Holding hands

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Ruth_Catherine

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I have a question. I don’t mean to start arguments. Mostly I am curious.
I am a revert to the church and I am noticing something going on that wasn’t there when left. People holding hands during the Our Father. Where did this start and what is the meaning. And what is the meaning of raising your hands up in a power like gesture during the doxology and then say God has the power and glory. I am confused.

I ask this because the other day when the Our Father started the woman next to me, probably not realizing what she was doing, raised her hands up and not in a gesture to take my hand but kind of, almost in front of my face. I closed my eyes and continued praying because it was a distraction to me to pray with someones hand so close to my face.

I have had others reach out to me before, this is not what she was doing. I never met her before, never seen her before so it wasn’t a personal thing either.

So, it made me wonder, what is the purpose of this anyhow. I don’t get the meaning. I don’t see in the missal where it says to do this. I really just don’t get the hand raising thing. I can understand the holding hands during the Our Father but it seems like some protestant things I have seen in protestant churches while gone from the Catholic Church, this whole hand raising in the air.

So, any help would be appreciated.
 
Some folks in our local OF parish like to do this and can’t seem to understand that there are others that don’t care for it.

As near as I can tell its a protestant thingy. Not my cup of tea. I just ignore it.
 
I also am just coming back to church, and I don’t care for it either. This has come up in conversation and when asked why I don’t like it, I have to laugh and respond, “because I was raised Catholic”.

We were not demonstrative nor dramatic in church, and it carried into our home. While my parents certainly hugged and kissed us as small children, we did not remain physically affectionate into adulthood - unless someone was going into surgery or getting on a plane, there was no hugging! It’s not anything that needs to be fixed or change - we are all more comfortable that way, and anyone who questioned the love in the family would have to be cracked. The hand holding is awkward and distracting, and the raised hand thing I just can’t even do it without bursting into laughter - it’s a bit too much drama for me! Further, I’m a person with a racing mind, and I go to church to quiet myself and listen - these gestures annoy me when I’m trying to do that.

As my father commented about this, he would far rather a donut and a cup of coffee after Mass because, armed with those tools, he would certainly establish greater closeness with fellow parishioners - intimacy through conversation has also always been part of our church and home culture, so I feel the same way.
 
I don’t care for it either, and I was raised protestant. It is an invasion of my space to be honest, and so I discourage it. I don’t mind motioning to the Fr with “also to you” part, its nice. But I don’t sit near the “holy rolling” catholics that lift their arms into the air and so forth. Its distracting.
 
Where did it start?

I don’t know. I only know my personnel experience.

It began when the priest saying Mass asked us to join hands. That was 26 years ago. At that time, the hand holding was only during the Our Father.

About 18 years ago our parish priest tried unsuccessfully to get the parish to hold hand through For the Kingdom, the power and the Glory etc. The next priest had better luck.

When I learned this was a discouraged practice I stopped.

I don’t know at what point it happened but in the last ten years folks have begun to raise their hands at the For the Kingdom, the power and the Glory etc. As far as I can tell this was spontaneous.

Then people in some parishes were told that instead of holding hands they should assume the orans position.

I am not bothered by the people doing this but when the priest holds hands with the altar servers I am bothered.

As I said, I don’t hold hands. I either fold my hand in front of me or I have a missle in them. I have not had to many who force the issue.
 
Ruth_Catherine said:
I have a question. I don’t mean to start arguments. Mostly I am curious.
I am a revert to the church and I am noticing something going on that wasn’t there when left. People holding hands during the Our Father. Where did this start and what is the meaning. And what is the meaning of raising your hands up in a power like gesture during the doxology and then say God has the power and glory. I am confused.

I ask this because the other day when the Our Father started the woman next to me, probably not realizing what she was doing, raised her hands up and not in a gesture to take my hand but kind of, almost in front of my face. I closed my eyes and continued praying because it was a distraction to me to pray with someones hand so close to my face.

I have had others reach out to me before, this is not what she was doing. I never met her before, never seen her before so it wasn’t a personal thing either.

So, it made me wonder, what is the purpose of this anyhow. I don’t get the meaning. I don’t see in the missal where it says to do this. I really just don’t get the hand raising thing. I can understand the holding hands during the Our Father but it seems like some protestant things I have seen in protestant churches while gone from the Catholic Church, this whole hand raising in the air.

So, any help would be appreciated.
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To be honest, I am not sure when,where and who started doing the “holding of hands” during the Our Father. I do not remember it as a child, teen or young adult. I am 41 and it seems like a new thing,probably the last 10 or 15 years?
 
Nicea325 said:
To be honest, I am not sure when,where and who started doing the “holding of hands” during the Our Father. I do not remember it as a child, teen or young adult. I am 41 and it seems like a new thing,probably the last 10 or 15 years?
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I remember doing it during the 1970s in college Masses. Heck, there we were all gathered round the altar holding hands through the Our Father, so the people out in the pews started holding hands too. It seemed like it spread from the college towns into the countryside over the next couple of decades. Now in some of those college towns it’s being phased out (actually the bishop told people to cut it out a couple of years ago).
 
socrates58.blogspot.com/2008/07/orans-posture-and-hand-holding-during.html

ORIGINS OF HAND-HOLDING

The current issue of the “Adoremus Bulletin” says this in response to a query from a priest in the Bronx:

“No gesture for the people during the Lord’s Prayer is mentioned in the official documents. The late liturgist Fr. Robert Hovda promoted holding hands during this prayer, a practice he said originated in Alcoholics Anonymous. Some ‘charismatic’ groups took up the practice.”

But is not the orans position specifically prohibited, since it is imitating the posture of the priest? As Colin B. Donovan wrote (as I cited):

. . . since while lay people are doing this the deacon, whose postures are governed by the rubrics, may not do it. So, we have the awkward disunity created by the priest making an appropriate liturgical gesture in accordance with the rubrics, the deacon not making the same gesture in accordance with the rubrics, some laity making the same gesture as the priest not in accordance with the rubrics, and other laity not making the gesture (for various reasons, including knowing it is not part of their liturgical role). In the end, the desire of the Church for liturgical unity is defeated.

Also, Jimmy Akin cited the 1997 Instruction on Collaboration (specifically approved by Pope John Paul II):

Neither may deacons or non-ordained members of the faithful use gestures or actions which are proper to the same priest celebrant. It is a grave abuse for any member of the non-ordained faithful to “quasi preside” at the Mass while leaving only that minimal participation to the priest which is necessary to secure validity.
 
Well idk about joining hands, but spreading your arms out is an ancient prayer position, it’s like saying you’ll take in all that God has to say.

But I prefer to keep my hands to myself out of anyones face haha
 
People like to do what the Priest does to feel important. If you go to a Church that has a Deacon, see if he makes all of these gestures.
 
Ruth_Catherine said:
I have a question. I don’t mean to start arguments. Mostly I am curious.
I am a revert to the church and I am noticing something going on that wasn’t there when left. People holding hands during the Our Father. Where did this start and what is the meaning. And what is the meaning of raising your hands up in a power like gesture during the doxology and then say God has the power and glory. I am confused.

I ask this because the other day when the Our Father started the woman next to me, probably not realizing what she was doing, raised her hands up and not in a gesture to take my hand but kind of, almost in front of my face. I closed my eyes and continued praying because it was a distraction to me to pray with someones hand so close to my face.

I have had others reach out to me before, this is not what she was doing. I never met her before, never seen her before so it wasn’t a personal thing either.

So, it made me wonder, what is the purpose of this anyhow. I don’t get the meaning. I don’t see in the missal where it says to do this. I really just don’t get the hand raising thing. I can understand the holding hands during the Our Father but it seems like some protestant things I have seen in protestant churches while gone from the Catholic Church, this whole hand raising in the air.

So, any help would be appreciated.
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There are about a zillion threads on this subject already. I don’t think we need another. You can simply use the search function and read the other threads on this.
 
“No gesture for the people during the Lord’s Prayer is mentioned in the official documents.”

Right. There is no gesture specified. Holding hands is not prohibited.
 
hudson said:
People like to do what the Priest does to feel important. If you go to a Church that has a Deacon, see if he makes all of these gestures.
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The deacon “should” hold his hands together in front of his chest to appear as praying. He should not “look like the preist.” He is not a priest.

If it is in a communion service where the deacon is the celebrant, that is different.
 
Transformer said:
“No gesture for the people during the Lord’s Prayer is mentioned in the official documents.”

Right. There is no gesture specified. Holding hands is not prohibited.
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By the same logic dancing a jig is not prohibited.

Holding hands during the Our Father in Protestant churches is their sign of unity during their service. This is inappropriate during a Catholic Mass because symbolically it detracts from the utmost sign of unity in the Catholic Mass…Holy Communion. Since the Protestants do not have the Eucharist it seems like an appropriate gesture during their services, but the opposite is true of a Catholic Mass.
 
Transformer said:
“No gesture for the people during the Lord’s Prayer is mentioned in the official documents.”

Right. There is no gesture specified. Holding hands is not prohibited.
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That argument is terrible. There are millions of things not prohibited, that does not make them ok to do. Great point Rock.
 
Lapey said:
The deacon “should” hold his hands together in front of his chest to appear as praying. He should not “look like the preist.” He is not a priest.

If it is in a communion service where the deacon is the celebrant, that is different.
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You obviously missed my point. The Laity are not the Priest obviously, yet they want to make the same gestures the Priest is making. The deacon has actually received Holy Orders and yet he does not make any of the gestures the Priest makes. Proving the point that all of the gestures the Laity make are not correct.
 
A good article on the subject:

zenit.org/article-8728?l=english
The process for introducing any new rite or gesture into the liturgy in a stable or even binding manner is already contemplated in liturgical law. This process entails a two-thirds majority vote in the bishops’ conference and the go-ahead from the Holy See before any change may take effect.
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Thus, if neither the bishops’ conference nor the Holy See has seen fit to prescribe any posture for the recitation of the Our Father, it hardly behooves any lesser authority to impose a novel gesture not required by liturgical law and expect the faithful to follow their decrees…
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One could argue that holding hands expresses the family union of the Church. But our singing or reciting the prayer in unison already expresses this element.
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The act of holding hands usually emphasizes group or personal unity from the human or physical point of view and is thus more typical of the spontaneity of small groups. Hence it does not always transfer well into the context of larger gatherings where some people feel uncomfortable and a bit imposed upon when doing so.
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The use of this practice during the Our Father could detract and distract from the prayer’s God-directed sense of adoration and petition, as explained in Nos. 2777-2865 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in favor of a more horizontal and merely human meaning.
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For all of these reasons, no one should have any qualms about not participating in this gesture if disinclined to do so. They will be simply following the universal customs of the Church, and should not be accused of being a cause of disharmony.
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hudson said:
People like to do what the Priest does to feel important. If you go to a Church that has a Deacon, see if he makes all of these gestures.
Click to expand...
What school offers a degree in Intuitive Discernment of Hidden Motives? 😉
 
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