No kneelers in a Catholic Church?

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wisdom_3_5

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We recently visited a parish where there were no kneelers. One of the parishioners told us that the congregation voted not to have them when they built the church (built in the late '80’s or early 90’s I think)

I never heard of that before and not something I thought would be up for a vote.

Any thoughts or comments?
 
Eastern Catholic churches don’t have kneelers; kneeling is not a regular part of their worship. But voting on it? That’s odd.
 
Kneel on the floor/ground!
Not all churches have kneelers but people stil kneel. I kneel at home without a kneeler. It works fine. I am in no need of any kneeler at church. I cannot talk for the other church goers.
 
Exactly. I spent all of my youth kneeling on the floor. (no carpeting) The pews were reserved for the old and fragile. And I still kneel on the floor now when the pews are full.
 
I’ve belonged to a rural parish for over 30 years…the parish covers several hundred square miles, and has four [formerly six] worship sites…all our worship sites are essentially one-room multipurpose buildings, with altars, folding chairs, and no kneelers.
We do have the advantage of being able to reconfigure the chairs for classes, dinners, receptions, and extraordinary Masses, such as the Easter Vigil…
In our parish, pews and kneelers would be impractical.
 
There is a church down the road from my house that has no kneelers and has a altar in the center of the church when it was built it had a traditional altar but for some reason they took it out it also makes it almost impossible to go to communion with the priest everyone holds hands for the Our Father. That church is a last resort for me and when I do I kneel. It’s a interesting experience my normal parish has kneelers but none in the sanctuary so when I altar serve I kneel on the floor.
 
Kneelers are optional. Most Catholic churches in America have them because they make kneeling more comfortable for the faithful but they’re not required. Saint Joseph Cathedral of the Diocese of San Jose doesn’t have kneelers (it doesn’t even have pews, instead it uses chairs attached to each other).
 
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wisdom_3_5 said:
I never heard of that before and not something I thought would be up for a vote.
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If there are no kneelers, kneel on the ground if you are physically able.

While a parish could decide whether or not to provide kneelers, they can’t decide whether or not to kneel, the rubrics of the mass determine that.
wisdom_3_5 said:
Any thoughts or comments?
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I’ve been in a few churches that didn’t have kneelers. When kneeling is called for, kneel on the floor.
 
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If this was done to keep people kneeling during mass, I don’t think it is good.
The Catholic norm is to kneel during the eucharistic prayer.
However, there can be understandable reasons why there are no kneelers during mass. There are Sunday masses in a local mall in the city where I live where naturally there are no kneelers. (The masses are given by a local parish.)
 
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I can’t imagine omitting or removing kneelers to prevent people from kneeling. If there’s a floor, people can kneel. I have yet to see a functioning church that didn’t have a floor.

One of my parish’s churches is more than 500 years old. It didn’t always have seating and has never had kneelers. Kneelers in this area are extremely rare. I’ve been told that it’s never been a widespread practice to have them here.
 
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When I live in an Augusta, GA suburb, Mass was held in a separate building from the church, as the church was still being built, and some people weren’t kneeling. We got a Polish priest that made sure that, if you were physically able to, you’d kneel.
 
If the floor wasn’t carpeted I’d probably have to bring something padded with me to kneel on. I’ve kneeled on composite stone floors like some churches have and can only tolerate it for a minute or so.

Of the four churches I attened on a regular basis, all of them have kneelers; three out of four have nice comfortably cushioned padding. The fourth one which was built only a couple of years ago has what feels like burlap with no cushioning. It feels like penance itself kneeling on it. Better than kneeling on stone, though.
 
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With the exception of many monastaries and convents in europe where the position is either standing or sitting, that’s a new one.
 
Sometimes I prefer to kneel on the floor because it’s more comfortable than the kneelers
 
I’ve been surprised when visiting some churches over here that the kneelers have been done away with and kneeling isn’t done…not many though, and I go ahead and kneel regardless .
Or some modern style churches where the seating makes it uncomfortable and awkward to kneel ,so many people have stopped (I can think of two I’ve visited recently)
 
I went on a cruise ship once and of course the priest offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in some random room. I didn’t kneel the first time, but my second day I did and noticed people started to kneel too (unless they were elderly)… kneel is good
 
adamhovey1988 said:
When I live in an Augusta, GA suburb, Mass was held in a separate building from the church, as the church was still being built, and some people weren’t kneeling. We got a Polish priest that made sure that, if you were physically able to, you’d kneel.
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Really? How did he “make sure” that people were kneeling?
wisdom_3_5 said:
One of the parishioners told us that the congregation voted not to have them when they built the church (built in the late '80’s or early 90’s I think)
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Our parish recently increased the space between each row of pews and installed new kneelers. They are the plushest kneelers I have ever seen. Extremely comfortable.
 
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