Had an embarrassing moment at mass. Need help

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What I find difficult is when a person who clearly has a respiratory infection is sitting behind me, coughing and sneezing all through the service. It’s hard to concentrate on prayer when I’m trying to figure out whether they will be offended if I move, or how to avoid shaking hands at the sign of peace, and how to not breathe if moving is impossible.
I generally don’t hold hands during the Our Father, although most people at my church do. I fold my hands and close my eyes. If a person occasionally takes my hand, I go along with it.
All family here. We’ll have eternity to laugh about it.
 
I don’t know who Father Z is, but I’m given pause by the suggestion that part of the Mass is Protestant. I will continue to pray as I have been taught by priests I have actually met and have authority in my life.
 
What you said! This is some well-meaning, touchy-feely good time plastic banana schlock from the 1970s that was never authorized, and due to what might be viewed as tacit approval (or weakness) by the hierarchy, was notcorrected when it first appeared. No ruling has ever been handed down. It took over some parishes like a virus.

Speaking of viruses, as a seriously immune compromised fellow, I wear mask and gloves to Mass. I might as well have radioactive stickers on me. Still, I hold my hands in the classic prayer position, as what we are doing is (get ready for this) prayer!
 
At the risk of being scolded for going too far afield… What about when right after the consecration, the priest kind of kneels (or genuflects?) and puts his head down. Are the faithful supposed to put their head down, too? Does it matter either way? I heard we were not supposed to mimic the priest but lots of people do this right after the consecration.
 
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@I_trust

Cliff Notes version, please.
 
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Well that’s a very ranty blog post. Thanks for sharing and now I know that Father Z is a ranty blogger. Still going to go with being taught by holy priests I actually know over that.
 
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Too much information 😵
 
Is it really the norm? I haven’t seen it in ages… and thank God for that as far as I’m concerned.
 
Perhaps a response from the senior apologist at Catholic Answers would be in order…Jimmy Atkin…

http://jimmyakin.com/2006/04/hand_holding_ru.html

A snip…
The part in blue is what governs the posture during the Lord’s Prayer. Since this occurs after the Orate, Fratres (“Pray, Bretheren”) it is in the part of Mass where standing is the default posture. There is no exception carved out for it in what follows, so standing is what is supposed to be happening for the Lord’s Prayer.

Standing means standing without doing anything fancy with your arms. It is distinct, for example, from the orans posture, which the priest uses when he stands and prays with arms outstretched. It is also distinct from the hand-holding posture.

The latter is not expressly forbidden in liturgical law because it is one of those “Please don’t eat the daisies” situations. The legislator (the pope) did not envision that anybody would try to alter the standing posture in this way. As a result, the practice is not expressly forbidden, the same way that standing on one foot and hopping up and down as an effort to get closer to God in heaven is not expressly forbidden…

Here’s the basic rule:

Can. 846 §1. In celebrating the sacraments the liturgical books approved by competent authority are to be observed faithfully; accordingly, no one is to add, omit, or alter anything in them on one’s own authority.

Changing from standing to hand holding during the Lord’s Prayer would be an alteration or addition of something provided for in the liturgical books and thus would be at variance with the law.
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It is not a norm officially established in any way by the Catholic Church.

Perhaps hand holding is the “norm” in certain parishes in that most people in that parish do it. But individual parishes can not establish and official norm for the Church as a whole. A more accurate description would be that it is an innovation.
 
It would be interesting, certainly more so than anon bloggers. But it would still be simply a springboard to a conversation with many priests of my acquaintance who have taught me the practice of praying the Our Father palms up.
 
There are bigger fish to fry. I don’t think God cares either way. Conformity is nice, though. At least, sometimes.
 
Perhaps the words of a Bishop would carry more weight…
c. 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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Again, you’ll forgive my reluctance to go against what I have been explicitly taught. I am expecting a Vatican document from you next, but I’m afraid this former Protestant has had enough of going this way and that based on internet links. I shall talk to my priest.
 
JoyToTheWhirled said:
anon
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Fr John T. Zuhlsdorf (Fr Z) is not some anonymous blogger.

He is a holy and faithful priest.

He has appeared on EWTN, and other TV networks, and currently writes a column for or the British Catholic weekly The Catholic Herald.

His Blog has been listed by the British magazine New Statesman, and other metric sites, as one of the top ten Christian blogs in the world.

Since 2006 his blog has had more than 83 million visits.

Here is an interview of him on EWTN…

 
How nice. And I am supposed to know that someone referred to as Father Z is a international priestly superstar by guessing, am I? Good for him having such a ministry. I reserve the right to be cautious before going against the explicit say so of my priests on the basis of internet advice.
 
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