No kneelers in a Catholic Church?

[AlbertDerGrosse]

It must be nice never hearing the startling sound of a crashing kneeler.

 

[Shasta-Rose]

Me, too. I’d have to take my little kneely pad thing that I use when I’m crawling into the corners of my bathroom to clean, though.

 

[Phemie]

They tried the vote against kneelers in our parish after they had recarpeted the nave around 2000-01. That was led by two women, one a sister, the other a former sister from the same congregation, who did everything they could to dissuade us from kneeling. In the end the vote was overwhelmingly against the idea of removing them.

 

[Canvas]

That is nothing compared to the sheer trauma of kneeling on a kneeler and the one in the pew behind you is up, especially in an older Church where the pews are less “roomy”.

Catholic problems!

 

[0331]

What was the reason they gave for not kneeling?

 

[Canvas]

It feels like penance itself kneeling on it.

I remember a while back going to a very old, very traditional Church and not only were the kneelers less than comfortable, the amount of time I spent on the kneelers got to the point where it was practically becoming an act of mortification.

 

[Anne1964]

We have one parish in my Diocese with no kneelers. The one time I had to go to Mass there I knelt on the floor.

 

[twf]

What was the reason they gave for not kneeling?

This was a huge thing for the “spirit of Vatican II” crowd…we are the people of the resurrection and thus we stand rather than kneel…
Technically a valid point. The Council of Nicaea forbid kneeling on Sundays for this very reason and the Eastern Churches do not kneel on Sundays (or feasts) to this day… but the tradition of the Latin Church is to kneel in adoration at the consecration.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’ve been in several Catholic churches with no kneelers. If people feel a need to kneel, they just kneel on the floor.

And just to add on, at one of those places (Newman center) almost everyone kneels; at the other places, enough kneel that you don’t feel odd doing it. I usually kneel, unless there is a physical reason why I have trouble or don’t think I should.

 

[Phemie]

The excuse they gave for wanting to remove the kneelers was to protect the new carpet. One parishioner said he’d go in debt and purchase a tougher carpet if need be.

They did convince the pastor at the time that there should be no kneeling, exactly as someone said, “We are a people of the Resurrection.” So just before he left for holidays he told me to announce in the first bulletin in the fall that we would no longer be kneeling at all.

Knowing full well that I would be blamed and they’d say I took advantage of his absence (I was chair of the liturgy committee as well as the parish secretary) I refused to do so. Told him he either had to announce it before he left or it would wait until he came back from holidays. So he announced it before he left. Only a few people continued to kneel and I’ll admit I wasn’t one of them.

This didn’t change until the last Pastor questioned it in 2015. At a meeting he asked, “I’ve never been in a parish where nobody kneels, what do I have to do to get everyone to kneel during the Eucharistic Prayer?” “Father, they were told not to kneel many years ago, they’re just waiting for someone to change the command. Just announce it and you’ll see knees hit the kneelers.” He was quite surprised when we were proved right.

 

[Crusaderbear]

The diocese controlls kneelers in their conxtruction and renovation policy here in Richmond VA…Kneelers were not required for several decades, but are back in now. New construction and renovation must have them.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

That is nothing compared to the sheer trauma of kneeling on a kneeler and the one in the pew behind you is up, especially in an older Church where the pews are less “roomy”.

I attend a couple of those and usually either the person will run to the pew behind to put down that kneeler, or it will just go crash very loudly from someone’s feet sticking back when they kneel.

With respect to the kneelers in old churches being acts of penance, there is a very old church on MD’'s Eastern Shore with tiny old wooden pews and solid wooden kneelers and you pretty much need to take a stadium cushion to Mass or you will hurt bad by the end.

 

[HeDa]

Latecomers to Mass do penance on the stone floors when kneeling during the Eucharistic prayer.

 

[YourNameHere]

I think there should be kneelers in all Catholic churches.
Many people have knee issues and kneeling on a concrete or hard wood floor can be painful.
We are there to give praise and glory to God through prayer and song.
Nothing should take away from our focus on that.

 

[DeniseNY]

Eastern Catholic churches don’t have kneelers; kneeling is not a regular part of their worship.

As with most things, there are always exceptions. My parish,and several in our Archeparchy, utilize kneelers. The history of the parish and the area in which it is located will have a lot to do with it. We do not kneel between Pascha and Pentecost.

 

[babochka]

We do not kneel between Pascha and Pentecost.

In my Parish, we used to remove the pews between Pascha and Pentecost. It is one of my strongest childhood memories of the church. I was in a Latin Rite church for about 15 years. When I decided to return to the Byzantine Church, I waited until after Pentecost because I didn’t want to have to stand the whole time.

We don’t have kneelers, but we kneel on the floor during Presanctified liturgies, Kneeling Vespers, and other times when kneeling is prescribed.

 

[acanonlawyer]

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

I can imagine that it would be a topic of discussion in a parish if, for example, a church was built in stages due to financial limitations (add pews later, stations of the cross later, stained glass windows later, etc.). When it comes time to put in kneelers, then, people might ask "do we have money for this? Do we need this? and so on. So, the pastor would see what the people (who will pay for it) think. Is that what happened in this case? I have my doubts but who knows.

Back in canon law school, one assignment I had was to draft a letter to a bishop to be given a “privilege” to not install kneelers in the parish, after the bishop decreed that all parishes were to have kneelers. It was a made-up scenario but I thought I imagined a credible set of circumstances. No bishop in his right mind would have refused my request.

Anyway, my thought would be: having no kneelers is annoying and un-Latin Rite. Yet, not having kneelers is not (necessarily) “against the law.”

Dan

 

[MD1]

I have not heard of that being put to a vote, but then again I have only been to one Catholic Church that didn’t have kneelers.
May God bless you!

 

[tafan2]

Very skeptical it was ever put to a vote. As others have said, kneelers are not required, but kneeling during certain parts of the mass is (if one is physically able). Now, the only reason churches removed kneelers or were built without kneelers was to end as much kneeling as possible during mass. Without fail, every parish I know that did so tried to enforce standing during the Eucharistic Prayer, and before and after communion. I only know of one church in this area that still has no kneelers, thankfully that fad came and went. The fear is still widespread, if you build a church, you will have parishioners asking about kneelers until they walk into the completed church and see them.

 

[dochawk]

Really? How did he “make sure” that people were kneeling?

There’s always issuing clubs to the ushers . . .

The early puritan churches in the US actually tended to have gangs of thugs to round up anyone who didn’t come to services . . ,

As with most things, there are always exceptions. My parish,and several in our Archeparchy, utilize kneelers. The history of the parish and the area in which it is located will have a lot to do with it. We do not kneel between Pascha and Pentecost.

Wow. Which ritual church? I thought that that had been entirely undone in the US.

hen I decided to return to the Byzantine Church, I waited until after Pentecost because I didn’t want to have to stand the whole time.

I had been bracing myself against the pew to genuflect (bearing weight on my arms), and resting my weight on the pew for years before I moved east.

Not only is the praxis better for my soul, but the posture is better for my knees

We attended an RC Mass this weekend on a staycation downtown. I was impressed with how well my knees were doing . . . and then, most of the way through the Eucharistic Prayer, I was back to supporting my weight on the pew again . . .