Correct Behavior

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benjamindt

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I know we all have problems and I notice it but do not dwell on it during mass, it doesn’t affect my ability to participate in the liturgy, but can we please, please teach our parishes correct behavior during the liturgy: i.e. stop holding hands during the Our Father, quit holding your hands up during the offering of peace, saving personal conversation for after mass, etc.

I don’t think it’s that hard of a thing to maybe throw in the bulletins or have the priest make a quick mention, heck, i’d pay for a big sign to put on a bulletin board.

I know some will tell me to stop worrying about it, but when do you start worrying about it?
 
I start worrying about other people’s behavior when it begins to affect me. None of the things you mentioned apply except maybe the last one if the person is trying to talk to me. If someone tries to talk to me about something during Mass, I smile at them and gesture toward the altar in order to indicate that while I don’t want to be mean, I’m trying to concentrate on the Mass. The other issues you mention are totally not my business and don’t effect me in any way whatsoever.
 
benjamindt said:
I know we all have problems and I notice it but do not dwell on it during mass, it doesn’t affect my ability to participate in the liturgy, but can we please, please teach our parishes correct behavior during the liturgy: i.e. stop holding hands during the Our Father, quit holding your hands up during the offering of peace, saving personal conversation for after mass, etc.

I don’t think it’s that hard of a thing to maybe throw in the bulletins or have the priest make a quick mention, heck, i’d pay for a big sign to put on a bulletin board.

I know some will tell me to stop worrying about it, but when do you start worrying about it?
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Well good luck with that.
You assume that all parishes believe these things to be wrong, specifically the hand holding. Most see it as a harmless local custom. Believe me, I’ve inquired.
Unless you get a priest that’s willing to die on that hill…no dice.
We had once pastor try to make corrections and he was hounded until he had a nervous breakdown. 😦

Forget it. God doesn’t hold you responsible for what other people do.
Focus on the Readings and the Eucharist.
You’ll be much happier.
:twocents:
 
Holding hands during the Our Father is the ONLY WAY THIS MOM OF TEENAGE BOYS GETS TO HOLD THEIR HANDS.

Seriously, I’m going to keep doing it as long as I can.

Now, if it’s just me in church, no hand holding, but the kids and me? You bet I’m holding their hands.
 
The physical body is the place where soul manifests the self-understanding, moving the thoughts in the brain to match the intellect, moving the mouth to fulfill the will’s desire to manifest faith in an act (thus, the “Act of Faith” of speaking / declaring the Creed), and in many people, the movement of arms in gestures indicating joy, reverence, charity, etc.
The body is the servant of the soul, moving at the bidding of the soul to the position of how the soul knows itself in relation to God. All of our “doing” is through our bodies, doing obedience and reverence through bowing, genuflecting, kneeling; and doing the lifting up of our hearts to the Lord, as is right and just, with the motion of our hands and arms.

I never knew such necessary movement pouring out and overflowing until I became Catholic. Joy, thankfulness, gladness, delight, awe. And also on the other end, the sorrow for sin.

It seems contrary to reality not to move.
 
I don’t like improper behavior at Mass either. I never understood why all these weird hand gestures had been added to the Mass to make it seem so Protestant. I think they should be discarded since they lack meaning and detract from the reverence at Mass. I’m sure that a parish priest could slowly change the way that people act at Mass.
 
pianistclare said:
Well good luck with that.
You assume that all parishes believe these things to be wrong, specifically the hand holding. Most see it as a harmless local custom. Believe me, I’ve inquired.
Unless you get a priest that’s willing to die on that hill…no dice.
We had once pastor try to make corrections and he was hounded until he had a nervous breakdown. 😦

Forget it. God doesn’t hold you responsible for what other people do.
Focus on the Readings and the Eucharist.
You’ll be much happier.
:twocents:
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Nothing in the rubrics say “and then the congregation raise their hands.”
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
I don’t like improper behavior at Mass either. I never understood why all these weird hand gestures had been added to the Mass to make it seem so Protestant. I think they should be discarded since they lack meaning and detract from the reverence at Mass. I’m sure that a parish priest could slowly change the way that people act at Mass.
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I am not saying that some Masses do not feel Protestant; however, people deciding or continuing to do actions which the rubrics don’t call for are not “added.” I desire a large scale liturgical reform in the Latin Rite… May it happen very soon–please God.
 
Nothing in the rubrics prescribe a posture at all. It is not incorrect behavior to hold hands or raise them. It is only someone’s opinion otherwise. The Bishops of the USCCB discussed this. Here is what they have to say:

usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/liturgy-of-the-eucharist/posture-during-the-eucharistic-prayer-and-our-father.cfm

You cannot extract from that that you cannot do it, but my Bishop says that it means one is free to do as they wish. They chose deliberately not to prescribe a posture and the Vatican has not commented on it. And my Bishop was at that particular meeting, and explained all this recently on his weekly radio broadcast.

Now I as a layman do not argue with my Bishop. I let the Bishops argue among themselves. If we are going to call something incorrect, we must be sure that it is before we try to change it or complain about it. And I speak as one who does not care for the handholding. I also do not think it is a big deal, or the Vatican would have spoken by now.

This is not something that you should be worrying about.
 
Confiteor_Deo said:
I don’t like improper behavior at Mass either. I never understood why all these weird hand gestures had been added to the Mass to make it seem so Protestant. I think they should be discarded since they lack meaning and detract from the reverence at Mass. I’m sure that a parish priest could slowly change the way that people act at Mass.
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What “weird hand gestures” are you referring to, and who do you think added them?
 
Tarpeian_Rock said:
What “weird hand gestures” are you referring to, and who do you think added them?
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I was speaking of the raising of hands during the “and with thy spirit”, the raising of the hands during that part that is added to the Pater Noster (I forgot what it is, I haven’t been to the Novus Ordo for a while :o), and when the people raise their hand toward catechumens or children going to Sunday school. There might be more that I have forgotten.

In one parish, these were so common that I thought it was simply the way Mass was done, then in another nearly no one did them at all. From this, I assume that the faithful added these gestures, but I do not know if that is the case.
 
benjamindt said:
I know we all have problems and I notice it but do not dwell on it during mass, it doesn’t affect my ability to participate in the liturgy, but can we please, please teach our parishes correct behavior during the liturgy: i.e. stop holding hands during the Our Father, quit holding your hands up during the offering of peace, saving personal conversation for after mass, etc.

I don’t think it’s that hard of a thing to maybe throw in the bulletins or have the priest make a quick mention, heck, i’d pay for a big sign to put on a bulletin board.

I know some will tell me to stop worrying about it, but when do you start worrying about it?
Click to expand...
At our parish we have the issue of applause after Mass. The priest mentioned once that it is inappropriate, and people got mad at him and said that he was ungrateful, and then continued to do it anyway, and he said, “I’m not going to argue with people about something like this, when there are so many more important things to worry about.”

The one that is starting to bother me, because I try to train my RCIA people and my Youth Group members correctly, is when people lick the Host off their hand, instead of receiving correctly.

I want to say to people, “Either receive on the tongue, if you don’t want to touch the Host with your fingers, or else pick it up properly and put it in your mouth like a normal human being.” When it comes to other adults, I don’t say anything because it’s none of my business, but when the Youth do it or when members of the RCIA (when it comes time for First Holy Communion) ask about it, I always mention to them that this is incorrect, and when they object (for some reason some people consider this more reverent, which I don’t understand at all), I remind them that the Church gets to decide what is reverent; not them, and the Church offers us two possibilities, *neither *of which involve licking the Host off your hand.
 
Now, if it’s just me in church, no hand holding, but the kids and me? You bet I’m holding their hands.
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I’m the same way. If I go to Church with my Mom, we hold hands during the Our Father but if I go alone I do not hold anyone’s hand.
 
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