How is Communion received in churches outside of the U.S.?

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Hi all, (my dh) and I have a question, mostly for anyone not in the United States.

Dh is currently in Belgium (Antwerp) on business. About a year ago, he spent 2 weeks in Brazil (Sao Paulo and surrounding locations, also business). He went to mass in both places (just yesterday in Belgium). 2 different countries, 2 different continents, 2 different hemispheres. The church in Brazil was charismatic, the one in Belgium (the Cathedral in Antwerp, actually) was a traditional, N.O. mass. At both masses, when it was time to receive Communion, everybody just got up all at once and went to the front. In all the churches I’ve ever been to in the U.S. (several in Missouri, one in Phoenix, one I believe in Nashville-been awhile, so I can’t remember exactly), we always line up row after row, very orderly and regimented. Is this just a U.S. thing? How do you (anyone who’s outside the U.S., or has ever went to Mass outside the U.S.) “process up” to receive? We attributed the Brazilian experience to it being a charismatic church (something dh was not aware of when went-the hotel conceriege picked the church for him. He had just become Catholic a couple weeks prior and didn’t speak Portuguese, so he was very confused throughout the entire Mass!). In Belgium, he was able to follow along very easily, even though he doesn’t speak Dutch, but was very surprised again when it came time for Communion! So, I guess our question is: What’s up with that? 😃 (I’m sure the answer is that American’s are just weird and insist on doing things differently than the rest of the world, kinda like our refusal to embrace the metric system 😉 😛 ).

In Christ,

Ellen
 
In my parish in Canada we tend to go row by row, of course 95% of the people are standing at that point since we don’t have to kneel after the Agnus Dei as is the rule in the US. People in the side pews usually walk to the back of the church and come up the center aisle-- unless they’ve slipped along a center pew to the center aisle.

In the parish where I grew up it’s more of a free for all, with people from the very back of the church often the first out of the pew and on the move. It may be a holdover from when we knelt at the rail for communion and everyone went up at once and stood waiting for a vacant spot to kneel down.
 
The two (US) parishes in which I have spent most of my life both evinced these chaotic communion processions, and I always found it to be gauche. :rolleyes:

In the parish of my youth, I think it began when the parish built a clamshell church in the round – I don’t know if they ever got it under control. In the parish of my adulthood (traditional cruciform building), I can’t say how it started, but I was greatly relieved a few years ago when the pastor asked the ushers to bring a semblance of order to the procession.

:twocents:
tee
 
My friend from Puerto Rico says that people all rush up at once to receive the Communion. It is considered a sign of reverence, that they truly are eager to receive Jesus!

When she first moved to the U.S., she thought it was very strange that we line up and wait patiently to receive the Lord! It seemed to her that we just weren’t very eager to receive Him!

Just goes to show that reverence is expressed differently in different cultures!
 
I’ve been to Mass across the Rio Grande (down here, when we go to Mexico, we say "going across). They, too, tend to go row by row. Even in the Masses televised from the Cathedral in Monterrey, they, too, go row by row.

Now, from what I can tell in the Papal Masses (at least the ones broadcast from the Vatican), there seems to be a tendency to also go row by row, as the distrubution of Holy Communion at St. Peter’s seems to be somewhat orderly (of course, you’re dealing with over 50,000 people)

Of course, I would have to ask: do these countries have such creatures as “ushers”? While in many parishes, people will go row by row on their own, the ushers tend to move the line and get people organized, so to speak. .
 
There was a book I read, by an Italian expat, who was quite shocked at how orderly American Sunday Masses are in the DC area, compared to Sunday Mass in Italy. That was one of the things he mentioned was the fact that there was no mob scene at Communion time; and everybody waited respectfully until the priest had left, unlike his experience in Italy, where people were bagging out and on their way for coffee by the time the priest had finished the final blessing. I will look up the book. It was pretty interesting.
 
In Oz we tend, by and large, to be somewhere in the middle. You’ll get the odd person (most often those who need to leave directly after Communion) go up early, but in general we go row by row.

Except for one Church in the Chinatown section, where they do the mob thing - found it quite disturbing first time I went there, but it’s nice to think of it in terms of being eager to recieve the Lord 🙂

I think it must just be a vestige of the British love of queuing 😛
 
Thinking about the topic I remembered that the one thing I find odd is that nobody will set foot outside their pew until Fr. is almost in place to distribute. He always ends up having to wait for the first communicant – perish the thought we should look too eager.
 
Thanks everybody. I find this fascinating! I never really thought of it from an “eagerness to receive Jesus” standpoint, but that does make a lot of sense. When I’m “waiting in line”, I am pretty anxious to get to the front and receive.

Phemie: In my parish, also, no one really moves (we’re all kneeling) until Father, the deaon, and EMHC’s are in place. And I was telling my dh yesterday when we were discussing this that I remember when I was a kid that the ushers “ushered” you out of your seat, no one in the pew moved until he stepped back and allowed the first person out.

Lily: “Love of queuing”, lol 😃 Maybe it is a throwback from the U.S’ British “heritage”. Did anyone from the U.K. chime in? I wonder if they are regimented about it, also.

I can’t wait until tomorrow to tell dh about this (in Antwerp it’s 5:00 a.m. right now, he’s sleeping).

In Christ,

Ellen
 
Here in Western Australia, we all leap up once Father has descended the steps to distribute, but then wait for those in the pews in front of us to file out before stepping in place behind them. If we wait, and stay kneeling, those behind us think we are not going to Communion and file in ahead of us. Usher??? What’s an usher :confused: We have enough trouble getting men to take the collection, much less usher.]

Some people are very eager and come rushing up from the back of the church, while others like to wait patiently in prayer and humility, letting others go first. Our parish is very mixed in origin, very universal with people from all over the world.

We had one parishioner who would wait in the wings for Father to descend the steps, then he would quickly walk up before anyone else, rubbing his hands on his shirt/chest/stomach. It was almost as if he was going to a feast, rubbing his stomach in anticipation of the great food.
 
I used to live in Italy and Germany, and have attended mass also in France and Belgium. Italy was the most chaotic when it came time to receiving communion (everyone got up at once and just kind of “mobbed” to the front), France a little less so. Belgium seemed a lot like the U.S. in the sense that I didn’t notice anything really different.

The Germans, however, were always incredibly orderly. Almost military-like precision! 😃
 
I studied abroad in Great Britain and the churches I attended for mass tended to queue like they do in the States. The times I’ve been to France, I’ve also seen them line up, although not so orderly. When I was studying in Salzburg, Austria, the churches were packed and they would all eagerly rush up to the communion rail for the Eucharist. At first I was quite taken aback, as I’m very used to waiting my “turn”, but I soon learned that this was not the case in Salzburg. So, I just joined in and stood whereever most convenient. Most people stayed for the entire mass, too - sometimes hard to find a seat and sometimes there’d be so many people the priests would have to break up the hosts in tiny pieces so that everyone could receive. I only got to attend mass in a little town in Italy where I was also studying music, so I can’t say what it is like in he rest of Italy, but it wasn’t so much of a mad rush to get to the front, but it wasn’t an orderly line either. Sort of like people just went up when they wanted to.

Home in the States, there is an orderly queue at my parish. Everyone lines up in the middle aisle in the chapel (which is the size of a regular church) and then will go back around the side aisles. Everyone - with the exception of one fellow who seems to like to go down the side aisle and then butt in front of everyone who waited in line in the middle. He has been doing it for years.
 
LilyM said:
I think it must just be a vestige of the British love of queuing 😛
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:rotfl:

I think you got it, Lily! At the Anglican Use parish here, even though they kneel at the altar rail, everyone queues EVER so politely to wait for the next free cushion.

I’ve always heard about the “rush” to receive in Central and South American countries. This Easter I had my first little taste of it when a few of our Mexican parishioners climbed over me, tired of waiting for me to get up at the “right” time. 🙂 I had to check to see if my British and German were showing. Oops!
 
ALLGIRLS said:
Thanks everybody. I find this fascinating! I never really thought of it from an “eagerness to receive Jesus” standpoint, but that does make a lot of sense. When I’m “waiting in line”, I am pretty anxious to get to the front and receive.

Phemie: In my parish, also, no one really moves (we’re all kneeling) until Father, the deaon, and EMHC’s are in place. And I was telling my dh yesterday when we were discussing this that I remember when I was a kid that the ushers “ushered” you out of your seat, no one in the pew moved until he stepped back and allowed the first person out.

Lily: “Love of queuing”, lol 😃 Maybe it is a throwback from the U.S’ British “heritage”. Did anyone from the U.K. chime in? I wonder if they are regimented about it, also.

I can’t wait until tomorrow to tell dh about this (in Antwerp it’s 5:00 a.m. right now, he’s sleeping).

In Christ,

Ellen
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My bold.

We love to queue! Although, ordinarily one would be aghast at those jumping queues at a bus stop or elsewhere, we’re pretty patient in Church. 🙂 The particular order in my Parish is set by the organist. The moment he reaches the particular spot to receive Communion, folks in the first row follow…so on and so forth.
 
It’s row-by-row in Britain.
It was row-by-row when we were in Rome, too.
 
It was not row by row in my church until around 6 months back. Then they figured they would save time by instituting it so now it is.
 
Row by row in England. However we have a lot of people form Europe at our Mass as their studying in England and some of them say that it’s very strange to go row by row. Certinally my friends from Portugal and Spain say that it’s almost a scrum to the Altar at home for them (they seem to like it though).
 
Here in Trinidad it is mainly row by row - no ushers, though, people mostly are very orderly in the Communion line.

I do not like it since a good and holy priest pointed out to me that going row by row really makes those who stay in their pew stand out and that can be the cause of people not in a state of grace going up to Communion. When people just go as and when they want, those who do not go are not noticed.

Being neat and tidy is not always a good thing!
 
Joan_M said:
I do not like it since a good and holy priest pointed out to me that going row by row really makes those who stay in their pew stand out and that can be the cause of people not in a state of grace going up to Communion. When people just go as and when they want, those who do not go are not noticed.

Being neat and tidy is not always a good thing!
Click to expand...
I’d never thought of that. However it’s pretty commonplace to see people staying in their pews at Communion and so I can’t imagine it’s a big thing. At my local Mass because we have it in a hall on the University campus people have to put a host in the ceborium as they come into the hall so it’s obvious who’s not recieving Communion. No one ever comments on it though.
 
Exactly like the one in the picture - in Vietnam

http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0awfbIffIW9eY/610x.jpg

The alter boys have a little tray to collect any crumbs falling off from the Eucharist.

The parishioners cross their arms and receive in tongue.

Women and men are on separate lines. There’s no mixing of genders on the same lines.

When I was still in Vietnam, only priest gave the Communion.
 
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