Covington Bishop clarfies praying posture during mass

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Here is the bishop’s statement, which seems to have been occasioned by the new translation of the Mass.

home.catholicweb.com/covingtondiocese/files/decree.pdf

The section to which the OP refers is 4c
Bishop Roger Joseph Foys:
Special note should also be made concerning the gesture for the Our Father.

Only the priest is given the instruction to “extend” his hands. Neither the deacon nor the
lay faithful are instructed to do this. No gesture is prescribed for the lay faithful in
the Roman Missal; nor the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, therefore the
extending or holding of hands by the faithful should not be performed.
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My parish priest has explained this in Daily Mass, but never on Sunday…I hope this comes up now, in the begininning stages of using the new liturgy. If people are being open minded about change, this would be the perfect time to ask for cooperation on this hand thing.😃
 
Good, I’m tired of holding hands; it is just a good way to spread disease.
 
gelsbern said:
This was on our local news web

wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_northern_kentucky/covington/covington-bishop%3A-no-holding-hands

It’s a step in the right direction that may even draw me back to the Church. Now they need to do something about altar girls and all the EMHCs.
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I agree. No one but ordained clergy should be allowed to fulfill these tasks. I tired of watching the local postal clerk, insurance agent, or dentist serving as a ministers; or distracted kids wandering around the altar.
 
I’m fairly curious about the ‘Orans Positions’. My priest often mentions that the lay people should adopt the Orans Position before we begin to pray the Our Father. If he does so I will choose to follow that direction out of obedience, but when he makes no special mention I do not choose to do so.

Is this the right thing? Or should I be adopting the Orans Position all of the time at this parish? None of the time?
 
gelsbern said:
This was on our local news web

wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_northern_kentucky/covington/covington-bishop%3A-no-holding-hands

It’s a step in the right direction that may even draw me back to the Church. Now they need to do something about altar girls and all the EMHCs.
Click to expand...
By “holding hands”, is it meant clasping one’s hands together in front of one and bowing one’s head, or actually holding hands with another man? In the first case, it seems ridiculous that the bishop would ban the clasping of one’s own hands together, but I would defer: in the second case, what the Hell were they thinking when they instituted such a thing? and glory be to God for reforming the (unsanitary, and very Protestant-esque) practice.
 
gelsbern said:
This was on our local news web

wcpo.com/dpp/news/region_northern_kentucky/covington/covington-bishop%3A-no-holding-hands

It’s a step in the right direction that may even draw me back to the Church. Now they need to do something about altar girls and all the EMHCs.
Click to expand...
That is nice. time to comply with the Mass instead of doing what one pleases. It is a great thing to bring us back to God instead of concentrating on each other. We know what that has gotten us today.
 
Khalid said:
By “holding hands”, is it meant clasping one’s hands together in front of one and bowing one’s head, or actually holding hands with another man? In the first case, it seems ridiculous that the bishop would ban the clasping of one’s own hands together, but I would defer: in the second case, what the Hell were they thinking when they instituted such a thing? and glory be to God for reforming the (unsanitary, and very Protestant-esque) practice.
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No one instituted it. A wave of hippie parishoners and liberal Priests thought it would be a good idea in the 70s and 80s, and it became commonplace sadly for many in my generation who were raised then. I always hated it, even as a kid, since i knew it was some bogus “innovation” to the Mass. I wasn’t even a fan of holding hands with my wife during the Our Father, and luckily, our priest put the smackdown on the practice 2 weeks ago, so I am not the bad guy any more 🙂
 
He_Man said:
No one instituted it. A wave of hippie parishoners and liberal Priests thought it would be a good idea in the 70s and 80s, and it became commonplace sadly for many in my generation who were raised then. I always hated it, even as a kid, since i knew it was some bogus “innovation” to the Mass. I wasn’t even a fan of holding hands with my wife during the Our Father, and luckily, our priest put the smackdown on the practice 2 weeks ago, so I am not the bad guy any more 🙂
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Yeah, I know the feeling. When I was in Brasil, I was criticzed by my aunt for refusing to hold her hand at Mass. The best thing to do is to stop innovations in teh beginning before it takes roots otherwise they become traditions, a bad tradition and hard to give it up.
 
wisdomseeker said:
Yeah, I know the feeling. When I was in Brasil, I was criticzed by my aunt for refusing to hold her hand at Mass. The best thing to do is to stop innovations in teh beginning before it takes roots otherwise they become traditions, a bad tradition and hard to give it up.
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Yep, and it makes you look like Scrooge.
 
Khalid said:
By “holding hands”, is it meant clasping one’s hands together in front of one and bowing one’s head, or actually holding hands with another man? In the first case, it seems ridiculous that the bishop would ban the clasping of one’s own hands together, but I would defer: in the second case, what the Hell were they thinking when they instituted such a thing? and glory be to God for reforming the (unsanitary, and very Protestant-esque) practice.
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It’s the practice of holding hands with each other and more importantly, the raising of the hands in the part “deliver us Lord from every evil…”. That gesture is reserved for the priest/bishop only.

I’m in his diocese and glad he’s pointing this stuff out. He’s very much stressing the importance of gestures (both priest and congregation) in mass. He also made a point of stressing that we should all bow during the Nicene (and Apostles’) creed when we say “by the power of the Holy Spirit…” (can’t remember if that wording changed or not). That gesture was always supposed to be performed, but he’s using this time to stress the fact.

Personally, I’m happy with these “changes”. Anything to make the Mass more reverent is good.
 
I’ve heard priests all around the country encourage the lay to stop extending their hands in what is a priestly gesture. Progress has been slow.

Hearing it from a bishop is a good thing.
 
ExLibris said:
I’ve heard priests all around the country encourage the lay to stop extending their hands in what is a priestly gesture. Progress has been slow.

Hearing it from a bishop is a good thing.
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Baby steps… 🙂
 
:extrahappy: Well, good for him.I grew up in the Church back in the 60s and 70s,and we never did it, not even at a folk mass,nor that lifting up of hands.To me,that’s protestant,something evangelicals do,more so than any Lutheran or Episcopal or Methodist would do. It to me was a distraction,i don’t know, just never have gone for that.
 
HollyDolly said:
:extrahappy: Well, good for him.I grew up in the Church back in the 60s and 70s,and we never did it, not even at a folk mass,nor that lifting up of hands.To me,that’s protestant,something evangelicals do,more so than any Lutheran or Episcopal or Methodist would do. It to me was a distraction,i don’t know, just never have gone for that.
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I’ll back you up on this - we never held hands or adopted the positions of the priest in the sixties, seventies and eighties. This began where I am from some time in the nineties.
 
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