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Peter Kwasniewski's avatar

A GENERAL COMMENT ABOUT THE COMMENTS

It is almost a cause of despair to see how poorly people read nowadays. Perhaps the naysayers here simply did not attend carefully enough to the original articles.

1. We made it absolutely clear that we exclude many forms of dancing, either because they are formless, graceless, and crass (freeform 'dancing' in nightclubs, etc.), or because they are too sensual (tango, slow dancing where a couple is pressed up against each other). Likewise I made it clear that I am referring to formal social ballroom dancing and country dancing or contra dancing. In fact, I even admitted a preference for group dances over couple dances.

2. I also made it sufficiently clear that I am praising dances that are well-regulated as to the music and types of dances chosen, and that do involve a certain level of chaperoning. The kids are not being thrown into each other's arms for necking. Good heavens, has any of the objectors here actually BEEN to the kind of dance I'm describing - the kind shown in the pictures? Have they danced an English country dance, or a Virginial Reel, or learned the waltz (as it is typically done nowadays, which is not a body-to-body hug), or the swing? I highly doubt it, because if they had, they would see how quickly their arguments melt away.

3. Julian's article argued directly against the claim that any contact between unmarried persons of opposite sexes is a near occasion of sin and therefore immoral -- a position that absolutely cannot be defended in moral theology. This position leads to absurdities and therefore is not compatible with Catholicism that prizes faith and reason.

4. The situation of our young people in 2024 is much different, and much worse, than it was in earlier times. They do not have many healthy opportunities for morally upright in-person mingling, as modernity has atomized and fragmented our societies (our "villages," as it were). They are stuck on the internet, working jobs with long hours, and maybe, if they are lucky, seeing their friends at a Sunday TLM. The argument here very much depends on seeing that dancing has a social context and that such contexts can and do change over time. Applying like a simplistic template what St John Chrysostom said in the fourth century or what St John Vianney said in Ars (see Mary Reed Newland description above) to a social ballroom dance in 2024 is a glaring violation of how moral argumentation should be made.

5. Finally, if someone is inflamed with lust by the mere sight, let alone arm's-length touch, of a lady, or by the holding of her hand as part of a group dance, then I believe he should schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist, as he has a lot of work to do to heal a diseased psyche. If there is someone who finds even a well-regulated dance an occasion of sin, he should not attend it; but that says more about him than it does about dancing as a healthy recreation.

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Chantal LaFortune's avatar

A post defending dancing with a clip from Pride and Prejudice—simply amazing. Thank you, all three of you, for this wonderful piece!

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