Bishop asks parishioners to stand?

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Dovekin said:
The General Instruction asks each country’s Conference of Bishops to determine the posture to be used for the reception of Communion and the act of reverence to be made by each person as he or she receives Communion. In the United States, the body of Bishops determined that Communion should be received standing, and that a bow is the act of reverence made by those receiving. These norms may require some adjustment on the part of those who have been used to other practices, however the significance of unity in posture and gesture as a symbol of our unity as members of the one body of Christ should be the governing factor in our own actions.
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Where is this from? The USCCB indeed tried to make it a rule to receive Communion standing but were in fact corrected by Rome. The Universal Norm of the whole Church is to receive kneeling and on the tounge and anything else is allowed by indult only, meaning the indult could be revoked at any time.
 
The norm for reception of Holy Communion in the dioceses of the United States is standing. Communicants should not be denied Holy Communion because they kneel. Rather, such instances should be addressed pastorally, by providing the faithful with proper catechesis on the reasons for this norm.
GIRM 160. Including adaptations for the dioceses of the USA
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It is up to the Conferences of Bishops to decide on the adaptations indicated in this General Instruction and in the Order of Mass and, once their decisions have been accorded the recognitio of the Apostolic See, to introduce them into the Missal itself. These adaptations include
The gestures and posture of the faithful (cf. no. 43)…
GIRM 390
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no. 43 gives the postures during Mass, stating
The faithful should stand… from the invitation, Orate, fratres ( Pray, brethren ), before the prayer over the offerings until the end of Mass, except at the places indicated below…
The faithful kneel after the Agnus Dei unless the diocesan Bishop determines otherwise.
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The list of exceptions is not complete, ie it does not mention the period after communion/after the tabernacle is closed. I doubt that “after the Agnus Dei” is meant to include “until the tabernacle is closed” or whatever sign you use for the end of the distribution of communion. But maybe it is. My understanding is that it means we stand throughout the Communion procession, though it is not completely spelled out.

These are norms. They are not binding under threat of eternal damnation. Violations are not grave matters.
 
What you have provided has already been corrected by Rome. That is old and not current. The link seems to suggest it is of 2003. The USCCB’s own website provides the current guidelines. Nice try though.
 
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I’m reminded of the Franciscan friars that I have seen who immediately put their hoods up after they receive. Their attitude seems to be the same as @Prodigal1984. “Leave me alone at this special and intimate time”.
What do you think @Dovekin, do you disapprove of that?
 
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My apologies. I thought the version on the Vatican’s website would be accurate.

Paragraph 160 now reads, according to the USCCB’s website:
The norm established for the Dioceses of the United States of America is that Holy Communion is to be received standing, unless an individual member of the faithful wishes to receive Communion while kneeling (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Instruction, Redemptionis Sacramentum, March 25, 2004, no. 91).
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The other portions I quoted match what I quoted from the Vatican’s site.
 
I do not disapprove of anything. I am just trying to find out what people think Anima Christi is about.

Do you want to join with the saints in praising God forever?

Et iube me venire ad te,
Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te,
In saecula saeculorum.
 
In the OP, apparently the Bishop asked, he did not give a definite directive. After communion, we should be praying, the superior posture for praying is kneeling.
 
tafan2 said:
the superior posture for praying is kneeling
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If that is the case, then why not kneel for all of the prayers? BTW, I’m not opposed at all to people, in the Roman Rite (in the Byzantine Rite, we don’t kneel at all on Sundays), kneeling for prayers after communion, and I’m somewhat perplexed as to why bishops of the Latin Church would want to prevent people from doing so. However, I don’t see that kneeling is somehow a superior posture to standing for prayer, given that the people stand for most of the prayers.
 
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Not all the prayers are silent and personal during mass. Sorry, I have done both, been in a parish that stood during communion, and kneeled. I can say definitively for myself, it’s much easier to pray after communion when kneeling. And I strongly suspect, based on observing congregation that is standing, that much less prayer is occuring. People are not focused if they are standing and silent for that long if time. Of course I can’t prove that, but it certainly seems obvious.
 
I would even say that for the purpose the whole congregation engaging in silent, personal praying, of the three posture options, standing is the least effective. Sitting is better than standing. Just my opinion.
 
As I stated in my edited comment, I’m not opposed to people in the Roman Rite kneeling for prayer after communion. In fact, when I attend a Mass, instead of Divine Liturgy, that’s what I do myself, because that it what I’m accustomed to people doing at Mass. However, I don’t think it is necessarily the case that people do more praying while kneeling. In churches of the Byzantine Rite, our traditional posture for the entire Divine Liturgy is to stand. For me, standing does not in any way impede my ability to engage in personal, silent prayer. I’m not saying this is the case for everyone, but I don’t think standing is necessarily an impediment to prayer, and I don’t think kneeling is somehow a guarantee that people will prayer more, or more fervently, than when standing. But again, given that there is not a traditional reason against kneeling during Mass in the Roman Rite, I’m perplexed as to why a bishop would want to prevent the faithful from doing so following communion. I don’t see how it disrupts the Mass, and for some people, for reasons of their own personal piety and how they have been brought up in the Church, it is more conducive to prayer.
 
tafan2 said:
I would even say that for the purpose the whole congregation engaging in silent, personal praying, of the three posture options, standing is the least effective. Sitting is better than standing. Just my opinion.
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If that is the case, I would say it is culturally or regionally conditioned. As I’ve noted in some of my previous posts, in the Byzantine Rite, we do not kneel at all on Sundays, because for us, the traditional posture of prayer is standing. Traditionally, we stand for all of the prayers of the Divine Liturgy. We stand while praying before icons. We stand for our prayers after receiving Holy Communion. I just don’t believe that Roman Catholics kneeling in prayer after Holy Communion are being more prayerful than are Byzantine Catholics who stand in prayer after Holy Communion. What I can believe is that for those who have come to associate kneeling with personal prayer, it can be more conducive to prayer. I do not believe it is an objectively superior posture of prayer.
 
Dovekin said:
Do you want to join with the saints in praising God forever?

Et iube me venire ad te,
Ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te,
In saecula saeculorum.
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I do.
That is not singing at communion.
People need to respect that this is a personal time united with Christ. I think making people stand and sing is totally rude and inappropriate at the time. It would be enough to make me leave the parish, that is how much it would bother me.
 
RyanBlack said:
In the OP, apparently the Bishop asked, he did not give a definite directive.
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As I recall, the announcement was along the lines of “the bishop wants us standing after Communion & this is a remainder to everyone that you need to do it.” It was not stated in an “optional” way as I recall. That’s what prompted me to ask my question in the first place. I was surprised a bishop could just wipe out kneeling after communion like that when it’s been “usual” in the West for… centuries? Now I have been to churches where most folks stand, but I’ve never heard that it was because of the bishop - I figured that due to the congregation being primarily older folks, it was just more comfortable for the majority to stand. I knelt because I was able to do so. This was different - it appeared to me like a directive to stand.
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Where in the Anima Christi does it say you’re supposed to stand after Communion?! 😆
 
RyanBlack said:
What I can believe is that for those who have come to associate kneeling with personal prayer, it can be more conducive to prayer. I do not believe it is an objectively superior posture of prayer
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I’ll agree with that. So I just can’t wrap my mind around why the bishops would want to change that? “Unity” doesn’t quite convince me. Anyone feel it’s disunifying when we kneel while the Communion line is still progressing?? Also, at my parish that would be a LOT of standing. I’m sure some folks would get tired and sit. Which messes up unity, right?
 
RyanBlack said:
given that there is not a traditional reason against kneeling during Mass in the Roman Rite, I’m perplexed as to why a bishop would want to prevent the faithful from doing so following communion. I don’t see how it disrupts the Mass, and for some people, for reasons of their own personal piety and how they have been brought up in the Church, it is more conducive to prayer.
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The point is that personal prayer is inappropriate during the communion procession. People should be acting as one, standing and singing being the ideal posture. Kneeling with silent personal prayer does not reflect our unity in the Body of Christ, filled with the Spirit of Christ.

Personally I think that idea is too enmeshed in clericalism. Priests have a defined role throughout the distribution of Communion, so they see it as a separate block of time; laity do not have a well defined role, so they do what they want. Kneel. Think about lunch. Go home. Gather things before dismissal.

So the bishops have taken a traditional view of Mass as a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy and tried to implement that. Sing with all the saints in glory. Praise God from whom all goodness flows. No less days to sing God’s praise. This is what we experience when we stand together and sing, albeit in a shadow of heaven’s glory.
 
Dovekin said:
The point is that personal prayer is inappropriate during the communion procession. People should be acting as one, standing and singing being the ideal posture. Kneeling with silent personal prayer does not reflect our unity in the Body of Christ, filled with the Spirit of Christ.
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No. What you are pushing is inappropriate. I have never heard of such a ridiculous thing.
What of people who aren’t receiving? They have to stand and sing? Maybe they would be better off saying a spiritual communion? This is a time to be one with the Lord. What you are proposing is completely unorthodox.
 
Dovekin said:
The point is that personal prayer is inappropriate during the communion procession. People should be acting as one, standing and singing being the ideal posture. Kneeling with silent personal prayer does not reflect our unity in the Body of Christ, filled with the Spirit of Christ.
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I have only been to two Tridentine Masses in my life so I’m not real familiar with them… but isn’t there a LOT of silent prayer? Evidently it was seen as valuable at some point in the church’s History. Are we just “evolving” to the point in he church where that plethora of quietness should be reduced to zero. And if so, why? I admit to preferring the Novus Ordo because I like to say the responses and sing the hymns… but the option for a little bit of quite prayer after communion seems nice too. Didn’t we alllll learn back in CCD as kids that the time after Communion was for silent thanksgiving? I believe they even taught this at my daughters CCD Communion prep last year! Something has changed…?
 
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