Do you stand after communion?

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lynnareyno said:
Dear Catholic79
Your post prompted me to stop lurking, register and post a reply.
I live in the Archdiocese of Detroit and spend a lot of time 'Up North". I had the same question about standing before and during communion until everyone has received. I emailed the worship Office of the Archdiocese of Gaylord and here is the explanation I received:
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Welcome!!!

Thanks for saving me an e-mail to the Diocese of Gaylord.

Mary
 
I’m not sure how long this standing has been in place…but I have been attending mass in Traverse City for over 50 years and this summer was the first time I noticed it. My 88 year old mother lives there in the summer months. She questioned me about it. She wondered if there was a “good” reason for it because the standing was hard on her legs and back. My answer at the time to her was" You’re 88 years old…sit or kneel if you want to!" This is why I wrote to the archdiocese.
I’m not happy with the situation, I want to kneel to prepare for receiving communion and afterward in thanksgiving.
Also in the email answer it was stated that "there is such a short time between the Agnus Dei and coming forward for Communion…well that’s only if you are in the front rows. Besides it is always a long time when you have to wait for the entire congregation to receive. But I do understand being of uniform posture.
 
Kneeling after Communion is the norm. There is no real precedent to the innovation of all standing after reception of Holy Communion. It also places an overemphasis on the"community" when that moment should be much more about an intimate personal interaction with Christ. It’s problematic.

If it were me I would explain to the pastor that this is unprecedented liturgical innovation that is supported only by very weak theology. I’d ask him if this is being done in St. Peter’s Basilica. If not, why not?

If he persisted in pushing this unnatural liturgical innovation, I’d find a new parish where they say the Mass according to the way that it is written.
 
lynnareyno said:
I’m not sure how long this standing has been in place…but I have been attending mass in Traverse City for over 50 years and this summer was the first time I noticed it. My 88 year old mother lives there in the summer months. She questioned me about it. She wondered if there was a “good” reason for it because the standing was hard on her legs and back. My answer at the time to her was" You’re 88 years old…sit or kneel if you want to!" This is why I wrote to the archdiocese.
I’m not happy with the situation, I want to kneel to prepare for receiving communion and afterward in thanksgiving.
Also in the email answer it was stated that "there is such a short time between the Agnus Dei and coming forward for Communion…well that’s only if you are in the front rows. Besides it is always a long time when you have to wait for the entire congregation to receive. But I do understand being of uniform posture.
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And we are in uniform posture when we receive…we are standing. Uniform posture does not mean that everyone must be standing at all times, just when actually receiving. If they really think that everyone standing the whole time constitutes uniform posture then we should go all the way…everyone should open their mouths or extend their hands everytime someone receives, that way we would all be uniform at all times!
 
catholic79 said:
My dh and I just moved to a new diocese and were the entire congregation stands after the reception of communion. I am not comfortable with this, as I have always knelt after communion and standing seams disrespectful to me, I have been knelling but we just registered and I am not sure I should continue going against the bishops wishes as I am member of the diocese now, although from everything I can find on-line he really can’t demand that we all stand. What is practice in your parish?
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I am familiar with your area…it will be a long hard road but hang in there.
 
lynnareyno said:
I’m not sure how long this standing has been in place…but I have been attending mass in Traverse City for over 50 years and this summer was the first time I noticed it. My 88 year old mother lives there in the summer months. She questioned me about it. She wondered if there was a “good” reason for it because the standing was hard on her legs and back. My answer at the time to her was" You’re 88 years old…sit or kneel if you want to!" This is why I wrote to the archdiocese.
I’m not happy with the situation, I want to kneel to prepare for receiving communion and afterward in thanksgiving.
Also in the email answer it was stated that "there is such a short time between the Agnus Dei and coming forward for Communion…well that’s only if you are in the front rows. Besides it is always a long time when you have to wait for the entire congregation to receive. But I do understand being of uniform posture.
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I don’t think this is the norm for the state, I think it is only in diocese of Gaylord. I am thinking that I will stand between the Agnus and communion out of respect for the bishop but I will kneel after receiving, the reason we go to mass is to give thanks to God in holy communion right? I have always knelt immediately upon returning to my pew and because we are not given a chance to kneel or sit in my parish long enough to pray after all have recieved I will kneel upon returning.

Thanks to everyone who posted!!

Happy last 2 weeks of Advent!

Mary
 
I don’t remember where I heard this… but I believe it is some dioceses in Africa that regularly STAND after communion.
I believe I heard/read they kneel and pray silently before communion, in anticipation of receiving our Lord… but after communion, after we have received Him, they STAND and REJOICE…

I think the GIRM leaves this open for these other customs… you “MAY” kneel… not “SHOULD” or “MUST”…

Maybe someone else can verify where I heard/read this…🤷
 
Sure said:
Kneeling after Communion is the norm. There is no real precedent to the innovation of all standing after reception of Holy Communion.
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I guess the practices of the Church in the first few hundred years (at least) don’t constitute “real precedent”?
 
CuriousInIL said:
I guess the practices of the Church in the first few hundred years (at least) don’t constitute “real precedent”?
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I stand singing at Communion until the last person has received. Then I sit and pray in that period of silence between the time the priest sits down and the Prayer after Communion. That is what was in the 1975 GIRM so it’s not a new innovation. Anyway, those in our parish who wish to kneel are free to do so, nobody tells them they can’t.
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
I do whatever the parish does. In some places they stand, in some places they kneel, and that’s what I do. I figure I may have my preference, but the Mass isn’t about ME, so as a sign of humility I follow along.
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And that is Ok. But you don’t have to do what the rest do, it is your choice.
 
We kneel at our parish, but if I’m at a different parish I always knell, even if everyone is standing or sitting…the way I look at it is this:
If we really knew that Jesus was present at the alter during communion…would we ever get off our knees?:gopray2:
 
in our diocese most of the churches have ripped out their kneelers. our bishop calls for “modern uniformity” of standing after communion and participating in song. many priests even mention right before communion to “please join the congregation in showing uniformity and standing following communion”. i was taught for years by the nuns that you ALWAYS kneel in reverance and thanksgiving after communion and so irregardless of “modern uniformity” i continue to kneel even if it’s on the floor. twk
 
I am from upstate New York, and we kneel after receiving communion. To kneel before the One greater than ourselves is a sign, while in the presence of His Body and Blood, of deep respect and humility. Some of us remain kneeling until the Eucharist has been placed back into the tabernacle. Others return to a sitting position after a prayer of thanksgiving.

Jesus through Mary - Pray the rosary
 
WE all kneel…except for me…I am the organist so I have to play the communion hymn.
 
CuriousInIL said:
I guess the practices of the Church in the first few hundred years (at least) don’t constitute “real precedent”?
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No, not really. If we use that logic, we could claim that Mass should be held underground because that was the early tradition. For the last 1500 years or so the western Church has had a tradition of kneeling after receiving Our Lord. We shouldn’t just cast that aside because we discover that early christians did something differently. The goal in Mass is not an historical re-enactment of the Last Supper.
 
twk001 said:
in our diocese most of the churches have ripped out their kneelers. our bishop calls for “modern uniformity” of standing after communion and participating in song. many priests even mention right before communion to “please join the congregation in showing uniformity and standing following communion”. i was taught for years by the nuns that you ALWAYS kneel in reverance and thanksgiving after communion and so irregardless of “modern uniformity” i continue to kneel even if it’s on the floor. twk
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I’d be curious to know what this is supposed to mean. Or is it just a change so he can make a change. Is it not “uniform” to have everyone kneel???
 
As I normally attend the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, we don’t kneel at all, in keeping with Canon XX of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea.

If I go to a Latin Church I kneel when they kneel and stand when they stand.
 
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