My priest told me off for kneeling

[anamchara]

So, I request of all the people of the forums:

What are your thoughts on the matter? What should I say to my priest?
Is there really no instruction in the GIRM that tells us to kneel at the appropriate times? If not, where is said rubric?
And why in God’s Almighty name, does a 75ish year old priest hate me kneeling so much? I don’t get it…

I think it’s really too bad that you are having this struggle with your parish priest. I never think it’s a good idea when you are at the point of constantly being at odds with your priest. Especially over something so important to you. It can become spiritually unhealthy for you. I know there is no perfect parish and these things do happen at times, but if this is on going and you are seriously struggling then perhaps finding a different parish is in order. I personally think he is wrong for discouraging you from kneeling. Just my two pennies.

We kneel in CA, at least at my parish we do. I personally wouldn’t like it any other way.

I personally feel it

 

[MTD]

How lucky you were that there was actually space to kneel. You must have a large parish hall.

Um, there wasn’t that much space. I mean, it was sort of clumsy trying to kneel without disturbing the chairs (the chairs were close enough that in order to kneel, one’s feet had to be under one’s chair).

No, he is very intelligent. I think he knows what the church documents say.

Ask him to read no. 43 of the GIRM aloud to you. You’ll see; it’ll say to kneel.

Maria

 

[tee_eff_em]

Ask him to read no. 43 of the GIRM aloud to you. You’ll see; it’ll say to kneel.

Unless Australia is still on the old GIRM – Then it is probably closer to no 21.

tee

 

[blessedtoo]

Anyway, when it came to the Eucharistic prayer, my priest asked us to gather close around the altar. I agreed, with a groan of dispair. As if it wasn’t bad enough.

When the time came to kneel, I began to kneel, and he advised us all to remain standing. That was the last straw, and i politely said “I’d rather kneel, thanks”. He reluctantly allowed it.

The thing is that I was the only one kneeling in a crowd of people standing around a teacher’s desk. Very disconcerting.

Let me offer this perspective. If this confrontation occured during the Mass (which it seems it did according to your post), you may have really embarrassed the priest. Believe me when I say, I completely feel your pain. We have many Parishes here on the left coast that don’t even have kneelers and I usually have a stroke when I walk into one and see that. However, if something like this happened to me during the Mass, and the priest had directly instructed the congregation to remain standing, I don’t think I would have said “I’d rather kneel, thanks.” It sound disrespectful and disruptive. And by insisting on kneeling when everyone else remained standing, you basically drew all the attention to yourself, which, IMO, is never a good thing to do.

 

[BeeSweet]

Once, while on the phone with him, he said that kneeling may be a gesture with a good intention, but has its roots in dictators forcing submission onto people, and that God doesn’t force submission.

No, God does not force submission, aside from the fact that you’re going to hell for not submitting to his commandments.

What are your thoughts on the matter? What should I say to my priest?

My thoughts, and what I believe would best be said to your priest are from the Gospel of Luke chapter 22:

41 After withdrawing about a stone’s throw from them and kneeling, he prayed,
42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.”

Christ found it fitting to kneel in prayer. Why would we be wrong in imitating that?

And why… does a 75ish year old priest hate me kneeling so much? I don’t get it…

Once all is said and done however, he is your priest, and you’re best off giving him respect and doing as he asks, most especially when in front of others. If you don’t agree with him in anything, best to wait for a moment alone with him to address the issue. To have gone against his expressed wishes while in the sight of others may have been felt as a public insult. Our priests are human after all, we need to support them as much as possible. Not to say that at times they themselves don’t need guidence, but we should really treat them with the absolute highest degree of respect, something which is severely lacking in society today, these days of relativism.

God bless you Nekić, and your holy priest. I hope you can help him gently, with love and kindness.

 

[Grace_Angel]

Well…

A couple of weekends ago, my youth group held a kind of retreat, during which we had mass.

It was done in a makeshift chapel (a classroom), with the teachers desk for the altar.
I made sure that I set the chapel up, to make it look as reverent as possible.

Thoughout the mass, we were all arranged in a large circle around the altar, since there were no pews, and that is how we were arranged thoughout the retreat whenever we sat in the chapel.
Anyway, when it came to the Eucharistic prayer, my priest asked us to gather close around the altar. I agreed, with a groan of dispair. As if it wasn’t bad enough.

When the time came to kneel, I began to kneel, and he advised us all to remain standing. That was the last straw, and i politely said “I’d rather kneel, thanks”. He reluctantly allowed it.

Since then, for the past few weeks, whenever I had discussions with him, he’d always try to put me on the spot and ask me why I kneel. Once, while on the phone with him, he said that kneeling may be a gesture with a good intention, but has its roots in dictators forcing submission onto people, and that God doesn’t force submission.

I was stumped.

I have since come up with the following rebuttal:
In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter himself (I think) knelt on the rooftop to pray. God didn’t tell him not to kneel when he had the dream about all animals being clean to eat.

Also, once while in the sacristy preparing myself to serve at the altar, he showed me the GIRM in the front of his missal, and said that there was nowhere in the instruction that instructed the congrecation to kneel - only to stand or sit.
I was very confused.

So, I request of all the people of the forums:

What are your thoughts on the matter? What should I say to my priest?
Is there really no instruction in the GIRM that tells us to kneel at the appropriate times? If not, where is said rubric?
And why in God’s Almighty name, does a 75ish year old priest hate me kneeling so much? I don’t get it…

Hello Daniel, from melbourne Australia,
Tell your priest (it sounds like he is a very young one) that at the name of Jesus every knee bend, every tongues confess that Jesus is LORD. I recently went to Fatima and the thing that remained most with me (though as you can imagine all was beautiful) but the thing that most remained is the image of the young and not so young kneeling and bowing to the ground in the Basilica and at the Capelinha. Particularly at the Capelinha I saw a young man flat out on his front and pulling himself along by his arms doing the pilgrim walk. As I watched him (and still when I think about him) I wept at the humility of this young 20ish young man. He was so beautiful and his face shone. I saw very young other males and females doing the pilgrim walk on their knees, praying the Rosary. I saw young couples doing the same together. And here in Australia we cant kneel? You did well in withstanding the pressure to conform. Perhaps you might be the instrument God uses to help this young man who has given a big YES to his call. And more than that Daniel, pray for him, that he understands the holiness of God.
God Bless
GraceAngel.

 

[Linda_Marie]

I have just consulted my Sunday Missal which has been approved for use in Australia and New Zealand and it says KNEEL after the ‘Holy Holy’ and to remain kneeling until after the ‘Mystery of Faith’ when we are instructed to STAND for the ‘Our Father’ . We are to remain standing until after the ‘Lamb of God’ when we KNEEL for Communion. (where it says “We pray in silence and then voice words of humility as our final preparation before meeting Christ in the Eucharist”. It seems to me that the physical attitude of kneeling contributes to our spiritual attitude of humility before God. We are then instructed to SIT for the Thanksgiving hymn after Communion. Personally, I remain kneeling until the priest sits after Communion. This Missal was first printed in 1986 but I purchased this reprint 4 years ago. My Daily Missal (also approved for use in Australia & New Zealand) has no instructions whatever on whether to sit, stand or kneel at any time. Perhaps it presumes that anyone going to daily Mass knows when to sit, stand or kneel.

God is not a tyrant, but He loves a humble and contrite heart. Not kneeling at this time smacks of pride and a refusal to bend to God’s Will. Kneeling expresses our humility before God, physically present to us in the Eucharist, and acknowledges Him as our Lord, that we actually do submit ourselves to Him, not because we are forced to do it, but because we want to submit our will to His. If Jesus were to manifest Himself to us visibly, would we not drop to our knees in reverence, humility and awe? Well, He is manifest in the Eucharist and it behooves us to express our total submission to Him by kneeling.

I suggest that you contact your bishop or even Cardinal Pell’s office for clarification. This new-fangled idea of not kneeling sounds like liturgical abuse to me and needs to be nipped in the bud before it spreads.

I found this link - “Cardinal Ratzinger - The Theology of Kneeling.” This may give you some more answers.

adoremus.org/1102TheologyKneel.html

 

[Nekic]

Let me offer this perspective. If this confrontation occured during the Mass (which it seems it did according to your post), you may have really embarrassed the priest. Believe me when I say, I completely feel your pain. We have many Parishes here on the left coast that don’t even have kneelers and I usually have a stroke when I walk into one and see that. However, if something like this happened to me during the Mass, and the priest had directly instructed the congregation to remain standing, I don’t think I would have said “I’d rather kneel, thanks.” It sound disrespectful and disruptive. And by insisting on kneeling when everyone else remained standing, you basically drew all the attention to yourself, which, IMO, is never a good thing to do.

You know, I never thought of it that way.
Thank you very much for offering this perspective. I feel quite bad now that I disobeyed my own priest so presutmpuously.
But where does one draw the line?
When the priest starts throwing full chalices of the Lord’s Precious Blood around the sanctuary?
Too late then…
Kneeling to me is important, and I really don’t feel right when I don’t kneel.
I’m damned if I do, and I’m damned if I don’t…

Exactly - I’ve seen precisely one church, in all my travelling around this wide brown land, where people didn’t kneel from the Sanctus to the great Amen. I’m sure the mere fact they do it means it’s required - Nekic can probably back me up that we as a nation are generally too lazy to do such a thing unnecessarily

I back you up 110%.
Australians have evolved to a state of perpetual laziness.

 

[blessedtoo]

But where does one draw the line?
When the priest starts throwing full chalices of the Lord’s Precious Blood around the sanctuary?
Too late then…
Kneeling to me is important, and I really don’t feel right when I don’t kneel.
I’m damned if I do, and I’m damned if I don’t…

Oh man, you have no idea how much I understand! I attended a Church 2 weeks ago in my new neighborhood (I’ve hit them all now, and they’re all the same) and when I walked in I could see there were no kneelers. My heart started pounding and I very nearly left. I stayed in the vestibule for about 7 minutes, praying for God to let me know what to do. I did stay and, as I had feared, no one kneeled. I WANTED TO, but I knew that it would seem almost like an act of defiance in that situation.

Another poster suggested approaching Father after the Mass and I agree. I don’t hold out much hope these days that there will be much change even when we do present these issues but I still believe we should. After my experience at that Church (and the 4 that I visited prior to that one), I wrote to our Archbishop. It will probably do absolutely nothing since the “infection” is so widespread, but I had to voice my concerns. And it’s not just the kneeling: we’ve got the clapping during the Gloria, changing the words of the Agnus Dei, Nuns giving homilies, etc…It starts with something small, like hand-holding during the Our Father, and the next thing you know the Holy Mass is unrecognizable. I guess you have to pick your battles but more importantly, know where and when to fight them. God bless!

 

[LilyM]

You know, I never thought of it that way.
Thank you very much for offering this perspective. I feel quite bad now that I disobeyed my own priest so presutmpuously.
But where does one draw the line?
When the priest starts throwing full chalices of the Lord’s Precious Blood around the sanctuary?
Too late then…
Kneeling to me is important, and I really don’t feel right when I don’t kneel.
I’m damned if I do, and I’m damned if I don’t…

Interesting. Like I said, I’ve only seen anything like it once. That one time, even though the priest invited everyone up to stand up in the sanctuary
for the Consecration, there were several who chose to remain kneeling.

Point being, there is no duty of obedience to our priests that binds us to do something so irreverent - in our rite - and unrubrical as stand during the Consecration. It’s not presumption to disobey. Heck, if you choose to be equally “disruptive” by desiring to receive Communion kneeling and on the tongue and your priest doesn’t like it THAT isn’t presumptuous or disobedient either - it’s called a legitimate option and choice!

You knew that he was violating the GIRM, and now you can presumably gently direct him to the spot where it IS required to kneel.

 

[Friend_Of_Rome]

From experience, it is preferable to kneel only when there are kneelers, pews, etc . . .It is preferable to kneel during the consecration, and that’s what i always do, but in your situation, I would definately have stood. Kneeling would have caused more “movement and disruption” that would have distracted from the Mass. See what I mean? Sometimes, it is your decision, but other times, do what is most respectful to the Lord.

I’m a great fan of the GIRM, unlike many American “Caholics.” Sometimes, however, it is disobeyed, misinterpretted, etc . . .If I were you, I would read it word for word. Maybe, if you want, you could even write to Rome for some guidance. You may not have to write to the pope, maybe just one of the offices in the vatican that could handle such a thing.

 

[Brenda_V]

Well…

A couple of weekends ago, my youth group held a kind of retreat, during which we had mass.

It was done in a makeshift chapel (a classroom), with the teachers desk for the altar.
I made sure that I set the chapel up, to make it look as reverent as possible.

This is the key to what happened in my humble opinion, you were in a makeshift Chapel - in this instance kneeling can be excused, actually should be excused. It sounded like there were plenty of you in this makeshift chapel and to kneel would have been more of a disruption than anything else.

Anyway, when it came to the Eucharistic prayer, my priest asked us to gather close around the altar. I agreed, with a groan of dispair. As if it wasn’t bad enough.

If this groan was rather evident then you had put the Priest in a bad position to begin with (you may have only made an inward groan and not made a face or anything so this might not be an accurate assessment). So, when you chose to kneel (at the appropriate time for your countries GIRM/Rubrics) and you were in this makeshift place your Priest was right in asking you not to - and you were right in obeying him.

I think part of the problem here is the Priest has not let this incident go yet but also maybe OP, you are constantly trying to tell him by your actions that he is doing something wrong? Just the fact that he pulled out the GIRM means he had questioned his own actions in asking you not to kneel.

Now I have to wonder if your Priest also makes a big deal out of your kneeling at the appropiate times during a regular Mass, said in your regular church proper? If not then it was an isolated instance and you need to “let it go” so your Priest can do so too .

Brenda V.

 

[Wolseley]

Since then, for the past few weeks, whenever I had discussions with him, he’d always try to put me on the spot and ask me why I kneel. Once, while on the phone with him, he said that kneeling may be a gesture with a good intention, but has its roots in dictators forcing submission onto people, and that God doesn’t force submission.

I would say to him, “I kneel out of my great respect and willing submission to Jesus Christ, Lord and Majesty”, and then follow it by explaining that God isn’t forcing you to do anything---- you are kneeling because you want to.

Yes, I think he does have bad experiences with the good ol’ days. He constantly refers back to them, about how the faith of the people was ridden with heretical beliefs because of the over-scrupulousness, like people not going for communion because they had sex with their spouse the night before. I don’t know his thoughts on the TLM, I haven’t discussed it with him, but he likes his post-concilliar church the way it is, thank you very much.

All I can say to this is, does he think people become more holy if they have an excess of reverence, or do they become more holy if they have very little reverence?

When I was a child, you walked into a Catholic church, and it was very hushed, very quiet. You knew you were in a special place, a holy place, because people acted in a respectful way. Walk into too many Catholic churches today, and you might as well be on the floor of a stock exchange—the people chatter like a bunch of baboons at the tops of their voices, the hippies in the rock band up on the altar are practicing hot licks on their electric guitars with the Peavey amps, old cronies are crossing the aisles to slap their pals on the shoulders and yell, “Hey, Charlie, how are ya?!?”, and the “liturgical musician” is yelling into her microphone, “Our response today will be found on page number 45—please try it with me!”

Many times I have wondered what Christ thinks of all this. Considering the number of times He withdrew from everything and went to the mountains to pray, I wonder if He ever gets the urge to leave all that racket and din inside the church and go around the corner to a quiet coffee shop, where He can hear Himself think.

 

[John_Lilburne]

Challenging issue. On the one hand the Roman Missal does have instructions on kneeling. From the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal approved for England and Wales:

About “the faithful” it has:
“43. … But they should kneel at the consecration, except when prevented on occasion by reasons of health, lack of space, the large number of people present, or some
other good reason. Those who do not kneel ought to make a profound bow when the priest genuflects after the consecration.
Nevertheless, it is up to the Conference of Bishops to adapt the gestures andpostures described in the Order of Mass to the culture and reasonable traditions of the people.”

Also in n. 179: “From the epiclesis until the priest shows the chalice, the deacon normally remains kneeling.”

These official instructions are confusing. The consecration is short part of the Eucharistic Prayer. Is the deacon meant to be the only one kneeling for a longer part of the Eucharistic Prayer?

In Australia some published Mass books have instructions to kneel from the end of the Holy, Holy until standing for the Lord’s Prayer. (For example Daily Mass Book, E.J. Dwyer, ISBN 0 85574 289 5, Sydney, 1975.) But other Australian publications do not include this (for example: The Order of Mass With a Congregation, St Pauls Publications, ISBN 1876295449, 2001).

Which is correct? Did the Australian Conference of Bishops approve of kneeling for the whole Eucharistic Prayer? Why are the instructions in earlier editions not included in more recent ones?

Here is another part of the GIRM, n. 43: “With a view to a uniformity in gestures and postures during one and the same celebration, the faithful should follow the directions which the deacon, lay minister, or priest gives according to whatever is indicated in the Missal.”

So the lay person is put in a difficult position. Even if you can show that the Australian Conference of Bishops made a resolution, that it still binding, the priest can say for this Mass, in these circumstances everyone standing is better.

On Sundays at the Melbourne Cathedral Archbishop Hart usually sits for the Gloria. I see this as a clear violation of what is in the Missal: “43. The faithful should stand from the beginning of the Entrance chant, or while the priest approaches the altar, until the end of the Collect;” The Ceremonial of Bishops is even more specific: “135 … During the Gloria all stand.” (Ceremonial of Bishops, Liturgical Press, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1818-9, page 53.)

So I stand among a sitting congregation. Here the liturgical books are so clear I think it is wrong to sit.

 

[Nekic]

I think there may be a bit of confusion among some posters.

During normal sunday and daily mass, everyone kneels.
EVERYONE. Except of course the priest.
There are no kneelers in my church, but everyone still kneels. Who cares if you are kneeling on hard carpet, a good catholic has strong knees.

Its just in this instance, Fr asked me to stand.
He seems to think that I love kneeling to an excess.

I don’t believe thats possible.

LilyM,
Do you know where I can find an online version of the Australian GIRM?
These americans (no offense meant) keep telling me that the directive is No. 42, but I don’t know if its the same as the Australian version.

Brenda,
I didn’t make an audible groan, it was totally interior.
And there was PLENTY of room to kneel, and it would have caused no disruption if Fr didn’t ask us to crowd around the “altar”.

Wosely,
I really don’t know what he thinks.
Sometimes, he seems very much on the Trad side. But at others, he seems like the most unthinkable of liberals.
Its confusing.

John,
I am sure the Australian Bishops approved and made binding kneeling from the Sanctus to the great amen.
But i’m not sure if its in our GIRM or not… Thats why I want to read it.

 

[Brenda_V]

I think there may be a bit of confusion among some posters.

During normal sunday and daily mass, everyone kneels.
EVERYONE. Except of course the priest.
There are no kneelers in my church, but everyone still kneels. Who cares if you are kneeling on hard carpet, a good catholic has strong knees.

Its just in this instance, Fr asked me to stand.
He seems to think that I love kneeling to an excess.

I don’t believe thats possible.

(cut)
Brenda,
I didn’t make an audible groan, it was totally interior.
And there was PLENTY of room to kneel, and it would have caused no disruption if Fr didn’t ask us to crowd around the “altar”.

(cut).

Thank you for clarifying . You did right to obey him when he told you to stand and you did (sounds like this was more of a disruption than your kneeling).

I am afraid I don’t know if you can find the Australian GIRM on-line but if you do wish to have further discussion with your Priest about this may I suggest you take him to lunch one day letting him know in advance you want to talk some more about this as you really are confused now so if he could let you peruse his copy of the GIRM prior to lunch you will have an opportunity to have a better idea of what he is referring to and the two of you can have a nice easy discussion about it?

I do agree with you that there is never too much kneeling! I only kneel now where there are kneelers or something at the very least in front of me to help me back up (age and weight have compromised my knees and one is far more sensitive than the other).

Brenda V.

 

[MTD]

These americans (no offense meant) keep telling me that the directive is No. 42, but I don’t know if its the same as the Australian version.

No, Nekic. The no. 43 we are referring to belongs to the typical edition of the GIRM. It is the same for all countries. Trust me. Just ask to see no. 43.

Maria

 

[chicago]

If your priest tells you off for kneeling, simply look up at him sternly in the eye and silently wag your finger back.

 

[John_Lilburne]

In 2002 a new Latin edition of the Roman Missal was published. A new instruction in this GIRM is that each Conference of Bishops is to have a different GIRM. From the USA edition:

“390. It is up to the Conferences of Bishops to decide on the adaptations indicated in this General Instruction and in the Order of Mass and, once their decisions have been accorded the recognitio of the Apostolic See, to introduce them into the Missal itself. These adaptations include
• The gestures and posture of the faithful (cf. no. 43 above); …”

So the Australian Conference of Bishops will have a different Missal, with different instructions, to that of the USA, Ireland and England and Wales. The 2002 GIRM has been published for the USA and can accessed from romanrite.com/girm.html , The England and Wales one can be downloaded as a PDF from catholic-ew.org.uk/liturgy/Resources/GIRM/Documents/index.html . Ireland has published one, but I have not found it on the internet.

But Australia does not have one yet. Elizabeth Harrington wrote at litcom.net.au/liturgy_lines/displayarticle.php?llid=435 “The version of the General Instruction approved at the November 2002 meeting of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference is still awaiting confirmation by Rome. When that is received, the Australian Bishops will establish a timetable for its implementation. Then each Bishop will implement it in his own diocese.”

If one is published tomorrow, with a rock solid instruction for lay people to kneel for the whole Eucharistic Prayer, you will be in a clearer position to tell the priest it is an abuse to encourage lay people to stand.

But today the situation is more difficult. What is the authority? Customs people are used to? Directions of the priest? What was decided around 1970? The directions given in Latin in 2002?

One approach is to find a 1975 Daily Mass Book (E.J. Dwyer, ISBN 0 85574 289 5, Sydney, 1975) like I have shown at romanrite.com/j290102.html . It has clear directions about when to kneel, stand etc. It can be an authority to show to the priest in any discussions.

Another approach is to accept the 1975 GIRM:
“21. For the sake of uniformity in movement and posture, the people should follow the directions given during the celebration by the deacon, the priest, or another minister. Unless other provision is made … They should kneel at the consecration unless prevented by the lack of space, the number of people present, or some other good reason.
But it is up to the conference of bishops to adapt the actions and postures described in the Order of the Roman Mass to the customs of the people. …”

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

Well…

A couple of weekends ago, my youth group held a kind of retreat, during which we had mass.

It was done in a makeshift chapel (a classroom), with the teachers desk for the altar.
I made sure that I set the chapel up, to make it look as reverent as possible.

Thoughout the mass, we were all arranged in a large circle around the altar, since there were no pews, and that is how we were arranged thoughout the retreat whenever we sat in the chapel.
Anyway, when it came to the Eucharistic prayer, my priest asked us to gather close around the altar. I agreed, with a groan of dispair. As if it wasn’t bad enough.

When the time came to kneel, I began to kneel, and he advised us all to remain standing. That was the last straw, and i politely said “I’d rather kneel, thanks”. He reluctantly allowed it.

Since then, for the past few weeks, whenever I had discussions with him, he’d always try to put me on the spot and ask me why I kneel. Once, while on the phone with him, he said that kneeling may be a gesture with a good intention, but has its roots in dictators forcing submission onto people, and that God doesn’t force submission.

I was stumped.

I have since come up with the following rebuttal:
In the Acts of the Apostles, Peter himself (I think) knelt on the rooftop to pray. God didn’t tell him not to kneel when he had the dream about all animals being clean to eat.

God was not prescribing the his behaviour at the public worship of the Church, though ​

Also, once while in the sacristy preparing myself to serve at the altar, he showed me the GIRM in the front of his missal, and said that there was nowhere in the instruction that instructed the congrecation to kneel - only to stand or sit.
I was very confused.

So, I request of all the people of the forums:

What are your thoughts on the matter? What should I say to my priest?
Is there really no instruction in the GIRM that tells us to kneel at the appropriate times? If not, where is said rubric?
And why in God’s Almighty name, does a 75ish year old priest hate me kneeling so much?

I don’t see any “hate” here, from what you tell us​

I don’t get it…

1. Kneeling is not traditional - it came into Church practice because the barbarian tribes knelt to show submission - before that, Christians stood for the Liturgy (as they still do in the Eastern Rites)​

1. The Liturgy of the Mass is for the sake of charity: God’s Love to us, & our return of it to Him - take that away, & it becomes an empty charade. IMHO, to conform to the practice of others in the Liturgy is a form of showing love to God & to them - there is nothing inherently wrong with standing or sitting or kneeling.
2. The posture of the body is less important - important as it is - than the direction of the soul. If we don’t love one another, all the kneeling in the world will be an empty sham. (The Liturgy is not an excuse for us to judge the lack of piety of our neighbours - to do that, is a greater abuse than to mess with the rubrics)
3. If we adopt a different position from our neighbours, there is the danger of “singularity”. The Liturgy is anything but an occasion to display or indulge our own likes or dislikes - it is the Church as a body at prayer, & neither priest nor any member of the congregation has any business to “do his own thing” - however pious that thing may seem (or be); there is time enough for our own personal expressions of piety outside the Mass; which is when we need to put our own ideas aside. Singularity is a form of egotism - it says, “Look how pious & orthodox & right-acting I am”: bad idea. The Liturgy is for us to glorify God, not to advertise our own egos. Piety & those other things are fine, but not as means of our self-advertisement. ##