Altar Rail Puts Communicants on Right Track

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What are we to make with those Apostles who reclined at table with the Lord?
 
The very small Episcopal church I attended before I converted had an altar rail and we knelt for communion. It took much longer than it would have standing Catholic-style, and it would add a significant amount of time onto the Mass for a large parish. My parish has 2 communion lines, one with a priest and one a deacon, and it still takes a while even with people standing. I’m not in a hurry, but I could see it adding a good 15-20 minutes on to have one line go up and kneel, not to mention taxing our elderly pastor with all the walking back and forth.
 
Our cathedral only celebrates the Novus Ordo… yet at all 7 Sunday Masses and all 4 daily Masses the altar rail is always used… has been as far back as I remember, though I can’t say for sure whether it simply never went away or was reinstated. At any given Mass I would say about half the faithful process down the centre aisle to receive standing and the other half down either side to kneel at the rail. It goes fast as people are used to it.
 
I’ve never seen such a thing myself. It’s not normal everywhere. At our cathedral, priests who are available come in from the Rectory to help distribute during communion time. For a Sunday Mass we’ll often have 3 additional priests slip in quietly to distribute with the celebrant.
 
The altar rails were there because we had used them for centuries. and before those were put in, centuries ago, there were no altar rails. So the Church has had both “no rails” and then “rails”.

You may well say it has nothing to do with emotion, and I respectfully disagree. And the point I was making is that so often the comments pro-rials includes “I feel…”.

I respect feelings, but feelings are not reverence.
’ we might disagree about using the word “reverence” as to how we treat another individual; so I will use the word “respect”. One can disagree with someone - for example, a parent - and feel strong feelings, of anger, or aversion, or disgust, or (add your own word) and yet treat that person with respect. One can also have “oppostie” feelings - warmth, like, admire - and not treat them with respect.

Respect, like reverence, is an acknowledgement of the “other”, whether we are speaking of another person, or of God.

Digging around, I found the following: "The Hebrew word for fear is “yare” and it literally means “to fear, be afraid, or to revere.” Other meanings of this word in Hebraic (Qal) are to “stand in awe, to have a deep respect or honor.” As for the way the word fear is used in the New Testament Greek, “phobe” from which we get the word phobia, means to “put to flight by terrifying, to flee, or be afraid” but also has the meaning of “reverence and to hesitate.”

One can do that either standing (as we do after the Consecration) or kneeling (as we do during the Consecration). And one can be reverent receiving Communion standing or kneeling. Some feel kneeling is more reverent; and at least some of that is cultural conditioning; but it gets right back to “feeling”.

As my parish receives standing, someone could come in and watch me receive, and say that I am not as reverent as I would be if I were at a Communion rail, and my answer is “How did you get the ability to judge my heart and inner disposition?”.
 
And my cathedral has no altar rail. It was gone before he arrived, but he did a major renovation to it - he being Archbishop, now Cardinal Levada - not someone I would call a flaming liberal. Or even sort of a liberal. But that is what it is, and trading bon mots probably changes no one’s opinion.
 
otjm said:
One can do that either standing (as we do after the Consecration) or kneeling (as we do during the Consecration). And one can be reverent receiving Communion standing or kneeling. Some feel kneeling is more reverent; and at least some of that is cultural conditioning; but it gets right back to “feeling”.
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As a note: in the USA, we continue to kneel after the consecration, until Communion is over.

So for the US, I don’t understand receiving standing up when the American bishops made such a big deal and requested the Vatican to allow us to remain kneeling after the consecration.

It just doesn’t seem to maintain harmony from a ritualistic point of view. If we were standing after the consecration, that would make more sense, but we are not.

Btw - I’m not arguing this from a theological point of view. I’m arguing from a purely ritualistic, artistic, and symbolic point of view
 
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We have kneelers at my Novus Ordo parish for people who wish to kneel while receiving Communion. About 2/3 of the people kneel. No one is pressured to receive Communion in a particular way. The Precious Blood is not ordinarily offered at my parish.

I grew up in a parish with an altar rail and I am glad to see them being used again.

I went to a Traditional Latin Mass today and because I have injured my knee I was unable to kneel at all during Mass or when receiving Communion at the altar rail.

The priest frequently makes an announcement at the beginning of Mass that people who cannot kneel should not worry about it and should come forward and stand at the rail.

Whenever I hear the word “unity” used in connection with the posture of people at Mass it has been my experience that it is a liberal trying to impose something that traditional Catholics do not like.

If someone chooses to stand to receive Communion that’s fine. But it seems that if someone wants to kneel to receive Communion that causes a furor and that’s sad to me.
 
My recollection is that we were standing, after the Consecration, earlier than the universal Church, and that is why it (kneeling) was extended.

If someone has information other than that, please chime in. and in my archdiocese, we stand before the Agnus Dei, and remain standing through reception of Communion. That avoids the standing, then kneeling for the “Lord I am not worthy” which is short) and then standing again for Communion (we receive standing).

According to the GIRM, the way it was written, we were to continue standing after returning to our seats until all had received.

Why? Because we are in procession as we go up to receive; and if you have ever seen a procession (such as al the priests coming into the Cathedral for the Chrism Mass) all remain standing, rather than kneeling as they reach their seat - or sitting.

I have only been in one parish, in northern California where some remained standing after returning to their seat. That was the dubium which Cardinal George sent to the Vatican (since by tradition we had knelt after returning to our seats) and Cardinal Arinze answered in the negative, saying that Rome did not intend for a rigid approach to posture after receiving.

Hope that is helpful.
 
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I have seen both sides use the word unity, and they are both wrong, The word is uniformity - a uniform posture, for example. There is unity between the Eastern rites and the Roman rite, but there is no uniformity.

The norm set by the GIRM is standing for Communion; kneeling is an exception to the norm. Where a whole parish kneels for Communion, there is uniformity; where they all stand, there is uniformity; where the practice is to do one or the other, and some do this and some do that, there is a lack of uniformity. There is unity of faith, but there can be lack of uniformity of posture. And for someone who cannot maintain the posture (for example, not kneel) they are excused - they were before Vatican 2, so no change of that.

My pastor does not genuflect. He has no leg on either side below the knee. We all get it.
 
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Maximilian75 said:
the precious blood could be administered by tube/straw
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Irishmom2 said:
Are you serious?
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These methods are not appropriate for Western Catholics who are in the United States, except as foreseen in providing pastoral care for the sick.
  1. Distribution of the Precious Blood by a spoon or through a straw is not customary in the Latin dioceses of the United States of America.
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http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/norms-for-holy-communion-under-both-kinds/index.cfm
 
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“the tube is just a hollow cylinder of precious metal, placed into a chalice/container of Precious Blood, and then a finger placed on one end to keep the liqud within, then dripped into the mouth of the faithful by slightly moving the finger.”

A service of charity to a person who cannot receive otherwise (incapable of drinking).

Can you picture it as a substitute for actually taking and drinking from the cup? Bizarre in my opinion.
 
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if one was kneeling and simply opened their mouth, it could be dropped in.
 
And yes, I can. The Eastern Churches have administered the Eucharist this way for hundreds of years.
 
Here’s why I would prefer altar rails and kneeling:
Typical thought process for me as I approach communion:
  1. Okay, which person should I go to?
  2. That person, she doesn’t have anyone in her line
  3. On the tongue or in the hand? Will she think it’s gross if I do COTT?
  4. Lower my hands, open my mouth!
  5. Don’t forget to bow! Don’t forget to say “amen”!
  6. Oops, almost ran into that person leaving another communion station
  7. Am I supposed to show reverence to the other stations of communion? I was taught to bow to the chalice person, even if I don’t receive. So should I also bow to the other host stations?
Multiply that times two if they offer the chalice (my parish doesn’t).
I would much prefer kneeling at the altar rail!!!
 
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otjm said:
My recollection is that we were standing, after the Consecration, earlier than the universal Church, and that is why it (kneeling) was extended.

If someone has information other than that, please chime in. and in my archdiocese, we stand before the Agnus Dei, and remain standing through reception of Communion. That avoids the standing, then kneeling for the “Lord I am not worthy” which is short) and then standing again for Communion (we receive standing).

According to the GIRM, the way it was written, we were to continue standing after returning to our seats until all had received.

Why? Because we are in procession as we go up to receive; and if you have ever seen a procession (such as al the priests coming into the Cathedral for the Chrism Mass) all remain standing, rather than kneeling as they reach their seat - or sitting.

I have only been in one parish, in northern California where some remained standing after returning to their seat. That was the dubium which Cardinal George sent to the Vatican (since by tradition we had knelt after returning to our seats) and Cardinal Arinze answered in the negative, saying that Rome did not intend for a rigid approach to posture after receiving.

Hope that is helpful.
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Interesting… we kneel after the Agnus Dei and continue kneeling until communion is over.
 
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