Kneelers in Church - a rant

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fred_4
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

Fred_4

Guest
I was just wondering, why does it have to sound like Chinese New Year with the firecrackers going off after the Sanctus when everyone kneels? We (quietly!) place the kneeler in position as soon as we enter the pew, and it stays down until people are moving for communion. It doesn’t seem difficult.

But regularly there’s a 5-10 second interruption of Mass with banging kneelers. Was it always this way? Comments?
 
Fred_4 said:
I was just wondering, why does it have to sound like Chinese New Year with the firecrackers going off after the Sanctus when everyone kneels? We (quietly!) place the kneeler in position as soon as we enter the pew, and it stays down until people are moving for communion. It doesn’t seem difficult.

But regularly there’s a 5-10 second interruption of Mass with banging kneelers. Was it always this way? Comments?
Click to expand...
Thank God your people are kneeling for the Consecration. 🙂

I also lower the kneeler at the beginning of Mass, after everyone is in the pew, and then just leave it there until it’s time to go up for Holy Communion. But I know what you mean, with people thumping the kneelers up and down. It can be annoying.
 
Some folks are just not sensitive to noise. I remember when I first asked my husband to start putting the toilet lid down, each and every time he did, he just let it fall with a loud “clank!” It was kinda funny, I laughed and told him it was sorta like an alarm sounding each time he used the toilet. I hadn’t remembered he had that habit till just now, so I guess he stopped doing it!

It could also be kids racing their siblings to be the first one to put it down.

I actually notice the noise in my church more after communion when they slam them into the up position.
 
Fred_4 said:
I was just wondering, why does it have to sound like Chinese New Year with the firecrackers going off after the Sanctus when everyone kneels? We (quietly!) place the kneeler in position as soon as we enter the pew, and it stays down until people are moving for communion. It doesn’t seem difficult.

But regularly there’s a 5-10 second interruption of Mass with banging kneelers. Was it always this way? Comments?
Click to expand...
Those “firecrackers” might be my knees cracking 🙂
 
jmcrae said:
Thank God your people are kneeling for the Consecration. 🙂

I also lower the kneeler at the beginning of Mass, after everyone is in the pew, and then just leave it there until it’s time to go up for Holy Communion. But I know what you mean, with people thumping the kneelers up and down. It can be annoying.
Click to expand...
Please do not sit in my row! :eek:

I have a bad knee and I must keep straightening it every minute or so. (The cartilage moves around when it is bent more than about 30 degrees.) When the kneelers is down it I have to stretch my leg over it to straighten it. Being a tall man means I need that much more room.

I do understand the noise thing. It is annoying. I always try to be careful, but sometimes it slips.

Just kidding about not sitting next to me, you are welcome any time! :hug3:
 
rpp said:
Please do not sit in my row! :eek:

I have a bad knee and I must keep straightening it every minute or so. (The cartilage moves around when it is bent more than about 30 degrees.) When the kneelers is down it I have to stretch my leg over it to straighten it. Being a tall man means I need that much more room.

I do understand the noise thing. It is annoying. I always try to be careful, but sometimes it slips.

Just kidding about not sitting next to me, you are welcome any time! :hug3:
Click to expand...
🙂

Don’t worry - we have those short little kneelers, so if you need to raise yours up, it won’t affect me.

I find that if you stick your foot under the kneeler as it’s coming down, it doesn’t thump quite as bad.
 
Fred_4 said:
I was just wondering, why does it have to sound like Chinese New Year with the firecrackers going off after the Sanctus when everyone kneels? We (quietly!) place the kneeler in position as soon as we enter the pew, and it stays down until people are moving for communion. It doesn’t seem difficult.

But regularly there’s a 5-10 second interruption of Mass with banging kneelers. Was it always this way? Comments?
Click to expand...
Yep, as far back as they put kneelers in. It is near impossible to have a piece of wood silently hit the ground without any noise. The accumulated noise of many quiet hits still is heard. There is nothing wrong with it, it is just the way it is. 🤷
 
Always reminds me of “The Guns of Navarrone.”

(The noise factor is not a new phenomenom. Had a friend growing up whose father, like many, was a WWII combat vet. He also had a habit of falling asleep during Mass. It was great fun to watch his face when the “kneeler artillary” cut loose. 😃 )
 
My little girl will slam that kneeler down if I don’t stop her soon enough. Then she pretends to say whoops, sorry Daddy!

I am sure there are other little kids like mine out there and then when you have dozens of kneelers some are sure to slip and fall to the ground.

I usually make sure it goes down quietly but I can only take care of the kneeler in front of me. I think this is a problem which has no real solution until someone invents silent kneelers.

(if you do that and become rich, remember me, I could use a couple cool Catholic DVD’s)

God Bless
Scylla
 
Fred_4 said:
I was just wondering, why does it have to sound like Chinese New Year with the firecrackers going off after the Sanctus when everyone kneels? We (quietly!) place the kneeler in position as soon as we enter the pew, and it stays down until people are moving for communion. It doesn’t seem difficult.

But regularly there’s a 5-10 second interruption of Mass with banging kneelers. Was it always this way? Comments?
Click to expand...
Some pew spacing is so darned tight that one cannot stand or sit with any comfort if the kneelers are down.

Well designed/maintained kneelers should not be noisy:

atwood-hamlin.com/kneelers/default.htm
 
I know!! I can’t stand it either. I always try to do it quitely and I know if I can do it the others can too. I usually am by myself on a pew so I have to put down a kneeler that would normally have 4 people kneeling on it. And I do it with my foot and it doesn’t make a sound!! Its so distracting when all I hear is kneelers. Our floor is stone so it makes noise when you put them down and when you put them back up.
 
Fred_4 said:
I
But regularly there’s a 5-10 second interruption of Mass with banging kneelers. Was it always this way? Comments?
Click to expand...
when I was in Catholic school lo these many moons ago we actually practiced in church lifting and replacing the kneelers silently and were disciplined if we banged kneelers–don’t know of the reason was noise or preserving our new church and fixtures. my dad would also glare if we banged (or put our posterior on the pew, that earned a crack)

I actually do practice with our jr & sr hi students, replacing the kneelers silently, closing the doors silently (ours bang loudly if left to shut on their own) and of course genuflecting properly

and why do people lift the kneeler up after the Amen for the OF, when they are just going to lower them in a minute for the fraction?
 
scylla said:
My little girl will slam that kneeler down if I don’t stop her soon enough. Then she pretends to say whoops, sorry Daddy!

I am sure there are other little kids like mine out there and then when you have dozens of kneelers some are sure to slip and fall to the ground.

I usually make sure it goes down quietly but I can only take care of the kneeler in front of me. I think this is a problem which has no real solution until someone invents silent kneelers.

(if you do that and become rich, remember me, I could use a couple cool Catholic DVD’s)

God Bless
Scylla
Click to expand...
Our church is carpeted, thus there is very little noise when the kneelers go down.
 
Fred_4 said:
I was just wondering, why does it have to sound like Chinese New Year with the firecrackers going off after the Sanctus when everyone kneels? We (quietly!) place the kneeler in position as soon as we enter the pew, and it stays down until people are moving for communion. It doesn’t seem difficult.

But regularly there’s a 5-10 second interruption of Mass with banging kneelers. Was it always this way? Comments?
Click to expand...
No. Prior to Vatican II, everyone knew how to properly put the kneelers down without a single sound. You can thank the modernists for all the noise today. :cool:

Seriously, though, not everyone is perfect. Sometimes kneelers slip and bang, sometimes children get hold of them, etc. Not everyone like to have the kneeler down throughout the whole mass, either.
 
tcraig said:
No. Prior to Vatican II, everyone knew how to properly put the kneelers down without a single sound. You can thank the modernists for all the noise today. :cool:

.
Click to expand...
I though that before the VATII we did not (k)need to put the kneelers down, because they were so much more in use.!!:rolleyes:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top