First Communion posture for receiving Communion

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After the indult was granted to allow Communion to be received in the hand, our children making their First Communion were taught how to receive in the hand. However, they were also informed that receiving Communion on the tongue “was still allowed”. In the past twenty or so years we have had good pastors that have corrected that misinformation and have made it clear that the reception of Communion on the tongue was the preferred way to receive, but that Communion in the hand was allowed. Still the First Communicants were given the choice and usually the manner in which the First Communicants received was influenced by the parents. This is the first year, to my knowledge, that the First Communicants were not given a choice. On the day of their First Holy Communion, they received Communion kneeling and on the tongue. Fr. Lappe explains why click here(his explanation is about 19 minutes into the audio)

Question: Have any of you noticed a similar change in your own parish regarding the posture for First Communicants since this is the posture required of those who want to receive Communion from our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI?
 
No, our parish has not changed. The DRE, RCIA director, and Pastor all teach how to receive on the tongue. The DRE tells parents that if they want their child to receive in their hands, they need to teach that at home. She does provide instructions so they do it reverently. The vast majority of the children receive on the tongue at First Holy Communion and every Mass. We do not have altar rails of a good place to kneel, so very few receive kneeling.

On a usual Sunday, most people receive on the tongue. The priests have commented on the general reverence no matter how people receive. It is possible to instill that without kneeling or requiring communion on the tongue.
 
I think the children in our parish for First Communion were taught both ways and allowed to choose (or have their parents choose for them). I would say about half the people in my parish receive on the tongue - including a lot of the younger people. I came into the Church at the Vigil this year and we were were taught both ways. I’ve always received on the tongue so far and plan to continue to do so.

All of our altar servers always receive on the tongue while serving - they have to, because they hold the communion patens for themselves. Nobody kneels to receive in my parish, but people are generally very reverent.
 
In RCIA we were told we could receive either way, and I don’t believe either method was pointed out as being preferable to the other. I have lots of Catholic friends and I already knew that they used to receive on the tongue exclusively “way back in the day” (am I really that old??).

Call me a traditionalist, but since that’s what I grew up with (or at least in the form of my friends’ experiences), that’s what I opted to do. Most everyone else receives in the hand.

No one kneels, that I’ve seen so far. I had knee surgery last month for arthritis, and it’s all I can do to manage an awkward, off-balance half-squat when I genuflect before entering the pew–and that’s with having the end of the pew to hold on to for balance. If I were to kneel while receiving, with no railing or pews…it would take me 15 minutes to get back up again. IF I could get back up again…😉

But I do like the idea. If I were physically able to do it, I’d probably say something to the priest in advance just so he’d know to expect it (he’d probably wonder where I got the idea, since it wasn’t taught in RCIA).

Miz
 
A prie-dieu kneeler was in place for the First Communicants. Everyone almost everyone else stands to receive Communion. Perhaps sometime in the future the prie-dieu will be available for other parishioners as well.
 
When I prepared children for First Holy Communion, we had them practice receiving both ways. It is typical that a child won’t hold his or her hand open properly for CITH and won’t open his or her mouth wide enough for COTT.

We also told them that a) COTT is a right everywhere, if that is their preference, b) COTT is the only option in some places, including when receiving from our Holy Father, although CITH is the most common where we happen to live and c) it should not concern them if they run into a EMHC or even a priest who does a bit of a double-take when they present themselves for COTT, because it is not the most common way that the other parishioners in the parish receive in our parish and the ones near us. We tell them just to be patient and wait a few seconds if that happens, and not to worry about it at all.

We told them, though, that they needed to know both, so they could choose what fit a situation best without worrying about not knowing what they were doing. That way, if someone were to insist they do it one way or another, they could choose to comply peaceably and have the conversation about what that was all about later. If there was ever a problem, I told them that the idea is to choose what seemed the most charitable under the circumstances. We have our rights, but we don’t go wrong by being obedient to a priest or whoever he’s chosen as a EMHC until you’ve had a chance to talk to the priest outside of Mass.

I also told the children that not every grown-up knows what I’m telling them. I think kids deserve to know the whole story, though, and I think they’re more confident when they do.
 
zab said:
After the indult was granted to allow Communion to be received in the hand, our children making their First Communion were taught how to receive in the hand. However, they were also informed that receiving Communion on the tongue “was still allowed”. In the past twenty or so years we have had good pastors that have corrected that misinformation and have made it clear that the reception of Communion on the tongue was the preferred way to receive, but that Communion in the hand was allowed. Still the First Communicants were given the choice and usually the manner in which the First Communicants received was influenced by the parents. This is the first year, to my knowledge, that the First Communicants were not given a choice. On the day of their First Holy Communion, they received Communion kneeling and on the tongue. Fr. Lappe explains why click here (his explanation is about 19 minutes into the audio)

Question: Have any of you noticed a similar change in your own parish regarding the posture for First Communicants since this is the posture required of those who want to receive Communion from our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI?
Click to expand...
Wow, that’s wonderful!!

Nothing had changed in my parish. They even look at you weird when you receive on the tongue, standing! So I asked the priest if he minds me kneeling, he said ok, and we sit where he distributes the Eucharist now 🙂
 
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