to bring back Kelly Clarkson, but I did make a misleading statement in there. There obviously were musical settings of the “Ave Maria” before Scott and Schubert. (There’s a chant, there’s the Arcadelt one we were singing tonight at choir practice, and about five zillion more.) But Schubert and a few other 19th century settings of “Ellen’s Song” that double as “Ave Maria” settings — that’s what I was talking about.
Anyway. Back to your regular scheduled Punch and Judy fest….
The most notable thing to me is that I can more easily imagine most American parishes celebrating the Mass in the manner depicted in this video than I can imagine them celebrating the Mass in a manner even vaguely reminiscent of the Mass in its Tridentine ‘extraordinary’ form.
Did anybody think of Gingy when they saw those puppets?
Perhaps this is CTA’s latest solution to the priest shortage?
Sing a Puppet Into Being
1. Take some flour, and some water,
Mix them well in to a paste,
Then recycle some old news print,
Tear it! let there be no waste.
Dip longs strips into the mixture,
Place them where they need to be
Bring a puppet into being,
Show your creativity.
2.How to use these gentle giants?
What their purpose? What their use?
Are they toys? a science project?
For the stage? Don’t be obtuse!
We’ll parade them to the altar,
Where they’ll stand in proud array!
What priest shortage? we’ll just build one
Out of more papier mache!
3. With his cold unblinking visage,
He might fill young ones with dread,
For it is the stuff of nightmares,
That bizarre, gynormous head.
But they’ll soon become accustomed,
To his wierd and awkward ways,
Give it time and he’ll seem normal,
They’ll forget the olden days.
4. I begin to see the promise,
Of this way of building priests.
Mothers never need to give birth,
In the manner of dumb beasts,
Bear a child, just to offer
To the Church a pious son.
They can hire Julie Taymor,
And she’ll go and build them one!
5. Much less messy, this will spare Moms
Childhood’s ev’ry tear and pain,
Adolescents faults and foibles,
Yound adulthood’s doubts and strains.
While we’re at it, why stop at priests?
Lets make lectors, servers, too,
Deacons, singers… while we’re at it
Why not puppets in each pew?
6. Brave New Church, that has such creatures,
In it! THIS is the new wave,
Soul-less dolls, or maybe robots?
Christ will have no need to save.
Sing a puppet into being,
We’ll need people nevermore.
Just remind the final human:
Douse the light and close the door.
Bravo!! I like Sing a New Puppet better than Sing a New Church!!
Big puppet heads = Big CTA heads?
G., this is more than a parody. This is serious and brilliant commentary — striking, tragic and unforgettable.
Okay, the one on the left is Tom Petty, but who are the other three?
“Yeew don’ know how it feeeeels”
The puppet heads and hopping around resembles the street mob scene in “Fall of the Roman Empire” - celebrating that they were gonna set the barbarians on fire.
Scary.
Interesting - the CTA site with the video file is inaccessible. One gets a notice saying that “Your Website Has Been Suspended!” followed by:
“The web hosting account that hosts this website has been blocked due to high bandwidth usage!”
I guess too many folks want to watch the puppet show. I’ll bet the CTA folks take this as an encouraging sign of their “relevance,” not realizing that they’ve provided an almost exhaustible amount of fodder for snarking. I wanted to snark myself, actually.
all i can say is i regret that this show could not have been preformed for one of the papal liturgies this last month. maybe then our Holy Father could see how far they have gone in the U.S.
Bravo on the parody song!
#113,
Oh no.. I wouldn’t want to risk the Holy Father’s health in such a way!
Given that I believe former Bishop Remi de Roo’s Enneagram inked finger prints are on this Mass (or pseudo Mass depending upon its canonical validity), I think if you google North American or South American (Peru comes to mind) Indian spiritual practices and puppets, you will have your answer.
The official site crashed so here is a Google video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4402165038195743798&hl=en
this may have been said, but don’t you think the purpose was deception? I think so called womenpriests where in those puppets and “concelebrating”. You know, in those days women will dress as men and men will dress as women… to paraphrase… if they have to go to those lengths and lie about it even they know they are wrong.
I am reminded of two things: Carnival, and “What About Bob.” Seriously, remember when the psychiatrist father in that film makes his children communicate with him via puppet? Not sure what that means for this liturgy….
Oh, Amy, please please please can I snark about the average age of the participants? It’s so much fun.
Some time back, Patrick Madrid commented on the dramatic contrast between one of these loopy CTA-type gatherings, on the one hand, and a conference of conservative Catholics, on the other. The CTA-type shindig was a (literally) sterile affair featuring a gaggle of way-post-menopause gray-hairs. The conservative conference featured scores of young families with lots of kids in tow–the very apotheosis of vibrancy and fruitfulness.
CTA is sooo the wave of the past. But trust some of our critics in the blogosphere to seize on this exotic “liturgy” and claim it’s representative of contemporary Catholicism. :p