Momma always said "keep quiet and behave in church! For ye are in the house of the Lord!"
Catholics are prudes.
We were brought up with strict boundaries of tradition and the observation of quiet reverence during mass, so much so that anytime some enthusiastic Catholic bravely decides to raise his hands in show of his adoration of the dear Lord, audible gasps, nudging whispers of "Wah he raise his hands, and it's not time for the Our Father yet!" are commonly observed. In Singapore 'Peace be with you' is marked with a graceful nod unlike the shaking of hands in the UK. The youth choir are young and unrestrained and hug away with reckless abandon (though I am sure secretly the girls wished it was that strapping senior alter boy they were exchanging 'The sign of Peace' with). This rare show of affection however vanishes with age and is replaced by the usual polite nod.
Indeed any sign of charismatic behviour is equivalent to you being the colour purple and hailing satan infront of the altar. It is taboo and Catholics will be too embarrassed to even look at one exhibiting such behaviour. Take any catholic to mass blindfolded and I can assure you he will be able to kneel, stand, bow at the right times with precision and accuracy. It's tradition you see, the order of mass, any deviation from the order would be radical, and we don't much like change, except at Easter and Christmas, but of course.
I still like tradition, and the fact that I will never be brave enough to raise my hands to the heavens, and that I will kneel, stand bow with reverence, I like being a Christian prude, and I'm happy to be Catholic.
Catholics are prudes.
We were brought up with strict boundaries of tradition and the observation of quiet reverence during mass, so much so that anytime some enthusiastic Catholic bravely decides to raise his hands in show of his adoration of the dear Lord, audible gasps, nudging whispers of "Wah he raise his hands, and it's not time for the Our Father yet!" are commonly observed. In Singapore 'Peace be with you' is marked with a graceful nod unlike the shaking of hands in the UK. The youth choir are young and unrestrained and hug away with reckless abandon (though I am sure secretly the girls wished it was that strapping senior alter boy they were exchanging 'The sign of Peace' with). This rare show of affection however vanishes with age and is replaced by the usual polite nod.
Indeed any sign of charismatic behviour is equivalent to you being the colour purple and hailing satan infront of the altar. It is taboo and Catholics will be too embarrassed to even look at one exhibiting such behaviour. Take any catholic to mass blindfolded and I can assure you he will be able to kneel, stand, bow at the right times with precision and accuracy. It's tradition you see, the order of mass, any deviation from the order would be radical, and we don't much like change, except at Easter and Christmas, but of course.
I still like tradition, and the fact that I will never be brave enough to raise my hands to the heavens, and that I will kneel, stand bow with reverence, I like being a Christian prude, and I'm happy to be Catholic.