Can altar servers receive Communion while kneeling?

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Today while being at church , the youth leader at our church told me that I should not receive Communion while kneeling because he said I’m putting a bad example to the congregation., (I’m an altar server) I have never had this problem before and neither the priests or the bishop have to told me something for doing this. I told him about what the General Instruction on the Roman Missal says about this , but he said it also says altar servers shoud not receive kneeling down. Any help on this?
 
He’s wrong. The altarboys at my parish all receive kneeling (and on the tongue, holding the same paten they’ll be using while they assist the priests & deacons) … there are four prie dieu for them, and the other altarboys just kneel on the floor. I’d say the burden is on him to show you in black & white where it is written in an official document of the Church, and until then, do as you’ve been doing.
 
CatholicLife said:
I told him about what the General Instruction on the Roman Missal says about this , but he said it also says altar servers shoud not receive kneeling down. Any help on this?
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He’s absolutely wrong. The GIRM doesn’t say anything about the posture of altar servers while they receive. At our parish, at the request of our pastor, altar servers always kneel to receive, and they only receive on the tongue. We’ve had Masses at our church with our Archbishop, and our altar servers kneel to receive from him (it shows proper reverence to our Eucharistic Lord). Pope Benedict XVI will not distribute Communion to anyone unless they receive while kneeling, and only on the tongue. Until your youth leader becomes pope, I’d follow the example of our current pope. 👍
 
I don’t see it as the youth leader’s responsibility to instruct people on posture for receiving Communion. If the pastor has an issue with it, he can speak to you directly.

While the standard posture in the U.S. is to stand for Communion, the Vatican has made it clear that no one is to be denied Communion for choosing to kneel.

Perhaps your youth leader has an agenda contrary to the stated directives of the Church.
 
missing info: what does your pastor say?
tell the youth leader you thank him for his comment, and that this is such an importan issue you feel Father should resolve it, so go to the pastor together and get his ruling. Then abide by it. Humility and obedience to the direction given by a pastor (not a lay leader unless the pastor has directly delegated him to instruct on this topic) trump personal preference in this case unless the instruction is against canon law or rubrics.
 
This sort stuff really bugs me. It may be standard in the U.S. to receive Communion while standing, but to say that you’re setting a bad example for the congregation by kneeling - nothing could be further from the truth. If your devotion to the Holy Eucharist compels you to kneel then, you have every right to receive in that way - perhaps that terribly strange idea of kneeling before the eucharistic Lord might catch on… I fail to see why the youth leader thinks this could be a bad thing. If I had a suspicious mind I’d say this is merely a control thing really - but since the GIRM and documents such as Redemptionis Sacramentum don’t address proper posture for servers, I would say that the references to laypersons apply to you. So, according to R.S. paragraph 91: “…it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.”
 
It seems to me this is a decision to be made by the pastor.

The norm in the US is to receive standing and it would be both obedient and set a good example to follow the directions given by our bishops. (Humility is such a difficult virtue to practice!) But if the altar server wants to receive kneeling and the pastor is OK with that, then it doesn’t particularly matter what the youth minister thinks.
 
CatholicLife said:
Today while being at church , the youth leader at our church told me that I should not receive Communion while kneeling because he said I’m putting a bad example to the congregation., (I’m an altar server) I have never had this problem before and neither the priests or the bishop have to told me something for doing this. I told him about what the General Instruction on the Roman Missal says about this , but he said it also says altar servers shoud not receive kneeling down. Any help on this?
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Let’s see if I have this right:

The youth leader says you shouldn’t be doing it.

The priest who is celebrating the Mass is administering Communion to you, and hasn’t said anything to the contrary.

So basically, the youth leader is saying that the priest is wrong for doing what he’s doing, but he’s saying it to you, rather than to the priest.

I think the conclusion here is self-evident.
 
From a response of the CDWDS:This Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments has received through official channels your letter dated 1 December 2002, related to the application of the norms approved by the Conference of Bishops of the United States of America, with the subsequent recognitio of this Congregation, as regards the question of the posture for receiving Holy Communion.

As the authority by virtue of whose recognitio the norm in question has attained the force of law, this Dicastery is competent to specify the manner in which the norm is to be understood for the sake of a proper application. Having received more than a few letters regarding this matter from different locations in the United States of America, the Congregation wishes to ensure that its position on the matter is clear.

To this end, it is perhaps useful to respond to your inquiry by repeating the content of a letter that the Congregation recently addressed to a Bishop in the United States of America from whose Diocese a number of pertinent letters had been received. The letter states: “… while this Congregation gave the recognitio to the norm desired by the Bishops’ Conference of your country that people stand for Holy Communion, this was done on the condition that communicants who choose to kneel are not to be denied Holy Communion on these grounds. Indeed, the faithful should not be imposed upon nor accused of disobedience and of acting illicitly when they kneel to receive Holy Communion”.
 
japhy said:
Indeed, the faithful should not be imposed upon nor accused of disobedience and of acting illicitly when they kneel to receive Holy Communion".
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On the other hand, in this case we’re not talking about “the faithful.” We’re talking about someone with a liturgical role who should be responsive to what the pastor wants.

In this case, we don’t know what the pastor wants. It looks like the pastor doesn’t mind having an altar server kneel. But if it turned out that the pastor did mind and wanted the alter servers to stand when receiving communion, that’s what they should do. Otherwise they may find that they can have their right to kneel, but do it as part of the assembly, not as an altar server.
 
Well, the norm in the US is standing, so the Youth Leader is just reinforcing the …

OK, who am I kidding? I have just one question and one question only for the OP:
Does this Youth Leader have any official authority over the altar servers program?
 
I would ask him to clarify exactly on how this is a 'bad example"

When the bishops voted on the norm, they said in their debate that this was not a norm in the legal sense, but rather a recognition of what is the most common practice.

This was also how the Vatican approved the norm.

So why, exactly, is it ‘bad’.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
In this case, we don’t know what the pastor wants. It looks like the pastor doesn’t mind having an altar server kneel. But if it turned out that the pastor did mind and wanted the alter servers to stand when receiving communion, that’s what they should do. Otherwise they may find that they can have their right to kneel, but do it as part of the assembly, not as an altar server.
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On the other hand, if the pastor does want altar servers to stand to receive, should he not be the one telling the server (obviously at some time outside of Mass)? Since we have in the OP that neither priests nor bishop have said anything, it would seem logical to conclude that the pastor either doesn’t mind or does want kneeling.

Again, barring some official documentation (which I do not believe can be provided), in light of what we do know (the priests and bishop have been silent on the subject), there seems to be no reason for the OP to change behavior.
 
CatholicLife,
Are you referring to kneeling when you are serving Mass, or kneeling at other Masses when you’re not necessarily serving? I just realized that your post might mean either one, or both.

I also just caught the part about the youth leader claiming that the Roman Missal says that servers shouldn’t kneel to receive–the Roman Missal says no such thing.
 
FrDavid96 said:
CatholicLife,
Are you referring to kneeling when you are serving Mass, or kneeling at other Masses when you’re not necessarily serving? I just realized that your post might mean either one, or both.

I also just caught the part about the youth leader claiming that the Roman Missal says that servers shouldn’t kneel to receive–the Roman Missal says no such thing.
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I refer to when I’m serving mass.
 
CatholicLife said:
I refer to when I’m serving mass.
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That’s what I thought at first, then I re-read your post and thought “you know, he could mean…”

Anyway, follow the directions of the priest who’s celebrating the Mass. Given that he’s never said anything to you about it, at the very least he has no problem with what you’re doing.

Ignore the “youth leader,” and if you feel comfortable doing this last part, mention to the priest that the youth leader is telling you what to do when serving Mass. From my perspective as a priest, my response would be “if you have a problem with what the altar boys are doing at Mass, talk to me about it, not them.”
 
Politely thank your “youth leader” for his concern.

With all due respect, charity and kindness, offer the following address:

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
00120 Via del Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano
benedictxvi@vatican.va
 
MusicMan said:
Could you clarify for me whether or not the training, scheduling, and administration of altar servers is under the direct authority and supervision of the Youth Leader?
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No he is not in charge of the altar servers.
 
CatholicLife said:
No he is not in charge of the altar servers.
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In that case this:
FrDavid96 said:
Ignore the “youth leader,” and if you feel comfortable doing this last part, mention to the priest that the youth leader is telling you what to do when serving Mass. From my perspective as a priest, my response would be “if you have a problem with what the altar boys are doing at Mass, talk to me about it, not them.”
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is the correct and only way of handling this situation. Being a bit more bold in my youth (and often slightly less charitable than is sometimes advisable), I probably would also tell the youth leader to “buzz off” the next time he told me to not kneel.
 
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