Kneeling for Communion at OF Mass....

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I go to a parish that has an awesome EF - during the week and on Sundays. They also have an OF.

Today, for the first time, I went to the OF as I will be missing mass tomorrow and the time was convenient.

I went with a Catholic friend and I told her that I want to kneel for communion. She encouraged me to do so. The problem is the priest stood with his back to the kneelers in the center of the church, so I had to get on the hard floor. He knows me but I think I took him by surprise. 😃

So I overcame the hurdle of kneeling when everyone else is standing and receiving in the hand. 👍
 
TrueLight said:
I go to a parish that has an awesome EF - during the week and on Sundays. They also have an OF.

Today, for the first time, I went to the OF as I will be missing mass tomorrow and the time was convenient.

I went with a Catholic friend and I told her that I want to kneel for communion. She encouraged me to do so. The problem is the priest stood with his back to the kneelers in the center of the church, so I had to get on the hard floor. He knows me but I think I took him by surprise. 😃

So I overcame the hurdle of kneeling when everyone else is standing and receiving in the hand. 👍
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keep it up
 
TrueLight said:
So I overcame the hurdle of kneeling when everyone else is standing and receiving in the hand. 👍
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It is understandable that you had to overcome the hurdle of kneeling when everyone else is doing something different. But it must be said that everyone who is standing is following the norm for posture at the OF. Sometimes that can be the more humbling thing to do - to go against our own will and do the will of God in following the rubrics set for us.
 
zab said:
It is understandable that you had to overcome the hurdle of kneeling when everyone else is doing something different. But it must be said that everyone who is standing is following the norm for posture at the OF. Sometimes that can be the more humbling thing to do - to go against our own will and do the will of God in following the rubrics set for us.
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I understand what you’re saying.

The rubrics say that the faithful can kneel and receive on the tongue if they want to, though.
 
MissRose73 said:
I am on a mini break, and went to an OF Mass at an older church this evening. The priest that celebrated Mass had people go to the rail for Communion with one of his altar servers assisting him like at EF Masses. Most everyone received on the tongue and kneeling at the rail, including myself even though it was my first time doing that at an OF Mass but I am used to doing so at EF Masses. I would have no issue if this became the norm at OF Mass.

Has any one gone to an OF Mass and received kneeling/on the tongue at the rail (or similar setup)?
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Yup. Holy Rosary downtown only celebrates the OF. They distribute at the altar rail and intinct so all receive on the tongue. I’ve only been to their Latin Mass, but I think the other Masses are similar.
 
I always receive Holy Communion on the tongue, and whenever possible when kneeling. There is one other woman who also does this at my parish (she’s also one of the only ones who wears a mantilla). Other than one man who receives genuflecting, the two of us are the only ones who do so regularly. (Our parish has only a partial communion rail. It is not used. We’re working on getting prie-dieux for weekday Masses.) Yes, it’s awkward, but we still do it. The pastor has not ever said anything to me about it. I doubt he will, for he knows that I know I have the right to do so.
 
JGMendes4049 said:
Small digression: You had never been to Mass in the OF before?
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I have. But only one other time as a Catholic, and that was last week, at a Parish in Florida and I didn’t receive.

I have been to some OF daily masses but only about 3-4 Sunday OF masses. The Sunday OF masses I attended, except for last week, were mostly at Father Rutler’s church and he is very Orthodox.
 
zab said:
It is understandable that you had to overcome the hurdle of kneeling when everyone else is doing something different. But it must be said that everyone who is standing is following the norm for posture at the OF. Sometimes that can be the more humbling thing to do - to go against our own will and do the will of God in following the rubrics set for us.
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It is not the will of God that all must stand to receive Holy Communion in the OF in the USA.

It was a norm published by the USCCB and approved by Rome only on the condition that the faithful continue to be permitted to receive kneeling.
 
Will_S said:
It is not the will of God that all must stand to receive Holy Communion in the OF in the USA.

It was a norm published by the USCCB and approved by Rome only on the condition that the faithful continue to be permitted to receive kneeling.
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It is the will of God that we do as we have been instructed to do regardless if one is still permitted to kneel. Because one may exercise their right to kneel for reception of Communion in no way lessens the reverence of those who follow the rubrics.
 
MissRose73 said:
I am on a mini break, and went to an OF Mass at an older church this evening. The priest that celebrated Mass had people go to the rail for Communion with one of his altar servers assisting him like at EF Masses. Most everyone received on the tongue and kneeling at the rail, including myself even though it was my first time doing that at an OF Mass but I am used to doing so at EF Masses. I would have no issue if this became the norm at OF Mass.

Has any one gone to an OF Mass and received kneeling/on the tongue at the rail (or similar setup)?
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The Cathedral in downtown Vancouver uses the altar rail, but they let everyone receive in however they so choose within the limits of what the Church allows. So there’s two lines in the middle for those who receive standing, either COTT or CITH. Then the altar rails are used by those who wishes to receive kneeling, also COTT or CITH. Because its the Cathedral, there are no shortage of priests to help out for Communion, so on most weekdays there are 3 priests, one in the middle, and two for the altar rails. On feast days there are more. I can guess on Sundays there would be more priests coming out during Communion to help out.
 
Will_S said:
It is not the will of God that all must stand to receive Holy Communion in the OF in the USA.
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How do you know what the will of God is? Jesus gave authority to the Apostles who passed it on to our Bishops. God will not contradict those whom He entrusted His earthly Church in.
 
If the communion rail with tongue reception was restored as the only way to the OF, it would not be an issue for me as I am used to doing it that way for EF.

If the small EF community I go to sets up a make shift rail for Communion reception, no reason why other places cannot do so for OF, but I can only pray for that day to come.
 
zab said:
It is the will of God that we do as we have been instructed to do regardless if one is still permitted to kneel. Because one may exercise their right to kneel for reception of Communion in no way lessens the reverence of those who follow the rubrics.
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Standing for communion is not a rubric.
 
ConstantineTG said:
How do you know what the will of God is? Jesus gave authority to the Apostles who passed it on to our Bishops. God will not contradict those whom He entrusted His earthly Church in.
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When then I suppose we can say that the Holy See has contradicted the will of God as expressed by the bishops of the USA when they made clear that kneeling for Holy Communion remains a legitimate option.
 
Will_S said:
When then I suppose we can say that the Holy See has contradicted the will of God as expressed by the bishops of the USA when they made clear that kneeling for Holy Communion remains a legitimate option.
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Where is the contradiction? The Episcopal Conference in the US as well as several countries has declared standing to be the norm, but did not say that kneeling is prohibited. So there is no contradiction.
 
Will_S said:
When then I suppose we can say that the Holy See has contradicted the will of God as expressed by the bishops of the USA when they made clear that kneeling for Holy Communion remains a legitimate option.
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In a 1967 document called Eucharisticum mysterium the Holy See through the (now Congregation For Divine Worship and Discipline of Sacraments) established that:
34. … In accordance with the custom of the Church, the faithful may receive communion either kneeling or standing.* One or the other practice is to be chosen according to the norms laid down by the conference of bishops.***
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The United States Catholic bishops delayed in making that choice of posture until after the third edition of the G.I.R.M. came out giving the same legislation:
160
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… The faithful may communicate either standing or kneeling, as established by the Conference of Bishops.

In 2002 U.S. conference of bishops sought and obtained the norm of standing. And of course we all know of the clarification that resulted. The US bishops were given the duty to make that choice. It may seem that the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments contradicted itself. But it is the duty and right of the Congregation to make such clarifications.
 
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