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Havard
Guest
I try to sit just to the side / not sit directly behind other people because of this. But my parish isn’t packed, so it’s possible to do that.
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pnewton
Guest
I usually try to adjust back a bit. That being said, I find it discourteous to sit when people are kneeling without at least sitting forward enough to give the poor person behind you some space. I mean, how difficult is it to lean forward a foot or so if you need to sit while others are kneeling?
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maryjk
Guest
Depends why you are sitting.
My husband, who isn’t Catholic, always sits forward.
Me? If I am sitting, I am doing it because I can’t kneel. Therefore, sitting forward a foot or so may be too much.
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pnewton
Guest
Okay, but this puts your hair sin someone’s face, or at least it would mine if you were in front of me. I know. I have been there literally where the person in front of me leaned all the way back into my face. I consider that to be “too much”. If I am in a position of quit kneeling, I will sit (like before Mass) rather than stay in contact with the person’s head. If I am not, then I just endure the contact.
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Elizium23
Guest
Americans have so many personal-space issues.
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maryjk
Guest
Then I better tell the Lord to cure my Lupus, because pnewton thinks it is too much when the Lupus makes me to sick to sit forward.
Trust me, if I could sit forward, I would be able to kneel and I would be kneeling. I am only sitting because I have to.
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ccmcmg
Guest
Courtesy should definitely be considered.
I was raised and taught that you sat back after the priest sat down. But others remain kneeling until it’s time to stand for final prayers. It is a (small!!) annoyance when I sit back, and the man behind me is kneeling at ‘attention’, and over the back of the pew, and I have no where to go. My personality has a tendency to get cranky when I’m being ‘forced’ to do something not because it’s right, but because someone else thinks I should, and that makes me feel like I’m being judged for not continuing to kneel. This just happened last weekend
If I’m kneeling and someone sits down in front of me (non-Catholic/someone who can’t kneel) I make the adjustment.
I was raised and taught that you sat back after the priest sat down. But others remain kneeling until it’s time to stand for final prayers. It is a (small!!) annoyance when I sit back, and the man behind me is kneeling at ‘attention’, and over the back of the pew, and I have no where to go. My personality has a tendency to get cranky when I’m being ‘forced’ to do something not because it’s right, but because someone else thinks I should, and that makes me feel like I’m being judged for not continuing to kneel. This just happened last weekend
If I’m kneeling and someone sits down in front of me (non-Catholic/someone who can’t kneel) I make the adjustment.
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CAROLOFTHEBELLS
Guest
I am in one of our parish choirs, which means I am standing and singing during communion. When the last person is served, or as close to then as possible, we end our song. Then we kneel and pray. If I am at a Mass where I am not singing in a choir, I am kneeling during communion.
I kneel until the hosts are contained within the tabernacle and the door is closed. This is in reverance of Jesus and helps in meditation. I thought this was the standard. Doesn’t make a difference to me if we have a choice. Kneeling position is worship in His presence and helps me to focus on the fact that communion is not just an activity or part of the Mass.
Some people have pain when they kneel. However, there are some people who just sit throughout communion because they don’t give their posture much thought. Unfortunately, I had the experience once of a family with teens in front of me who sat during communion and partially sat during the consecration. Much of the time they were messing with each other as well. It was so distracting.
I think that nowadays we might have lost sight of the reason for kneeling during communion and after.
I kneel until the hosts are contained within the tabernacle and the door is closed. This is in reverance of Jesus and helps in meditation. I thought this was the standard. Doesn’t make a difference to me if we have a choice. Kneeling position is worship in His presence and helps me to focus on the fact that communion is not just an activity or part of the Mass.
Some people have pain when they kneel. However, there are some people who just sit throughout communion because they don’t give their posture much thought. Unfortunately, I had the experience once of a family with teens in front of me who sat during communion and partially sat during the consecration. Much of the time they were messing with each other as well. It was so distracting.
I think that nowadays we might have lost sight of the reason for kneeling during communion and after.
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CAROLOFTHEBELLS
Guest
Singing is praying twice! Unless your parish has a practice of a meditation song after communion is served and the song is instrumental, I see no reason for you not to sing to each and every song.
If there is a solist, I can understand your rule not to sing along. Say, in the case of someone singing the Ave Maria.
I am in one of my parish choirs and I can tell you that we love to hear everyone sing all the songs! We are just the leaders. It is so inspiring when we hear the entire church singing.
Regarding alter rails, most Catholic churchs no longer have them. In fact, it has been decades.
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VivienneJ
Guest
Not aiming this a ccmcmg as such, but this is a post that highlights most of the issue for me. I have bolded the two sentences that seem to sum up the problem. There is often no way of knowing the reason why a person has chosen the ‘position’ they have (unless you are in a very small parish where every single person in the church is known to you…lucky you!); charitably it should be assumed that there is a very good reason why the person in front of you is sitting right back in the pew; or the person behind you is kneeling way beyond the time you kneel; the best thing is to graciously accommodate the postures of those in front of or behind you, either by ‘sneeling’ or moving slightly over in the pew (if possible).
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Phemie
Guest
It’s interesting to note that the posture for Communion according to the GIRM was standing for 25 years before anyone noticed.
The 1975 universal GIRM had us standing from the “Mysterium fidei” until the end of Mass but I doubt that you would have found many parishes where that happened. Because posture could be changed by the national conferences of bishops, the US imposed kneeling throughout the Eucharistic Prayer, at least until the late 90s when individual bishops were given permission to choose the posture for their diocese. Canada just left posture up to individual bishops who pretty much left it up to the Pastors and posture varied from one parish to the next in the same diocese, from keeling for the entire EP, to kneeling only for the words of the Consecration (what the GIRM imposed) and everything in between.
The 2002 GIRM didn’t change the section on posture but at that point someone noticed that the posture throughout Communion and until the dismissal was standing. Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Chairman of the Bishops Committee on the Liturgy, sent a dubium to Rome. Here’s the dubium and the response. When the GIRM was finally implemented the section on posture had been rewritten to allow sitting or kneeling along with standing.
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Cat
Guest
You are so right!
And it varies, depending on which part of the U.S. you are in. But most Americans do not like being touched by strangers or even by acquaintances or friends.
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pnewton
Guest
No I don’t. As I said, I have no issue with offering up suffering, especially if it is needed for someone with health issues. Though honestly, it is not much of a problem. Most people who need to sit when everyone else kneels is courteous enough to give a little space, moving to the side, if the have to have the full back rest.
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pnewton
Guest
It is not an “issue”. It is a cultural difference. Many things vary from culture to culture without being either wrong or unhealthy. It is just a difference and should be tolerated.
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ProVobis
Guest
But doesn’t custom trump IGMR/GIRM, if I’m reading Canon Law correctly?
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Phemie
Guest
If that were true in 100% of cases there would have been no reason for the dubium.
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clem456
Guest
I come here to learn, and by gosh I did learn something today.About a hundred years ago, German military officers wore the Pickelhaube, or spiked helmet. If you are female and covering your head is an option,… just an idea….
Thanks.
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ccmcmg
Guest
I then wasn’t clear enough; if for some reason, ANYONE sits back, or kneels forward, I make the adjustment, and assume that they are doing it for a reason; the reason isn’t relevant to me; I still make the adjustment.
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VivienneJ
Guest
Sorry, guess I wasn’t clear either. I was using your post to agree that the person being ‘crowded’ as it were should be the one who makes the adjustment.
As a slightly different note, it is always tricky when someone from a culture with a wide personal space has to interact closely with someone (or many someones) from a culture with a much narrower personal space.
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ProVobis
Guest
I had to think about it for awhile, but I now see your point.
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