Holding hands during the Our Father.

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I know it is not required. A lot of the altar servers do it and it is getting on my nerves. I hate holding hands. How do I tell them to stop.
 
Tell them that the servers should have their hands placed together in the typical praying manner when they are not in use and they are standing. 🙂
 
MJford said:
I know it is not required. A lot of the altar servers do it and it is getting on my nerves. I hate holding hands. How do I tell them to stop.
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You don’t. That is not your job. You bring it up to the Pastor, who has the authority to stop it or let it proceed. I don’t like hand-holding either, but if the servers were doing it in my parish, I would not address the servers, because I am not in charge of them. And most Pastors don’t look too kindly on people who try to take matters into their own hands, bypassing him.
 
I cant vote cuz im a trial member. But I do not hold hands with anyone but myself

Joshua:cool:
 
MJford said:
I know it is not required. A lot of the altar servers do it and it is getting on my nerves. I hate holding hands. How do I tell them to stop.
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The plain truth is: The church has said not to add or remove things to the liturgy. That means people, especially the servers should not be doing things like this.
 
I am a pretty traditional Catholic, but I like holding hands. Kinda of shows the Lord that we love one another.
 
It’s not required, but it’s not liturgically incorrect either. I would recommend trying to understand why they do it so that you don’t just see it as ‘holding hands’. Failing that, try ignore what they are doing. I know it’s not easy, but it’s good to practice focus and self-control, especially during mass.

BTW here are some reasons as to why they may be doing it:
  • St Dominic talked of how what we do with our bodies can help lead our spirits to God
  • It may help them remember that we are the Body of Christ, and during mass we pray to Him as one body.
  • They may have simply seen someone doing it and think that it looks ‘holy’ so feel like they should do it
There’s nothing wrong with it, but I understand how it can be distracting.
 
Luigi_Daniele said:
I am a pretty traditional Catholic, but I like holding hands. Kinda of shows the Lord that we love one another.
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Not really. God doesn’t need hand holding to see if we love each other.

All it shows is that the people doing it like holding other peoples hands, mainly because it makes them feel good about themselves.
 
We don`t hold hands during the Our Father. BUT we do, do the Sign of Peace. Quick hand shake after. Doesn’t bother me much. My daughter is very fond of it and I fear shakes the arms of the older members of the congregation quite vagarious! :o
 
I try not to hold hands, usually if you just fold your hands and bow your head, no one really bugs you. I object more to the preistly postures and hand movements.
 
I voted “Sometimes…” only because if someone grabs my hand I won’t rudely pull it away. 😛 But I REALLY prefer not to hold hands. Our parish now currently uses the Orans posture during the Lord’s prayer, but I don’t do that either - I guess I’m an old fuddy-duddy - even though I’m not that old. 😃 I prefer simply folding my hands reverently in prayer which our pastor said we should do if we’re not doing the Orans posture. My husband and I sometimes jokingly call it the “Holy Hold Up” because most of the people hold their hands up as if they’re being robbed at gunpoint. 😃 - Not that we think it diminishes their prayerfulness or reverence - it’s just one of those things that strikes us as funny.)
 
I did it in college at the campus masses because I was next to some young Catholic women my age 😉
but now that I’m out of college it’s usually the gray haired crowd in my parish 😛

Yeah a bit bad, haha, sorry. Truthfully, I just like keeping my hands to myself.

Peace,
Phil
 
As a catholic of only five years I have come to really like holding hands, not because of some of the reasons given here but because I feel that it causes us to know the reality of the oneness of the Body of Christ. I feel that I am so very much in union with the rest of Christ Church every where.
 
slalyew said:
It’s not required, but it’s not liturgically incorrect either.

There’s nothing wrong with it, but I understand how it can be distracting.
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It’s not required and it IS liturgically incorrect (see post #5). That’s why the priest is not allowed to tell the congregation to hold hands.

As for the poll, I couldn’t vote.

I usually do not hold hands. A few time someone attempted to grab my hand out of praying position and I didn’t wrestle them back. But I have made sure never to sit near those people again.

I do hold hands when there is someone next to me who is a visitor to the parish and reaching out to hold mine. We are a very small parish and visitors are readily indentifiable. I never want my actions to seem inhospitable to a visitor. The “regulars” know that my family doesn’t hold hands. It’s not usually an issue.
 
slalyew said:
St Dominic talked of how what we do with our bodies can help lead our spirits to God.
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But I highly doubt that St. Dominic would think that being disobedient with our bodies would lead our spirits to God.

The church has asked us not do this, and that is the final say.
 
I always held the view that if I would mimic anyone in the liturgy, it should be the servers, because they are traditionally the representatives of the faithful. That point is arguable. However, as a server, I would respectfully refuse to hold hands, unless it was absolutely mandated by the pastor.

And now, for a word about unity. The liturgy is meticulously designed, indeed it is handed down to us by the Holy Spirit as a foretaste of Heaven itself. There is a time and a place for everything (Ecclesiastes 3.) The Church, in her wisdom, has given us the Sign of Peace as a symbol of fellowship with each other. It was not always offered to the faithful, but it is present, even in embryonic form, in the liturgy of the Hebrews which predates Christianity and is the model for Christian worship. It is present in the Eastern Rites as well. Here is the correct time and place to share a sober moment of fellowship.

However, this is not the only sign of love or unity in the liturgy. Oh, no. The most important sign of love is front and center for us: the crucifix. It reminds us of the love Jesus Christ showed by offering Himself as a sacrifice for our sins. It reminds us of the love God has for this world (John 3:16.) It is a perfect model for the love we should have for each other. And, we are constantly reminded of love of neighbor in the Scripture readings present in every Mass. (Matthew 7:12.) As for unity, the foremost sign is the Eucharist. When we receive Holy Communion, we unite ourselves to God, to the Church, to the saints in heaven, and to one another in love and faith. The Eucharist, the “source and summit of Christian life” (Lumen Gentium 11) is both an outward sign and an inward bond of unity to all who hold the Catholic faith.

Now doesn’t it seem a little pale to try to add our own thing to these beautiful wonders?
 
BigDave31 said:
As a catholic of only five years I have come to really like holding hands, not because of some of the reasons given here but because I feel that it causes us to know the reality of the oneness of the Body of Christ. I feel that I am so very much in union with the rest of Christ Church every where.
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The problem with this logic is that the Mass is not about “feeling one with the Body of Christ”( although that may be a powerful “side effect”).

The Mass is the supreme worship of God, and that should be our primary focus, not our feelings. Subsequently, since the Mass is not about our feelings, we should not be adding things of our own accord.
 
BigDave31 said:
As a catholic of only five years I have come to really like holding hands, not because of some of the reasons given here but because I feel that it causes us to know the reality of the oneness of the Body of Christ. I feel that I am so very much in union with the rest of Christ Church every where.
Click to expand...
The problem with this logic is that the Mass is not about “feeling one with the Body of Christ”( although that may be a powerful “side effect”).

The Mass is the supreme worship of God, and that should be our primary focus, not our feelings. Subsequently, since the Mass is not about our feelings, we should not be adding things of our own accord.

I’ve heard this and similar arguments before, but it simply dosen’t hold water when you read things like this:

•Sacrosanctum Concilium art. 22.3 (1963)
o Therefore no other person, even if he be a priest [But note this doesn’t **only apply to priests, but to everyone, especially priests.], may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.
 
Although I hate holding hands during the Our Father, if somone grabs my hand, then I just suck it up and hold on. I’m not going to refuse and look like a jerk. Sometimes some of the altar servers like to do it, and I kind of get an “Oh, I hate this” kind of feeling. It might be noticeable on my face too. :rolleyes:
 
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