Dear Susie:

1) The Biblical Test of the Spirit is proclaimed by the Church, specifically by the Apostle John in the Book of 1 John 1:1-3

2) The issues of the abuses of liturgy, ANYTHING that is added to the Mass that is not specifically allowed by the Roman Missal of 2000, the General Instruction to the Roman Missale. Often the specific address of a particular abuse is dealt with in the Notitiae (Clarifications and Interpretations of the GIRM).

Here is a couple examples:

The 1975 ban on liturgical dance is found in the document called "Religious Dance, An Expression of Spiritual Joy", published by Rome in its journal Notitiae, and described itself as "AN AUTHORITATIVE POINT OF REFERENCE FOR EVERY DISCUSSION ON THE MATTER." Most of the document praises religious dance, yet becomes quite stern when forbidding dance to take place during Mass.

Concerning holding hands the Notitiae states:

REPLY: The prolonged holding of hands is of itself a sign of communion rather than of peace. Further, it is a liturgical gesture introduced spontaneously but on personal initiative; it is not in the rubrics. Nor is there any clear explanation of why the sign of peace at the invitation: "Let us offer each other the sign of peace" should be supplanted in order to bring a different gesture with less meaning into another part of the Mass: the sign of peace is filled with meaning, graciousness, and Christian inspiration. Any substitution for it must be repudiated.

The Notitiae is binding legislation.

3) The contemporary "praise and worship" music is, by definition, folk music, not sacred music. Thus there is no need for the Church to speak specifically to it. Only Sacred music is allowed in the Mass. See the Vatican II document, Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), nn. 112-120.

Also the article What is Sacred Music? by Monsignor. Richard J. Schuler.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary