I think it is one of my parishioners who asks a question on NLM about a group of lads at an American military school who are performing ceremonial drill during a Traditional Mass for "Veteran's Day" ( I presume it was on a martyr's feast hence the red vestments). The question is: what is the difference between this and liturgical dance?
I am no fan of such dancing, prancing around during Mass seems be an unnecessary distraction but then so does drawing swords, dipping or not dipping flags, clicking heals and making command signals. Presumably even liturgical dance can be reverent, happen outside of the sanctuary, and maybe say something quite profound.
In the Ordinary Form, for funerals there is an explicit instruction that flags (even national flags) and secular symbols are not displayed during funerals, presumably this does not apply to the Extraordinary Form or the US. I understand in fact they should be removed before the body is brought into Church.
On Armistice Day I say a Requiem Mass, I must admit I am never quite sure which Requiem texts to choose, they all talk about the "faithful departed", so presumably exclude from our prayers card carrying atheists, like one of my great uncles, whpo was definitely unfaithful, as well as Jews and Muslims.
This year I had an email from someone complaining that we didn't introduce a minutes silence to remember the dead "with the nation". Apart from it being impossible to organise Mass to come to a halt at the 11th of the 11th, I replied that this would be an unapproved addition to the Mass which was not allowed and besides we Catholics believed our prayers for the dead, especially the prayer of the Mass, was much more effective for the dead than the Protestant Anglican custom of merely "remembering" them.
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