Kneeling/standing in pew b4 receiving Eucharist

[pear]

I’m sorry if this has already been discussed in a previous thread, but I couldn’t find anything…

In my Archdiocese (Seattle) about one or two years ago we started standing instead of kneeling in the pews before going up for the Eucharist, and standing when returning to the pew. I looked in the Liturgy book and it notes that the decision to stand or kneel at these points in the Liturgy is up to the bishops, so it’s not heretical or anything, but I really prefer kneeling because it helps me concentrate more on prayer. I don’t want to be one of those this-is-the-way-we’ve-always-done-it people so I usually stand before receiving the Eucharist, but I do kneel afterwards. Also, my parish is wonderful and very traditional so I know our priest wouldn’t do something that wasn’t in keeping with the Lord.

What do you guys think? Thanks!

 

[Sola]

Pear,

I’m in the same Diocese as you and I went to a different church for Mass this past weekend. It was different from my regular church because they do a lot of standing, too. They stand before the Eucharist (I’m not sure of what the exact parts are called), but they stood while the priest was doing some prayers and while he was doing the blessings/changings of the bread and wine, and many of them also stood when they returned to their pews after receiving. The congregation was mixed after receiving the Eucharist, half of them standing, half kneeling. It was confusing.

Also at this parish all the songs were sung to different melodies than in my old church.

Plus, the priest asked everyone to “hop up” and introduce ourselves to our neighbors before the Mass, but, maybe I need to start a different thread on all the different things they did there.

I prefer kneeling to standing.

 

[pear]

Sola:

Pear,

I’m in the same Diocese as you and I went to a different church for Mass this past weekend. It was different from my regular church because they do a lot of standing, too. They stand before the Eucharist (I’m not sure of what the exact parts are called), but they stood while the priest was doing some prayers and while he was doing the blessings/changings of the bread and wine, and many of them also stood when they returned to their pews after receiving. The congregation was mixed after receiving the Eucharist, half of them standing, half kneeling. It was confusing.

Also at this parish all the songs were sung to different melodies than in my old church.

Plus, the priest asked everyone to “hop up” and introduce ourselves to our neighbors before the Mass, but, maybe I need to start a different thread on all the different things they did there.

I prefer kneeling to standing.

Thanks, Sola. We still kneel during the consecration at my parish. Yikes, when a priest uses terms like “hop up” that’s probably a bad sign!

There are a lot of crazy churches around Seattle and the suburbs, that’s for sure.