Thank you for phrasing your concern and question so kindly.
Not everyone has. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify.
When there is a question that Catholic Answers’ staff apologists have fielded before in this forum (
example), we don’t always include quotes and links to documentation, believing that if inquirers want more information that a search on our site will yield it. That is why
this particular Q&A merely stated the Church’s discipline but did not include links. In retrospect, that was a mistake on my part.
The
General Instruction of the Roman Missal (2002) states:
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).
The clear instruction of this rubric is that the expected posture for communicants at ordinary form liturgies is to stand. It also states that Communion should not be denied to those who kneel. The CDW reiterated that in the documents you provided in your question.
At no point though has the Vatican contradicted the GIRM it approved for use in the United States and stated that it is okay for communicants to kneel at ordinary form liturgies. All the Vatican has said is that Communion cannot be withheld from those who do kneel inappropriately. There is a difference between saying that a person who kneels inappropriately should not have Communion withheld from him and saying that it is okay for him to kneel in the first place. That is why I stated that:
Michelle Arnold:
While a priest should not embarrass someone who inappropriately kneels for Communion by refusing him Communion, he should privately counsel that individual to stand for Communion in the future. If the communicant knowingly and deliberately refuses to follow the priest’s counsel, he does so not out of piety but out of willful disobedience to the just direction of his spiritual father in Christ.
While I sympathize with those who want to kneel out of reverence for their Lord in the Eucharist, I can only explain what the Church instructs and not give personal opinion that contradicts Church discipline. Perhaps the Church eventually will allow communicants to choose whether or not to kneel to receive Communion, as it allows a choice for reception of Communion in those areas where there is a dispensation to receive it in the hand. In the meantime though, true reverence for the Lord should include obedience to the authoritative discipline of the Church and the just direction of priests who act
in persona Christi.
