No Kneelers in some catholic churches?

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In my diocese, a previous Archbishop, Cardinal Dearden, supported the practice of not having kneelers. So quite a number of parishes that were built in the late 70ā€™s, early 80ā€™s were built without kneelers.

But every bishop since then has required that if a parish is renovated or substantially altered, kneelers must be installed.

So there are a few parishes left in the Archdiocese that do not have kneelers, but not many.
 
kpschaffert said:
Whatā€™s this about? If I canā€™t make mass at my parish Iā€™ll go to St. Paschalā€™s at a later timeā€¦however, they have no kneelers??? I find this very disrespectful to our faithā€¦apparently this is a ā€œProgressive parish.ā€ Has anyone else witnessed this? :confused:
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I have been to a few churches without kneelersā€¦like St. Peterā€™s Basilica and St John Lateranā€¦are they disrespectful and progressive?
 
My 1970ā€™s vintage parish church has no kneelers. We have been informed by the powers that that we are to stand during the consecration. A few people kneel. During Lent we are asked to kneel (on the floor.) I do and it is a challenge getting up. At least a third of the attenders donā€™t kneel during Lent, some are very elderly. I follow the norm during Mass and donā€™t kneel. I would prefer we had kneelers and kneeled. We have flimsy wooden chairs that can be moved and stacked. I wonā€™t contribute to the new chair fund because I see no reason to have padded chairs. What we need are wooden pews with kneelers.:dts:šŸ˜ƒ
 
When I go to Lourdes they have no Kneelers so just use my jumper and kneel on that
 
Classicist said:
The Eastern Christians consider kneeling to be an act of servitude, penance, and heaviness in sin. They never kneel during the liturgy on Sunday, during Easter, or on major festival days. This is their whole mindset and culture.

Eastern norms were not invoked by the first generation of liturgical-progressives in the West. They just wanted to remove any sense of servility or solemnity, because apparently those things disrespect human dignity or make God into a disapproving jail-keeper. Only after several decades have progressives pointed to the East to justify their dislike of kneeling.
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Since this particular thread concerns kneelers in a Latin Rite Church, I fail to see the relevence of discussing why Eastern Catholics donā€™t kneel.

In the Latin Rite, we do kneel and have done so for a long long time, irregerdless of what the Eastern Catholics do or donā€™t do. They have their traditions and we have ours.

If there are no kneelers, as there are not in a lot of Churches worldwide, kneel anyway as the rubrics do call for it. Kneelers are not essential anyway, anymore than are communion rails necessary to receive Holy Communion kneeling and on the tongue.
 
I remember someone asking if kneelers were required. The answer was kneelers were not required, kneeling was. I find it to hard to kneel on most kneelers. That is why I kneel on the floor which I find more comfortable most the time. Once the floor was made with pebbles in them.

I know of two parishes without kneelers. They are in two different diocese. The Bishop ordered one of them to get kneelers.
 
My home parish does not have kneelers. It was designed that way. There are numerous churches throughout Europe which have neither pews nor kneelers. At one point it was suggested to the pastor of my home parish that kneelers be installed as part of a parish upgrade. When I spoke to him about it, I pointed out that we could do that only at the cost of losing seating capacity. He said the architect had already told him that. Due to the structural configuration of the building we cannot enlarge the nave without tearing down the whole building. We wonā€™t ever put in kneelers because we are already bursting at the seams. We have two vigil Masses on Saturday as well as five Masses on Sunday and the church is pretty well filled at all of them. As there is little space between pews, we do not normally kneel, but stand reverently. Remember that it is the attitude of the heart that matters, not the posture of the body.

Reb Levi
 
I have never had the privilege of belonging to a parish with kneelers or where everyone knelt. Attending at a parish with all that is still a very exotic, special experience for me, like hearing Latin in the mass or confessing in an old-fashioned confessional.
 
Aelred_Minor said:
I have never had the privilege of belonging to a parish with kneelers or where everyone knelt. Attending at a parish with all that is still a very exotic, special experience for me, like hearing Latin in the mass or confessing in an old-fashioned confessional.
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Iā€™m so sorry.
 
Aran_Houlihan said:
When I go to Lourdes they have no Kneelers so just use my jumper and kneel on that
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We donā€™t have jumpers in America so that is not an option for us. I suppose we could use a jacket or something like that, but here in the deep south I generally keep my jacket in the back of my lorry when I go into Mass.

-Tim-
 
When I substitute as an usher and the pews are full we kneel on the tile floor at the appropriate times, at least on one knee. Yes it does hurt.
 
Yes - kneeling on a tile floor hurts. In fact, once I knelt on a tile floor during the Mass, I passed out due to lack of circulation to my legs, and I hit the tile stairs leading to the Altar. Owch!
 
kpschaffert said:
Whatā€™s this about? If I canā€™t make mass at my parish Iā€™ll go to St. Paschalā€™s at a later timeā€¦however, they have no kneelers??? I find this very disrespectful to our faithā€¦apparently this is a ā€œProgressive parish.ā€ Has anyone else witnessed this? :confused:
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My parish church for several years had no kneelersā€¦ not particularly progressive, though, in the sense of dissent. IIRC it was something to do with moneyā€¦ I just kneeled on the carpet, which hurts, but I would just offer it up to the Lord.
 
Iā€™m pretty sure that parishes are now required to have them, since in the Rubrics it encourages people to kneel during the consecration, ectā€¦
 
Daniel_Lysinger said:
Iā€™m pretty sure that parishes are now required to have them, since in the Rubrics it encourages people to kneel during the consecration, ectā€¦
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Is this a relatively new requirement? I havenā€™t attended a Catholic Church in over a year. But 2 of the 4 parishes I used to visit had no kneelers. I would see maybe at most 2 or 3 people kneeling on the floor but by far most didnā€™t.
 
I learned something new here about the Eastern Catholic tradition. Interesting. Although I respect that we have different traditions, etc, I canā€™t imagine not kneeling during the consecration. Whenever I attended a church that did not, it always seemed inappropriate.
 
Daniel_Lysinger said:
Iā€™m pretty sure that parishes are now required to have them, since in the Rubrics it encourages people to kneel during the consecration, ectā€¦
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The rubrics actually donā€™t encourage anything. They say to kneel. Period. Not you can, not please do it, not we would really like you toā€¦ It generally says All kneel or kneel.
 
Our parish has no kneelers. There is no kneeling at Mass, either. Pebbly stone floors would make it an act of corporeal punishment, and one would stand out as trying to ā€œshow others up.ā€ Our pews are long rows of attached wooden chairs, so it is somewhat like a typical pew, except that everyone has a specific seat. The hymnals go into slots between each chair.

This is not done out of irreverence to Christ, as our parish is reverent. Just a difference in style. We stand when some others would kneel, in the same way you would stand to greet a dignitary or stand when someone important joined your dining party. We bow profoundly when the priest elevates the species.

It seems odd now when I go to other parishes that do kneel, as I am totally out of the practice.
 
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