Kneeling / sitting after communion

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Hello, what is the proper time to sit down after communion? I have always kneeled until the Hosts are put back in the Tabernacle and the priest / deacon has finished purifying all the vessels on the altar and sits down. However, a new priest at our parish will gesture for everyone to sit while he is still purifying the vessels, after the Hosts are put in the Tabernacle.
 
Since my search of the GIRM says nothing about that, I would believe it is simply parish custom as to when the congregation should sit. While I personally think it is problematic / disrespectful to sit while Christ is on the altar , I dont think the Church has said anything on this.
 
People typically sit either when the priest sits or when he otherwise indicates for you to sit earlier.

As far as I know this is set by the diocese. One of my regularly visited dioceses actually told people not to kneel after communion but instead to all stand until the priest sits or tells you to sit. I ignore this as I prefer to kneel and say prayers after receiving.
 
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There is no correct or incorrect time.

The general rule of thumb I follow (unless my knees are hurting) is to sit after the tabernacle is closed and the priest is finished purifying at the altar.

However, I have been to some masses where the priest does not purify after communion, they purify after mass. So, in those instances, if we waited for after the purifying to stop kneeling, we would never be able to stop kneeling until after mass. 🙂
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
told people not to kneel after communion but instead to all stand until the priest sits or tells you to sit
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The Church at Villanova University did the same thing, though the rest of the archdiocese kneels.

Before every mass, they make an announcement for everyone to remain standing after the Lamb of God & during and after communion “as a sign of unity.”

Every time I ask why it’s a “sign of unity,” no one has any idea.

So I kneel when I’m there. I usually see at least one other person kneel (esp after I kneel).
 
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I heard someone from the Vatican say in some way, that it is not a good idea to overregulate the liturgy. Maybe someone can find a quote, or someday.
 
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There is no prescribed posture, so I would follow the church’s local custom to represent the unity of the body of Christ. A lot of church’s kneel until the priest sits, I “like” to sit until the work at the altar is done and the host put in the Tabernacle, but I don’t want to be that guy because there’s really no right way other than what the priest advises, if he does.
 
The standing may make sense for the new style of church that has a few rows of pews arranged in the round, no kneelers and many EMHCs, although in those settings I often see a couple folks kneeling on the floor anyway.

The standing makes less sense when you have a large, long church and fewer EMHCs, which is the case in some parishes. The result is that people are standing for quite a long time and a lot of the older folks have to sit anyway.
 
I can’t remember the book I was reading, but it encouraged the faithful to remain kneeling even after the priest has returned to his seat and through the moment of silence, only standing when the priest stands.

That’s what I’ve done ever since and I’ve noticed quite a few people who do this as well. From my observation it seems like most people remain kneeling until the hosts are returned to the tabernacle and the priest has returned to his seat.
 
My church has kneelers but I prefer to kneel without them. It has the narrow style kneelers which actually hurt my knees as they apply too much pressure on them in the wrong place. My wife finds the same thing.

Kneeling on the ground isn’t at all uncomfortable in my church since we have carpet in the area where the pews are.
 
At our abbey, after the communion antiphon is over, and the last communicant has received, the presider sits, at which point the whole community sits (they in fact stand through the chanting of the communion antiphon as they are chanting with the schola). That’s our cue for us in the pews to sit.

We sit until the concelebrant responsible for placing the unconsumed hosts into tabernacle (in a separate side chapel), returns, at which point all rise for the final prayer and blessing.
exnihilo said:
My church has kneelers but I prefer to kneel without them. It has the narrow style kneelers which actually hurt my knees as they apply too much pressure on them in the wrong place. My wife finds the same thing.

Kneeling on the ground isn’t at all uncomfortable in my church since we have carpet in the area where the pews are.
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I usually sit in the first pew as I chant with the community, and there is no kneeler there. I kneel on the floor without too much difficulty in spite of my age (60), at least until recently. I’ve been having a nasty bout of sciatica which makes kneeling very painful at the moment. I still manage it through the consecration (in Canada we only keel for the consecration, not the entire EP, thank God, otherwise I couldn’t handle it) by supporting myself on the cloister barrier. Even standing has been heck these days and especially if EP I is used, I have to sit partway through.
 
Maximilian75 said:
Since my search of the GIRM says nothing about that, I would believe it is simply parish custom as to when the congregation should sit. While I personally think it is problematic / disrespectful to sit while Christ is on the altar , I dont think the Church has said anything on this.
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It is OK to sit at Adoration. If kneeling keeps your mind disposed better, though, it is better to kneel.
 
This is what I generally do, too. It always felt weird to me, even as a kid, that we are kneeling…kneeling…oh, wait, the priest just sat down, let’s sit down now for five seconds…and now he’s standing again. I find it better to just stay kneeling and continue my post-Communion prayer through the moment of silence after the priest sits down. Otherwise, I’m just breaking my concentration and I waste that silent time being distracted. I’m sure others approach it differently.

But, as others have said, there is nothing in the GIRM regulating it. As TisBear said, I know there is a diocese or two where the bishop has issued some directive on it. But by and large, most people just follow the crowd. It’s almost like a pavlovian response. 😜 Even if you’re not paying attention, as soon as you start to hear “the shuffle” of people sitting down and putting their kneelers up, it sort of moves through the Church like a wave. 😄
 
Tis_Bearself said:
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Maximilian75:
The lack of kneelers in new churches is so strange to me…
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I don’t think we will be seeing this in brand new churches going forward as it’s strange to many and like I said, people just kneel on the floor. Especially young people.
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The kneelers can be installed. 🙂

The parish my brother lives in had foldable chairs for few years, when they built their new Church. They didn’t have enough money for pews right away. But then they eventually installed the pews with kneelers.

But the strange thing was they made such a big deal about the new Church looking “Catholic” and it does on the outside. It was in the newspapers and everything “we wanted our Church to look Catholic, so when you drive by it you know right away that it’s a Catholic Church.” Outside looks great. Inside, not so much. :roll_eyes:
 
Joe_5859 said:
This is what I generally do, too. It always felt weird to me, even as a kid, that we are kneeling…kneeling…oh, wait, the priest just sat down, let’s sit down now for five seconds…and now he’s standing again. I find it better to just stay kneeling and continue my post-Communion prayer through the moment of silence after the priest sits down. Otherwise, I’m just breaking my concentration and I waste that silent time being distracted. I’m sure others approach it differently.

But, as others have said, there is nothing in the GIRM regulating it. As TisBear said, I know there is a diocese or two where the bishop has issued some directive on it. But by and large, most people just follow the crowd. It’s almost like a pavlovian response. 😜 Even if you’re not paying attention, as soon as you start to hear “the shuffle” of people sitting down and putting their kneelers up, it sort of moves through the Church like a wave. 😄
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This literally comes from St Ambrose, when he told people who were asking about different mass traditions, “when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

🙂
 
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