Kneelers

[Conciliar]

Margaret Mary: “Can you believe the renovation committee in my parish has voted to remove the Communion rails?”

Esther: “Welcome to the club, honey. My parish was renovated three years ago, and they got rid of the Communion rails *and *the footstools!”

Footstoolers. You gotta love ‘em! Oh you know who they are… You might even be one. They’re those folks who promptly put the kneeler down the moment they enter the pew with no intention whatsoever of raising it again. Ever.

These fine people might kneel for a spell, but as soon as they slide their hindquarters back on the pew, up go the feet. It’s ottoman time. They even let their shorties (that’s coolspeak for “kids” ) stand on them. (How else are they going to be able to stick a crayon in your ear from behind?) And some footstoolers are sometimes even loathe to raise it so others can get past them, turning grown men into poor imitations of Nadia Comaneci on the balance beam.

So… waddaya think? Can we all just agree on this one thing? Kneelers are not footstools. Sounds reasonable to me, but no doubt the “anything goes” folks will line up to have their say:

“My lower back hasn’t been the same since I gave birth to the triplets. I have to put my feet up…”

“You can’t judge what’s in the heart of the footstooler. Maybe they need to take pressure off their bladder.”

“God loves me, my neighbors love me, I love me, even with my feet up…”

“When I’m at Mass, I’m comfortable in my skin.” (I hate that expression!)

“If you were focussed on Christ you wouldn’t have so much time to worry about sticking your dismount…”

Anyway, even though I know we won’t all agree, this one seems like a no-brainer. Truth is I suppose, if we did all agree, there would be fewer people to make fun of.

 

[calvin1970]

Is this a real complaint?

 

[Della]

:yawn:

 

[Brenda_V]

:ehh:

 

[First_of_9]

:whacky:

 

[paramedicgirl]

And I always think people are putting the kneelers down to pray. So much for first impressions.

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

Well, I might as well make a suggestion here – before putting the kneeler down, please check the rest of the pew. If there is someone with a leg injury sitting in the pew, please give fair warning; don’t just slam the kneeler down right on top of that person’s ankle. Ouch!

 

[puzzleannie]

we already have a couple of ongoing threads for who can come up with the up-tightiest rules for massgoers, you might want to jump in there. in my last parish the sister who prepared children for sacraments made them practice lifting and putting down kneelers silently, and wanted them to teach their parents. I think I will try it here, and add a warning to watch whose toes are in the way (including those of sandal and flip-flop wearers) before you crash that kneeler and stand on it.

I am frankly amazed there are still Catholic churches in this country that still have communion rails, I thought they were banned in the 70s, which is when our parish church was descecrated

 

[mattkubes]

I am frankly amazed there are still Catholic churches in this country that still have communion rails, I thought they were banned in the 70s, which is when our parish church was descecrated

This is an honest question on my part - were communion rails ever actually banned? I had the opportunity to go to Notre-Dame-Du-Cap’s Basilica in Quebec this past year, and they had a massive communion rail that spanned the width of the (enormous) building. I was glad to get the opportunity to use it, but I would be very saddened to hear that they were ever ‘banned’

 

[puzzleannie]

This is an honest question on my part - were communion rails ever actually banned? I had the opportunity to go to Notre-Dame-Du-Cap’s Basilica in Quebec this past year, and they had a massive communion rail that spanned the width of the (enormous) building. I was glad to get the opportunity to use it, but I would be very saddened to hear that they were ever ‘banned’

no they were not banned, but a lot of church renovators when way overboard with a couple of advisory documents that had no authortative doctrinal standing to make all kinds of changes. when the limited permission was given to distribute communion in the hand and standing for some reason this was used as an excuse to remove communion rails. in some places concerned Catholics have been successful with churches that have historic status in preventing such destruction, glad your basilica is one of them.