New Changes to the Mass

[PeteZaHut]

At the beginning of the homily, my priest started talking about how the diocese is adminstering some new changes to our Mass. One of them was that if the church is not equipped with kneelers, we are permitted to stand, but everyone should be in the same posture in order to be unified. This is the situation in our church. I am on a college campus, and it is a protestant chapel. Previously, mosty people would stand during the consecration, but I would usually kneel. I am not going to tell anyone else what to do, but I feel like if I am capable of kneeling, which I am, then I should do it. Does this seem a little ridiculous to anyone else that I am pretty much being told that I can’t kneel during the consecration now?

 

[NPC]

On the one hand, I suppose, you are faced with obedience to the directions on posture which have been given by the bishop; on the other hand you probably ask if there should be any question about kneeling in front of Christ as He comes among us in the Eucharist. The guidelines recommend that if there are no kneelers, then one should stand - it assumes that one will not be prepared to suffer a hard floor in order to offer adoration to Christ by kneeling. If your motivation for kneeling is out of reverence for the Eucharist rather than causing disunity - which it is - I think you should kneel. As I and others have discussed on other threads, standing and kneeling both represent something: standing is the posture for listening (the Gospel), or standing at the final blessing may represent the people being ready as they are sent forth to serve God. Kneeling, on the other hand, is universally seen as an act of adoration. I personally don’t think I would agree with being told that I could not kneel at the consecration - indeed I am for unity among the congregation, but that unity is expressed at Mass in it’s most perfect sense not by whether we kneel or stand, but by the fact that we all share the same Body and Blood of Christ - a unity that goes far beyond the church building.

 

[japhy]

At the beginning of the homily, my priest started talking about how the diocese is adminstering some new changes to our Mass. One of them was that if the church is not equipped with kneelers, we are permitted to stand, but everyone should be in the same posture in order to be unified. This is the situation in our church. I am on a college campus, and it is a protestant chapel. Previously, mosty people would stand during the consecration, but I would usually kneel.

I think you should organize a fund-raiser to pay for portable kneelers in the church. Kneeling is part of our active participation in the Mass, and it’s unfair to you and to the honor of the liturgy to prevent people from having the participation which the Church desires.

 

[benedictgal]

Francis Cardinal Arinze addressed the issue of kneeling during a Q & A session that had been published in the onilne edition of Adoremus:

The rule from Rome would sanction where the bishops said, “in our country we want people to kneel throughout the consecration”. From our office in Rome we will support that. So it is a bit different. But sometimes during the consecration – suppose it is open-air or it rained and it is muddy – you could not kneel there. But in the normal church it is possible to kneel.

And that’s the normal thing: to kneel during the consecration – and even, as in this country, to kneel from the beginning – just before consecration – right down to just before the Our Father. And that is okay.

Where a particular person cannot kneel – you have arthritis or you are a mother holding a baby – that is understood.

Even though he is speaking off the cuff here, Cardinal Arinze’s words make good sense. Just because you may not have a kneeler, that doesn’t necessarily excuse you from kneeling. If you are healthy, the lack of a kneeler shouldn’t be an impediment. When I was at UT, I went to Mass at the University Catholic Center a couple of times and they didn’t have kneelers. Even though the rest stood during the Eucharistic Prayer, I still knelt. Why? I’m healthy. Kneeler or no kneeler, I am still able to kneel. There is no excuse.

 

[John_Lilburne]

Some extracts from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, which support what the priest is saying:
“42. … A common posture, to be observed by all participants, is a sign of the unity of the members of the Christian community gathered for the Sacred Liturgy: it both expresses and fosters the intention and spiritual attitude of the participants.”
“43. … In the dioceses of the United States of America, … Those who do not kneel ought to make a profound bow when the priest genuflects after the consecration. …
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.”
(To look up the complete passages in the GIRM, approved for the USA, go to romanrite.com/girm.html ).

 

[Dai_Yoshida]

Bring a cushion. Bring a cushion for the people next to you. Encourage others to bring a cushion. Problem solved.

 

[Cavaille-Coll]

Strips of dense foam, cut around 1’ x 2’ x 2" thick, can be easily distributed for kneeling upon and stacked for storage. It is a cheap, quick-fix solution that may not be aesthetically perfect but solves the problem.

 

[Aramis]

A good neck-roll (tubular) pillow makes an excellent kneeler, especially if slightly overstuffed.

 

[MusicMan]

Yeah, if I were going to break “uniform” standing posture and kneel in a church (or area of the nave) with no kneelers, I’d just kneel on the floor. No pillow, no foam, no padding, just kneel on the floor.

 

[Dai_Yoshida]

Yeah, if I were going to break “uniform” standing posture and kneel in a church (or area of the nave) with no kneelers, I’d just kneel on the floor. No pillow, no foam, no padding, just kneel on the floor.

Good for you. I used to do that. I’m getting old and I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. Thank God I don’t have to resort to anything like that in my current parish. OF or EF, our pastor does everything by the book and then some. We even have optional communion kneeler for OF.

 

[mangy_dog]

At the beginning of the homily, my priest started talking about how the diocese is adminstering some new changes to our Mass. One of them was that if the church is not equipped with kneelers, we are permitted to stand, but everyone should be in the same posture in order to be unified. This is the situation in our church. I am on a college campus, and it is a protestant chapel. Previously, mosty people would stand during the consecration, but I would usually kneel. I am not going to tell anyone else what to do, but I feel like if I am capable of kneeling, which I am, then I should do it. Does this seem a little ridiculous to anyone else that I am pretty much being told that I can’t kneel during the consecration now?

Pete,

You go ahead and kneel. I kneel also. I work at a hospital as a patient advocate and when a priest is called to a patient’s room, I kneel when he opens the Pyx. You have a righteous reverence for the Body of Christ…- you be the example, the salt of this earth!!

I am proud of you and I thank God for people like you.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum, Pete.

 

[joshhackerspmdo]

i find that kneeling on the carpet is much easier on the knees the using the kneelers at my parish.