Churches without kneelers?

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Fludgecow101

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there is a church in my area where no one ever kneeled during the appropriate times during mass. now they have redisgned the church majorly and now it doesn’t even have kneelers. is this even allowed?
 
I don’t know whether it’s allowed, but it seems a little inconsiderate, since there are parts of the Mass where we are required to kneel, and it can be uncomfortable for some people to kneel on a hard floor.
 
We don’t have them, and we therefor don’t kneel. Not enough room for kneelers since we have chairs (and actually have squeezed more into the Church than I think are allowed by code.
 
Fludgecow101 said:
there is a church in my area where no one ever kneeled during the appropriate times during mass. now they have redisgned the church majorly and now it doesn’t even have kneelers. is this even allowed?
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I would assume that the Bishop approved the plans. I would speak with the pastor then the Diocese. Here the Bishop has said that all churches will have kneelers, if they don’t they are to install them pronto.
 
Many newer churches I’ve found don’t have them. It makes me sad to see no kneelers. I went to a church in Louisville and they didn’t have any. If it was me I’d try to attend another parish if mine didn’t have kneelers. But then again, that’s just me.🙂
 
When Cardinal George took over the archdiocese of Chicago he visited the seminary and noted that they had no kneelers in the chapel. He instructed whoever was in charge that the attendees were to kneel at the proper parts of the mass.

He was given a song and dance about how it was too expensive to install kneelers. He replied, " I didn’t say anything about kneelers. I said that the congregation is to kneel."

Shortly thereafter they found the funds to install kneelers. 😃
 
I don’t know what the rules are, but if you travel to Europe and go to mass in many of the cathedrals and churches built during the middle ages, there are no pews or kneelers. Whether or not people even sat or knelt during mass in those times, is something I do not know. Now, there were chairs - mostly wooden folding chairs. At some of the masses I attended people stood throughout, at others people knelt on the floor.
 
In Miami there is a church called the Ermita De La Caridad (it is a national shrine) and it has no kneelers.

At the appropriate times most people kneel including some very venerable attendees. Those that cannot physically kneel stand.

The absence of kneelers does not mean you are not to kneel. It means you are to offer your sacrifice and suffering to Christ.
 
Maui71 said:
In Miami there is a church called the Ermita De La Caridad (it is a national shrine) and it has no kneelers.

At the appropriate times most people kneel including some very venerable attendees. Those that cannot physically kneel stand.

The absence of kneelers does not mean you are not to kneel. It means you are to offer your sacrifice and suffering to Christ.
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i totally agree. besides that church i was talking about(which i rearly go to), most churches in my area only have the pews in the front and chairs in the rest of the area. the people in the pews kneel but when it come to everyone else, no one does because i guess it is either too painful or they’re too lazy(i’m not talking about the physically impaired) it’s just for a couple of minutes, so if anybody here knows of a good reason why people don’t kneel during the appropriate times during mass, please tell me(again, i do know some people cannot physically or for other reasons like holding a baby) i guess ppl are just going with the flow:( but it reminds of this one time where around half the people began to kneel becuase my family knelt first:D
 
The point about kneelers is that they encourage kneeling! Obviously they are not “essential,” but most people cannot kneel for long periods without them, and some people cannot kneel at all without them. I won’t go to a church without kneelers, because I just need to kneel from time to time. (Raised in Old School; kneeling implies supplication & humility & reverence altogether. I can get too lazy in my prayer without that.)
 
Even before my knee started acting up and getting extremely painful for the past 5 weeks, and now since I’ve had surgery a few days ago (I’ve gone to mass once since then), I’ve had to use kneelers. At my parish everyone has kneelers except for the first row. We use chairs that have individual kneelers in them, and don’t have a kneeling rail for the first row. My knees have been acting up long before I attended my first Catholic mass, so I have always been greatful for kneelers.

I have really missed kneeling, much more than I though I would. And as far as people who appear able to kneel but don’t anyways, sometimes apperances can be deceiving. In all other ways, I look like a healthy 20 something, and there are times that I cannot kneel for a long period of time. I have been shot at the very least curious looks from people when I haven’t knelt during mass. I tried to kneel before mass and it took almost all of my strength to get myself back to a seated position without screaming. Sometimes there is a physical disability there, but I do recognize that there are some who don’t kneel for any really good reason. Nothing is certain 100% of the time, except for God.

God Bless!
Ericka
 
ericka1701 said:
Even before my knee started acting up and getting extremely painful for the past 5 weeks, and now since I’ve had surgery a few days ago (I’ve gone to mass once since then), I’ve had to use kneelers. At my parish everyone has kneelers except for the first row. We use chairs that have individual kneelers in them, and don’t have a kneeling rail for the first row. My knees have been acting up long before I attended my first Catholic mass, so I have always been greatful for kneelers.

I have really missed kneeling, much more than I though I would. And as far as people who appear able to kneel but don’t anyways, sometimes apperances can be deceiving. In all other ways, I look like a healthy 20 something, and there are times that I cannot kneel for a long period of time. I have been shot at the very least curious looks from people when I haven’t knelt during mass. I tried to kneel before mass and it took almost all of my strength to get myself back to a seated position without screaming. Sometimes there is a physical disability there, but I do recognize that there are some who don’t kneel for any really good reason. Nothing is certain 100% of the time, except for God.

God Bless!
Ericka
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My left one went under the knife years ago.

Explain to the people that you’ve got knee issues. If they still have a problem it’s their problem, not yours.
 
The parish I used to belong to in NOVA would get so packed people would be standing in the back and not have kneeler access. I use to kneel on the floor anyways. It was good practise for when I went to the Holy Land and most if not all Churches, et. al. lacked kneelers and we knelt on rock. ;^)
George_C said:
My left one went under the knife years ago.
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To each their own. I’ve had arthretis in both knees since I was 15 and my right one went under the knife just after high school. I just look at it as redemptive suffering. ;^) (Caveat: Yeah, I know knee pain varies from person to person and day to day. Not judging folks. :^)
 
Joe_Kelley said:
When Cardinal George took over the archdiocese of Chicago he visited the seminary and noted that they had no kneelers in the chapel. He instructed whoever was in charge that the attendees were to kneel at the proper parts of the mass.

He was given a song and dance about how it was too expensive to install kneelers. He replied, " I didn’t say anything about kneelers. I said that the congregation is to kneel."

Shortly thereafter they found the funds to install kneelers. 😃
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God bless the good Cardinal!!! 👍

~Liza
 
The two churches that I have attended in our area on a regular basis do not have kneelers. One has pews, the other has chairs. Some people still kneel at the one with pews…no one kneels at the other. These are both pretty new churches (built within 10 years). I do wish that the had kneelers though.

Another church on our area has them, and about 60% of the people kneel, the rest do not.

Steve
 
Many Byzantine parishes lack kneelers. Mostly because kneeling is not a traditional part of the Byzantine Rite to kneel during the liturgy.
 
There is only one Latin Rite parish in my area that I know of without kneelers. When I’ve attended Mass there everyone stood the whole time and bowed when the Priest genuflected before the Eucharist at the consecration. I stood and bowed with everyone else as I felt unsure about what I should do.

There were a few people here and there that were kneeling on the floor. I think only 3 or 4 though.

Does the GIRM require kneeling even if there are no kneelers?

I know that some people for health reasons cannot (elderly and sometimes pregnant women or women holding babies).

I always feel much more comfortable in a parish that has kneelers though. It’s one of the things that I loved about going to Mass when I first started going. I like being able to kneel and pray near my seat at the kneelers before and after Mass and of course be able to kneel during the consecration.

~Josh
 
Josh,

Kneeling is required during consecrations. Kneelers are not. So, with kneelers or without them, we are to kneel. It is about God, not our comfort.

Please kneel, always.
 
FK04US said:
Josh,

Kneeling is required during consecrations. Kneelers are not. So, with kneelers or without them, we are to kneel. It is about God, not our comfort.

Please kneel, always.
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This reminds me of a statement that the former Prefect for the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Francis Cardinal Arinze, said about the issue of kneeling:
Is that the same thing with the consecration? Can they kneel during the consecration?
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A bit different there. The rule from Rome would sanction where the bishops said, “in our country we want people to kneel throughout the consecration”. From our office in Rome we will support that. So it is a bit different. But sometimes during the consecration – suppose it is open-air or it rained and it is muddy – you could not kneel there. But in the normal church it is possible to kneel.
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And that’s the normal thing: to kneel during the consecration – and even, as in this country, to kneel from the beginning – just before consecration – right down to just before the Our Father. And that is okay.
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Where a particular person cannot kneel – you have arthritis or you are a mother holding a baby – that is understood.
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Even though there are parishes that do not have kneelers, that does not stop me from kneeling.
 
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