The Church’s Position on Dancing

The moral dangers of the too common and too fashionable amusements of dancing are pointed out, with as much force as clearness and learning, in this small but valuable book. The author extracts proofs from the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Fathers, Holy Councils, and from the theologians most renowned for their piety and learning.

Familiarity removes, often, a due appreciation of the dangers of the dance. There are Catholics who seem to have become skeptical as to the very existence of the danger attendant on their supposed innocent recreations.

We hope that these collected proofs from the wisdom of the saints and the tradition of the Church will enlighten the mind and change the heart of those who have been the advocates of dancing, solely because they have never sufficiently considered the evils of which it is the cause and the occasion.

“But, you will say, the Commandments of God do not forbid dancing, nor does Holy Scripture, either. Perhaps you have not examined them very closely. Follow me for a moment and you will see that there is not a Commandment of God which dancing does not cause to be transgressed, nor a Sacrament which it does not cause to be profaned.”

– St. John Vianney