My bishop has recently mandated standing during the liturgy where I am not comfortable

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docrock1

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since the NO was promulgated in my old diocese I would always kneel when saying “Lord I am not worthy to enter under thy roof, but only say the word and I shall be healed” and also kneel immediately when returning from communion to pray, my new bishop says to stand, am I obliged to obey?
 
Yes. Obedience is important. The Church is guided by the Holy Spirit and we surrender to God’s Will, not our own.
 
I would follow the bishop’s direction. Consider the unity of posture you’ll share with the rest of the congregation and the bishop’s wishes as symbolic of the unity of the body of Christ.
 
The “NO”? You mean the Mass of Pope Pail VI, known alternatively as the Ordinary Form of the Mass?

When these posture games were played in my diocese long ago, I just chose licit postures and ignored everyone/everything else.
 
Follow your Bishop and the unity of your parish community. The exception would be if you physically are unable to stand, kneel.
 
I’m surprised at this and didn’t know it was still happening. Throughout the 1980s-90s there were a number of area churches near me where the congregation always stood (despite the presence of kneelers) but all are now back to kneeing. I even attend a university chapel with no kneelers and many kneel on the concrete floors. I’m just curious how often it occurs where bishops “mandate” one or the other.
 
What is the penalty for obedience? Saint Francis of Assisi swore blind obedience to his Bishop in all things except sin. We are well advised by the Saint.

Is not unity and obedience to be desired over our personal preferences?

This is your chance to “deny yourself, take up your cross and follow…”
 
I don’t understand why a bishop would order such a thing.
 
docrock1 said:
since the NO was promulgated in my old diocese I would always kneel when saying "Lord I am not worthy to enter under thy roof…my new bishop says to stand, am I obliged to obey?
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When was the NO promulgated in your diocese ?
 
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The bishop is out of line.
This is regulated by the GRIM, the official instruction regulating the mass, which says after communion, people can take the posture they choose.
I have visited several parishes in the U.S. where the people were told to stand after communion. However, instead I prefer to kneel, and so I did.
However, I see why some people would prefer not to stand out. No problem, if they choose to comply with such an instruction, though they actually are not required to stand then.
Why are they being told to do this?
I can only repeat my experience. I went to mass several times when I was at the Catholic shrine in La Salette, France. The Virgin Mary had appeared, and a great church had been built there. When I was at mass, some people knelt during the eucharistic prayer, but some people stood the whole eucharistic prayer, though according to Church instruction they were supposed to kneel then. This shrine is in a remote mountain area, and people at that mass were from all over, and I presumed that in their home parishes in Europe the priests had told them to stand during the entire eucharistic prayer, so that is their practice. I found it interesting that during one mass, the priest told the people there that they should kneel during the eucharistic prayer.
Why were they told to stand during they mass when that was in defiance of Church norms? I presume that they were carrying out some ideology. What precisely this ideology is, I never have tried to find out.
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Clerics who tell their people that they must stand after receiving communion are themselves disobedient to the norms of the Church for how the priest and people are to proceed during mass… --But no problem if someone decides to comply, since actually they are free to stand then if they choose.
 
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The General Instruction asks each country’s Conference of Bishops to determine the posture to be used for the reception of Communion and the act of reverence to be made by each person as he or she receives Communion. In the United States, the body of Bishops determined that Communion should be received standing, and that a bow is the act of reverence made by those receiving. These norms may require some adjustment on the part of those who have been used to other practices, however the significance of unity in posture and gesture as a symbol of our unity as members of the one body of Christ should be the governing factor in our own actions.
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The US Bishops’ explained that the Communion Procession was a time of unity, so we should stand in solidarity with those who receive after us.

This is a norm, but exceptions are allowed if you are too weak or have another good reason for a different posture.

Some dioceses have been lax in teaching about this norm. Since the point is to emphasize unity during the procession, doing what everyone else is doing is the intent. If your church, or a church you are attending, has not adopted standing as the bishops directed, sit or kneel according to what others are doing. ( do NOT leave the church even if that is what most do after receiving)
 
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The norm in the U.S. may well be standing when receiving communion. However, the question raised by the opening post is about standing at other times.
 
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“immediately when returning from communion to pray“ is during the Communion Procession, which is what the biishops were addressing.
 
I can understand your distress!

Sometimes obedience is easier to give than others.

This seems like a very odd decision from the bishop, and one likely to not just irritate people but also make them upset. Why make a local an exception to the GIRM for the sake of his own opinion?

I have a similar experience. In the early '90’s out bishop mandated that our diocese was to use “gender inclusive” language in the liturgy. After that, every time I attended Mass, EVERY TIME, I noticed the gender inclusive liturgy almost more than anything else. This lasted almost 20 years because the new bishop didn’t have the temerity to overrule the previous bishop. It was only fixed when the translation of the Roman Missal came in, in about 2013.

On the subject of kneeling. I recall about 15 years ago that a Candian (I think) bishop mandated that the congregation was to stand during the eucharistic prayer. In one parish, a group of nuns did not comply and knelt. It made the Catholic news, but I didn’t hear the outcome.

You are stuck. Feel uncomfortable complying, or feel guilty and nervous not complying.

🙏
 
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docrock1 said:
since the NO was promulgated in my old diocese I would always kneel when saying “Lord I am not worthy to enter under thy roof, but only say the word and I shall be healed” and also kneel immediately when returning from communion to pray, my new bishop says to stand, am I obliged to obey?
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If you’re in the US, the norm is to kneel after the “Lord, I am not worthy…” UNLESS your bishop has mandated that you should stand at that time. It’s his choice.

In Canada, the norm is the same as the universal norm, which is to kneel only from the end of the Sanctus until “The mystery of faith”, with the proviso that in parishes where it’s been the norm to kneel for the entire Eucharistic prayer and after “Behold the Lamb of God…” it is laudable to keep doing so. Individual bishops have mandated kneeling for the entire E.P. for their diocese and some pastors have done the same. Our former pastor asked us to kneel for all the E.P., this after not kneeling at all for about 15 years because the pastor back then had told us not to kneel. People were delighted to return to kneeling.

The “period of silence” after Communion where the GIRM says it is your choice to sit, kneel, or stand, is more problematic because nobody seems to agree with when that period of silence begins. The Church says we should be singing as long as people are receiving Communion so that period of silence would only begin when everyone has received. In many parishes where the vessels aren’t purified until after Mass there is very little “period of silence” because the priest launches into the Prayer after Communion as soon as he returns to the chair after returning the Blessed Sacrament to the tabernacle.
 
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mdgspencer said:
people at that mass were from all over, and I presumed that in their home parishes in Europe the priests had told them to stand during the entire eucharistic prayer, so that is their practice.
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Insistence on strict uniformity of posture seems to be a specifically American thing. In other countries where I have sometimes attended Mass, some people stand, some people kneel, and yet others – people with bad knees, I guess – remain seated. None of them ever attract disapproving glances of any kind.
 
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In regards to standing after the “Lord, I am not worthy”. It is within the bishop’s authority to mandate that you stand.

In regards to kneeling after you return to your pew after Communion, the Vatican has clarified that in 2003
Dubium : In many places, the faithful are accustomed to kneeling or sitting in personal prayer upon returning to their places after having individually received Holy Communion during Mass. Is it the intention of the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia , to forbid this practice?

Cardinal Francis Arinze , Prefect of the CDW, responded to the question on June 5, 2003 (Prot. N. 855/03/L):

Responsum : Negative, et ad mensum [No, for this reason]. The mens [reasoning] is that the prescription of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani , no. 43, is intended, on the one hand, to ensure within broad limits a certain uniformity of posture within the congregation for the various parts of the celebration of Holy Mass, and on the other, to not regulate posture rigidly in such a way that those who wish to kneel or sit would no longer be free.
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Once the USCCB received the Responsum, they published this in their newsletters to the US Bishops
“In the implementation of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, therefore, posture should not be regulated so rigidly as to forbid individual communicants from kneeling or sitting when returning from having received Holy Communion”
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It would be safe to say that your bishop is not choosing to be disobedient to the Vatican’s instructions. Therefore his instruction CANNOT be taken in such as way that your would not be considered free to kneel
 
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Why is it always about “what I want to do”?
How many parishes obey GIRM 88? Have we read one cmplaint about that on these boards?
  1. When the distribution of Communion is over, if appropriate, the Priest and faithful pray quietly for some time. If desired, a Psalm or other canticle of praise or a hymn may also be sung by the whole congregation.
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