ARTICLES
March 2004 ARTICLES
Contents © 2004
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
Lions, a Cardinal, and Two Dancing Dragons
Valid Inculturation or Monkey Business?
BY F. MICHAEL FORRESTER
On Jan 19, the Washington Post reported that people in "strait-laced Singapore" were being urged by deputy prime minister Tony Tan to "act like monkeys" -- the Chinese zodiac sign for the current lunar year. Shortly after, on January 22, the Los Angeles Times released an article, headlined "Chinese New Year Dragon Will Dance in L.A.'s New Cathedral."
"Be like a monkey. When things happen, you have to be nimble," the Washington Post reported Tan as saying.
"It will be a first of its kind at the church," the Los Angeles Times reported Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the L.A. archdiocese, as saying.
Has the archdiocese turned to Tony Tan for liturgical advice?
The 2004 Chinese New Year Thanksgiving Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels started late on Saturday, January 24. One of the scheduled concelebrant bishops, the Most Reverend Gabino Zavala, never made it, apparently spending the entire service stuck in L.A. traffic. According to the archdiocesan newspaper, the Tidings, the principal concelebrant, the Most Reverend Ignatius Wang, was dropped off 15 minutes late on the corner of Grand and Temple Streets, being left to "literally sprint to the cathedral."
Almost a half-hour late, Cardinal Mahony and concelebrating bishops and priests came trickling out on to the altar to take their seats, as an almost cathedral-full of principally Asian people was dramatically hushed to silence by pounding percussionists. With the rhythm, two sets of lion dancers menacingly danced down the aisle, eventually followed by two 50-foot dragons. Upon arriving at the sanctuary, the dancers had the two make-believe beasts circle the altar, leading the dragon's head and tail under its body and round again to form a figure eight. Finally, the two dragons were set in place behind the crucifix, flanking it on either side, but in front of the road map of L.A. -- the permanent fixture behind the altar.
Cardinal Mahony, Bishop Ignatius Wang, and concelebrating bishops and priests then left the altar to process down the aisle themselves, preceded by a long line of deacons, liturgy coordinators, altar servers, lectors, and those that would read "prayers of the faithful."
The principal celebrant, San Francisco auxiliary bishop Ignatius Wang, said it was an "honor" to be in L.A. "on the happy occasion of the celebration of the Chinese New Year -- the Year of the Monkey." By celebrating the Chinese New Year, said the bishop, "we celebrate the Chinese people, their culture, and way of life."
Most of the Mass was in the Chinese vernacular, although the sermon from Bishop Wang was in English. The Bishop spoke of the importance of appreciating God's gift of eternal life and creating new opportunities for evangelization. At the offertory, a Chinese lantern dance was performed by 13 girls, making what appeared to be slight curtsies to the left and right as they processed down the aisle holding lanterns; and, just in front of the sanctuary, several young women performed a Chinese ribbon dance.
After communion, Cardinal Mahony, Auxiliary Bishop Edward Clark, and Bishop Wang participated in an ancestral veneration ritual along with elders from the Chinese community. At the conclusion of the veneration, Cardinal Mahony stepped up to the podium to deliver two short New Year's greetings, one in Cantonese and the other in Mandarin. This met with much laughter and applause -- the first and last of the evening.
Leaving the cathedral, one was left with the questions: how fitting was all that? Was it a nod in the general direction of inculturation? Or were we all just monkeying around?
"I think 'monkeying around,'" said one local diocesan priest. "It is certainly unclear as to why it was necessary to have the lion and dragon dances in the church and not in the vast, much-talked-about plaza." Pointing out that dragons embody evil in Western culture, the priest, who asked for anonymity, said that he could see no good reason for their use inside the church. "It seems to me," said the priest, "that in present-day Chinese culture, these dragons represent little more than a fun spectacle in celebrations. In terms of inculturation, it's about as helpful on a spiritual level as parading jack-o-lanterns on October 31."
The Chinese temperament not being prone to charismatic hysteria, the reverence shown by the congregation throughout the Mass was, without doubt, greater than most would find at their local parishes on an average Sunday. It was, consequently, peculiar to see the spectacle of 50-foot dragons parading down the aisle for what appeared to be an utterly unmoved "audience." All the more reason, arguably, why the dances should have been held outside the church, where interaction between the performers and audience would have presumably been significantly greater.
Nevertheless, the program handed out before the Mass dedicated the first page to justifying the presence of the dragon and lion dances. The dragon, according to the program, is a legendary animal in Chinese mythology, signifying power, prosperity, fertility, majesty, and regal dignity. Believed to be the governing god of rainfall, and China being traditionally an agricultural country, the "veneration to the dragon," read the program, "slowly evolved as a cult." The lion, according to the program, signified "peace, blessing, and prosperity from the Heavenly King." Stating that "any celebration without a Lion Dance or Dragon Dance is a major disappointment," the program attempted to show how it was possible to "Christianize" these two mythological creatures. "In the traditional Dragon Dance," explained the program, "the dragon chases after 'The Pearl of Wisdom.' Should not all Christians seek after Wisdom also?. The Lion, at the end of its dance, consumes a bunch of greens which implies the conversion of the Lion -- from a carnivore to a herbivore -- it echoes the prophetic image of Isaiah, 'The wolf and the lamb shall graze alike, and the lion shall eat hay like the ox' (Is 65:25). Incorporating the Dragon dance and Lion dance appears to bring paganism into the Catholicism," said the program. "On the other hand, with careful modification and sincere heart, it is also a step forward to Christianize some of the superstitious Chinese beliefs and put them into perspective".
At the Mass, no pearl was chased, no bunch of greens consumed. Speaking with Dr. Jaw Chang, choreographer for the dances, I asked what "careful modifications" had been made. A man of few words, Chang responded, "none." Had the archdiocese given him any directives? Any guidance? "No. None." So he was given free rein? "Yes, free reign." That, according to the program, then, left us only with the hope of a "sincere heart."
Apart from the insertion of the lion and dragon dances, and, of course, having it in the Chinese vernacular, the Mass was decidedly in the Roman Rite -- albeit with Cardinal Mahony's variations, such as standing throughout communion. The archdiocese did not return calls to reveal what guidelines it used and what authority it called on to introduce the lion and dragon dances into the liturgy.
In lieu of the archdiocese's response, one can turn to a document released in 1994 by the Holy See's Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments. The document, "Instruction on Inculturation and The Roman liturgy," early on asserts that, even in the liturgy, the Church "has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters that do not affect the faith or the good of the whole community. It has known and still knows many different forms and liturgical families, and considers that this diversity, far from harming her unity, underlines its value." It further states that whatever good lies latent in the religious practices and cultures of diverse peoples can "not only [be] saved from destruction but. also cleansed, raised up and made perfect unto the glory of God, the confounding of the devil, and the happiness of mankind." Was it correct for this archdiocese to save these dances from destruction -- thus, confounding the devil?
One of the preliminary observations of the Vatican document is that the situation is different in countries with a long-standing Western Christian tradition, where the culture has already been penetrated for a long time by the Faith. There, the document insists, there is no need to have adaptations in the Roman Rite, as it is "sufficient to allow for legitimate local diversity." Moreover, the document states that in countries with a Christian tradition (such as, presumably, the United States) which have a progressive growth of a culture marked by indifference or disinterest in religion, it "is not so much a matter of inculturation, which assumes that there are preexistent values and evangelizes them, but rather a matter of insisting on liturgical formation and finding the most suitable means to reach spirits and hearts."
However, none of the liturgical dances on January 24, lion, dragon, lantern, or ribbon, appeared at all Western in culture. They were distinctly Chinese, not at all resembling what author Donna Steichen has referred to as "half a dozen dancers, in pale tights under silky saffron draperies, swaying rhythmically through the assembly." Western dancing in the liturgy was condemned a while ago by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. An article that appeared in Notitiæ 11 (1975) -- noted as an article that should be considered "an authoritative point of reference for every discussion on the matter" -- stated, "[Western] dancing is tied with love, with diversion, with profaneness, with unbridling of the senses: such dancing, in general, is not pure. For that reason," the article concludes, "it cannot be introduced into liturgical celebrations of any kind whatever: that would be to inject into the liturgy one of the most desacralized and desacralizing elements; and so it would be equivalent to creating an atmosphere of profaneness which would easily recall to those present and to the participants in the celebration worldly places and situations."
But what of Asian dance in an already Christian country? Cardinal Godfried Danneels, a former professor of liturgy at the University of Louvain in Belgium, spoke recently with Zenit News Agency on the question of non-Western liturgical dance. "There's a difference between dance of Asia and Africa and modern dances in Europe and America," Zenit reported Danneels as saying. "There is no eroticism.... It's very solemn, it's very sacred. But our dances or other dances -- we shouldn't transform liturgical dances into a ballet." Danneels went on to say that judging whether a liturgical dance is appropriate or not is something "very complex and has to be taken on a case-by-case basis. When Mother Teresa was beatified several weeks ago, there were dances from Indian girls. Nobody will find that it wasn't very beautiful. But you feel it immediately. The problem is, if you have a liturgical dance, it should make you think about God. If you have a normal ballet, you think about the dancing. That's completely different." The dragon and lion dances at the cathedral were certainly a far cry from ballet, but certainly also questionable as to whether "one would feel it immediately," whether it at all made one "think about God," or, indeed, just drew one to think and marvel at the human performance.
The document "Instruction: Inculturation and the Roman Liturgy" does concede that in a number of countries there are several cultures which coexist, which, "at times... seek to affirm their proper identity or even oppose each other in order to stress their own existence." Although the document states that the Church should respect the riches of each culture and those who defend them and not ignore or neglect a minority culture with which it is not familiar, it does explicitly state that the Church should take into account how much "modernization has affected the people," and also whether the customs "have little more than folkloric interest."
In either case, the Vatican document also reiterates the comments of Cardinal Danneels. "Among some peoples," reads the document, "singing is instinctively accompanied by hand clapping, rhythmic swaying and dance movement on the part of the participants. Such forms of external expression can have a place in the liturgical actions of these peoples on condition that they are always the expression of true communal prayer of adoration, praise, offering and supplication, and not simply a performance."
It would, perhaps, be hard to argue that, in today's culture, the lion dance or the dragon dance are anything but a performance for the Chinese, and, consequently, perhaps not on the top of the list for elements to be adapted into the Roman Rite. Nevertheless, the dances performed at the 2004 Chinese New Year Thanksgiving Mass, if not expressions of true communal prayer of adoration, offering, and supplication, certainly were not offensive.
Perhaps somewhat paradoxically, the question of inculturation has been a significant one in the history of the Church in China -- and long disputed. In the 17th century, the first wave of Jesuit missionaries, led by Matteo Ricci, relied heavily on inculturation. They won respect at the imperial court for their mastery of science and mathematics, and, more critically, by adapting the Catholic faith to the Confucianism then officially sponsored by the emperors. The Jesuits' methodology of inculturation won such favor with China's ruling class that it led to the 1693 Edict of Toleration declaring Christianity licit. But these successes came to a halt when, in 1704, Pope Clement XI ordered what had come to be called "Chinese rites" suppressed. The act angered the emperor, producing the first wave of Christian martyrs in China.
Many have commented that the suppression of the Chinese rites marked a definitive turning point in the Chinese perception of Catholicism, seen from that point forward largely as a foreign system carried on by outside powers. The noted Chinese historian G. Thompson Brown has written that "if the Jesuits would have been left to themselves, the Christian mission in China would have continued its remarkable growth with the possibility that China would have become a Roman Catholic nation." It was only in 1938 that Clement 's decision was officially reversed by Pope Pius XII, who authorized Chinese Catholics to take part in certain Confucian rites, including the veneration of ancestors.
As recently as 2001, John Paul II publicly apologized for the misunderstandings of the past and paid tribute to Father Ricci in an audience with Chinese pilgrims marking the 400th anniversary of Father Ricci 's entry into China. "For four centuries China has highly esteemed Li Madou, 'the Sage of the West,' the name by which Father Matteo Ricci was known and continues to be known today," exclaimed the Holy Father. "Historically and culturally, he was a pioneer, a precious connecting link between West and East, between European Renaissance culture and Chinese culture, and between the ancient and magnificent Chinese civilization and the world of Europe."
Maybe the archdiocese, then, on January 24, was making an effort to embrace what John Paul referred to as Father Ricci's "enduringly relevant" scientific and apostolic methodology. Or maybe it was just celebrating the Year of the Monkey.
BE AS NIMBLE AS A PRIMATE
Cardinal Mahony himself may have been taking deputy prime minister Tony Tan' s advice to act like a monkey -- with the L.A. Zoo providing him his very own role model. On January 19, the Associated Press released an article, "Chimp with a history of escapes forces evacuation of L.A. Zoo." According to the article, the escape of the 80-pound chimpanzee forced the evacuation of about 9,000 visitors from the Los Angeles Zoo. The primate, according to the article, had escaped from the zoo a total of four times before. Speaking to the Associated Press, zoo director John Lewis said that the chimp, named Gracie, has been an escape artist since she arrived in 1998. "Each time we've made corrections based on her abilities, and she's found another way," Lewis said.
Since the publication of his 1997 pastoral letter, Gather Faithfully Together, Cardinal Mahony has been nimbly escaping directives from the American bishops. Now, on his special quest to have everyone stand throughout the communion rite -- from the Agnus Dei till the last person has received communion -- it looks like the cardinal might have found another way to escape. Last month, the archdiocese's regional bishops sent out a letter, directing that all parishes must be in compliance with this communion rite directive by the first Sunday of Lent, February 29.
When Cardinal Mahony's plan to have everyone stand throughout the communion rite was first presented in Gather Faithfully Together, it was not mandatory but only "suggested as a vision." It had been the continual practice since the liturgical changes went into effect in 1969 that American Catholics would kneel after the Lamb of God. However, this was never actually written into the rubrics which governed the celebration of the Mass, and thus, it seems, the cardinal identified his first "escape route." The cardinal's directive of 1997 was technically not in contradiction to the rubrics at the time.
In 2002, however, when the American bishops received the new General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) for the universal Church, a discussion was held on the question of kneeling. According to inside sources, the cardinal specifically asked the American bishops to change the rubric so that, throughout the states, all would stand during the Eucharistic Prayer and communion rite, kneeling only at the consecration. He also made a plea that whatever posture was decided upon by the bishops, all dioceses should abide by it in order to avoid a "division" where dioceses are doing different things. After the proper discussion, the cardinal's proposal was defeated; the bishops even voted to add the rubric mandating kneeling after the Lamb of God -- but they also added the words, "unless the diocesan bishop determined otherwise." Here was an escape for Mahony. Those words freed the cardinal to mandate standing in his diocese -- and so break from the liturgical practice of almost every other American diocese. Ironic, in light of the cardinal's initial plea that all dioceses "do the same."
There is, however, no need for "kneeling prone" lay Catholics to evacuate L.A., as 9,000 visitors did the L.A. Zoo. Additional language has been added to the General Instruction (insisted upon by Rome) to permit kneeling by those who wish to do so. However, as a consequence, Mass in this archdiocese will now be a zoo itself -- all unity making a run for the door -- since, prior to the cardinal's ruling, all knelt, and after the cardinal's ruling, some will kneel, others will stand, and yet others will sit because they can't stand or kneel. Goodness knows what dirty looks -- and monkey faces -- standers are going to be giving kneelers, and vice versa.
Gracie, according to the Associated Press, is currently being held in an enclosure with tighter security until designers can ensure she won't escape again. L.A. Catholics might think it a shame, perhaps, that they can't say the same for their archbishop.