holding hands during the Our Father?

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detroitelektro

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During a Catholic mass, are we really supposed to hold hands during the our Father and then raise them at the end of the prayer? Just curious. I personally don’t do it. Some churches do it and others don’t.
 
In America, they’re really not supposed to do it… it’s just become so commonplace that almost nobody questions it anymore.
 
exoflare said:
In America, they’re really not supposed to do it… it’s just become so commonplace that almost nobody questions it anymore.
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Thanks for the reply. I have found some older threads that deal with the same question.
 
exoflare said:
In America, they’re really not supposed to do it… it’s just become so commonplace that almost nobody questions it anymore.
Click to expand...
Although I have seen parishioners(a few) hold hands I have seen no one raise their hands after the prayer. These actions are not commonplace at my church

ger
 
I remember holding hands as a child growing up. We would do it until the end of “for the kingdom…”

The people in the parish I go to now raise their hands throughout the Our Father until the end of “for the kingdom…” But I keep my hands in a prayer form, to myself.
 
At the Catholic churches I attend people don’t hold hands during the Our Father.
 
Many at my parish do hold hands during the prayer and then raise them at the end. I don’t - I just fold my hands and close my eyes while we pray. It definitely helps me focus more on the prayer. People are usually pretty respectful of that.
 
I’ve been to some churches where they hold out their hands palms up but don’t hold hands.
 
You can tell when we have visitors from other parishes at Mass. They are the only ones holding hands and raising them up.
 
It’s about half and half in my parish. I normally don’t hold hands, but a couple of Sundays ago the woman beside me reached out and grabbed my hand. I didn’t want to be rude and snatch it back, so I held her hand. I concentrated on the prayer and on not being annoyed by this person. When I glanced at her she had a look of joy on her face and I understood she wanted to share that with others.
 
I see a LOT of people doing this at our parish but my family and I do not do this. My father-in-law said it is a Protestant tradition (I used to be Protestant myself and recall them doing this at my church) that focused on communion amongst the congregation since they don’t receive communion with Jesus through the Eucharist. Not sure if that’s true – he’s very opinionated and has a lot of ideas 😛
 
detroitelektro said:
During a Catholic mass, are we really supposed to hold hands during the our Father and then raise them at the end of the prayer? Just curious. I personally don’t do it. Some churches do it and others don’t.
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We only see visitors do it here, although, I’ve visited other parishes where almost everyone does it. When I was in college, I was trying everything in the masses at the Newman Center or at retreats and the NCSC Conferences. I was just trying to see what brought me to better spiritual fulfilment. So, I used to do the hold-handing for about three years, then I realized it wasn’t that. But some people really get into it and get something out of it. I don’t know if it isn’t really allowed, though. I’ve never heard anything against it from the Church. The one I don’t like is when you’re visiting a parish or a parish priest is visiting our Cathedral and the congregation is asked to raise one of their hands over a person or group of persons. From the choir loft and from the sanctuary, it looks eerily Nazi-like. That’s just my personal feeling about it, although, I’ve spoken with some people who felt the same way.
 
His_Ruby said:
I see a LOT of people doing this at our parish but my family and I do not do this. My father-in-law said it is a Protestant tradition (I used to be Protestant myself and recall them doing this at my church) that focused on communion amongst the congregation since they don’t receive communion with Jesus through the Eucharist. Not sure if that’s true – he’s very opinionated and has a lot of ideas 😛
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I’m happy to say I converted to the Catholic Church in 1991. The first 44 years of my life were as a Methodist and in all that time we never held hands during the Our Father so if people claim it is a protestant tradition it certainly was not a Methodist one.
 
KatieD said:
Many at my parish do hold hands during the prayer and then raise them at the end. I don’t - I just fold my hands and close my eyes while we pray. It definitely helps me focus more on the prayer. People are usually pretty respectful of that.
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We have one church here that still holds hands. Rarely we go there because they have the latest evening Mass on Sunday. I’ve had people tap my arm, nudge me, and attempt to grab my hand during the Our Father.

Wasn’t something said not to long ago that holding hand was an abuse and needed to stop?
 
LJN21 said:
Wasn’t something said not to long ago that holding hand was an abuse and needed to stop?
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Aside from the fact that it is neither specified in the GIRM nor is it part of our tradition, the objection I have seen is that it is an invented sign of community which distracts from and dilutes the Church-specified sign of community, the sign of peace. So it is not even a neutral gesture, but a negative one that detracts from the specified rubrics.

BTW, one of the calls of Vatican II was to remove unnecessary repetition from the liturgy. Having two displays of community one after the other may qualify as unnecessary repetition. So one could argue that holding hands goes against Vatican II. :eek:
 
KatieD said:
Many at my parish do hold hands during the prayer and then raise them at the end. I don’t - I just fold my hands and close my eyes while we pray. It definitely helps me focus more on the prayer. People are usually pretty respectful of that.
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🙂 ****

I think that that is interesting considering I was taught to keep my hands folded all the time.

Ger
 
:: The idea thats it is a “protestant " thing is interesting. I thought the the people who held their palms out flat got that from attending charismatic retreats that my diocese holds down at the beach in summer.I thought that raising your hands after TOF was also a “protestant” thing. I fully expect that sooner or later we will be crying out"praise the lord” which you see a lot of on those Sunday church broadcasts.

In my mind our mass should be done with dignity and respect which has been clearly forgotten in our “modern church” Hopefully a return to these traditions will occur soon.

Ger
 
VociMike said:
Aside from the fact that it is neither specified in the GIRM nor is it part of our tradition, the objection I have seen is that it is an invented sign of community which distracts from and dilutes the Church-specified sign of community, the sign of peace. So it is not even a neutral gesture, but a negative one that detracts from the specified rubrics.

BTW, one of the calls of Vatican II was to remove unnecessary repetition from the liturgy. Having two displays of community one after the other may qualify as unnecessary repetition. So one could argue that holding hands goes against Vatican II. :eek:
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I know that. For some reason I was thinking there was a letter published I think by the Pope to the American Bishops that said stop it. I don’t really remimber tho, could be faulty memory.
 
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