Twirling around the Sanctuary: “Dance of Faith” at Paderborn Cathedral

A choreography of the Novus Ordo religion…

Twirling around the Sanctuary:
“Dance of Faith” at Paderborn Cathedral

The German diocese of Paderborn is currently in the midst of celebrating its annual Liborifest, a 9-day celebration in honor of St. Liborius, a fourth-century bishop who is one of the patron saints of the diocese.

Every year one day of the St. Liborius festival is dedicated to women, and on that occasion the usual solemn Novus Ordo worship service this year included a special dance feature which we are loath excited to share with you:

The woman twirling around in what used to be the Catholic sanctuary there is Verena Fröhlich, a children’s dance instructor from the far-away town of Constance. She is dancing to the song Du bist kein Zufall (“You are no Coincidence”), a hymn by Till Matton on God’s love for every individual. The “bishop” celebrating the service is the diocesan auxiliary and former Benedictine abbot Dominicus Meier, appointed to his current post by “Pope” Francis in 2015.

Meier was also the homilist for the occasion. In his sermon he spoke of the “dance of life” that the biographies of saints become for him when he ponders them. God’s holy ones, he claimed, express their Faith in God and their awareness of Redemption “in a dancing manner” (tanzend). No joke — he actually said that.

And it got worse from there. Trying with his words to preface the choreography that was about to be unleashed on the hapless audience, “Bishop” Meier made the silly but profound-sounding claim that “living Faith needs expressive people because Faith seeks the encounter with God, with one’s own body, and with one’s sisters and brothers.” He then explained that he was grateful to the dancer for “condensing my words into an expressive dance, refining them in womanly fashion, giving it the heavenly-feminine touch.”

[We interrupt here for a moment to allow the reader to facepalm. Be careful as your head hits the desk.]

Meier then encouraged all in attendance to open themselves up to this “Dance of Faith” (Glaubenstanz) at a location “where heaven and earth now touch” and where “heaven is open to us all.” He was talking about the Novus Ordo worship space.

The only thing more annoying than his words was the smirk that kept appearing on his face.

In any case, here is a snapshot of the audience watching the “Dance of Faith” with great excitement:

Speaking of expressions…

No doubt, Heaven was opened and St. Liborius was dancing, too.

The Vatican II Church is its own best parody.

Image source: domradio.de (video screenshots)
Licenses: fair use