NO Kneelers

[KatieD]

My parish doesn’t have kneelers either, and I believe behavior is less reverent than if we had them. When people enter the church, rather than kneeling in prayer, they start visiting with their friends, talking in pretty loud voices.

Apparently, 25 years ago, our previous pastor announced that we didn’t need kneelers, stained glass or statues. Many of us are hoping that when some remodeling is done, kneelers will be added.

 

[pray4peace]

At our church, there are no kneelers. This is a church I have been going to for years, and just love! My brother finds this troubling, and for that reason, won’t go to mass there unless it is an event for my children (i.e., communion, baptism, etc.)

What is the Church’s stance on no kneelers? Is this considered an abuse? No preferred? Our pastor is a canon lawyer who served as a canon judge. I always felt confident that he knows what he’s doing. (And still do…I love the man!) But I’m troubled by my brother’s reaction.

There is a Catholic church in our city that does not have kneelers or pews, just chairs, and where one would kneel everyone stands. I always feel like I should be kneeling when I go there. I think it is okay to stand, but I do prefer to kneel.

 

[pray4peace]

Well, I did some investigating and it seems we should be kneeling even if there are no kneelers, unless physically impossible to do so or lack of space.

catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9712qq.asp

Here are the postures we are to use at Mass:

usccb.org/liturgy/girm/bul3.shtml

I learn something new everyday here.

 

[Dirk_Skene]

I will kneel at certin (forgive spelling) points of the Mass. I will kneel at Communion. Rome says this is OK. No One, therefore has the right to say otherwise . Even a bishop. But you may want to buy a 3’ piece of styrophome

 

[allaussie]

If your parish is anything like the parishes I’ve known in Australia there’s probably not enough money to modify or replace all the pews, but perhaps you could try to work on organising members of your church to make some kneeling cushions. They don’t need to be fancy, a simple square of cushion foam with a fabric cover would work. I’ve seen an Anglican church which had cushions that hung beneath the seat with a ring attached to the cushion and a hook screwed into the underside of the seat.

 

[tcraig]

Perhaps I am wrong but it sounds to me like the real issue here is that there is no kneeling in this church, not that there is a lack of kneelers.

Exactly.

 

[TraderTif]

I’ve been on a mission to attend a mass at every church in my diocese, and I’m starting with all of my local churches. I went to one last week, and the pews had no kneelers. But, then again, this building is also used as the local United Church of Christ. (So there’s no tabernacle either).

It’s a really nice parish though, and I’d love to go again. I’d also love to kneel…but the pews (all 18 of them) are so close together, and they’re solid underneath…I can’t kneel there.

Still…it’s interesting. I’ve never seen a Catholic parish and a Protestant community share a building before. (The priest gave a very good homily too!!)
Tif

 

[Discipline]

I hate to repeat myself on multiple threads which cover the same topics, but apparently it is necessary.

There are churches which were designed with pews or other seating but without kneelers (remember that there are many churches, including cathedrals in Europe which have neither pews nor kneelers). **Seating arrangements in churches with pews which lack kneelers will accommodate more people in a smaller floor space. ** As building costs are related to square footage, the cost of building a church for a thousand worshippers is lower if it is designed without pews. If the rubrics which allowed the construction of the church to these parameters change, the reconstruction of the church to add kneelers is costly and reduces the seating capacity. For this reason it is unlikely that the pastor would alter the seating arrangement. Please note further that the chancery office is always consulted regarding the architectural design of a new church building. The chancery is well aware of how the church is built and approval was given at the time it was built.
If the church has pews but no kneelers, it is usually very awkward to try to kneel. As a result many parishes without kneelers stand from the preface to communion. The directives from the council of bishops and the GIRM should be treated with respect, but they are not as hard and fast as some would like to think.

Matthew

Actually that’s not the case. First, the spacing of fixed seating is often set by building code, not by comfort level – even in older churches. Second, if there is enough room to sit in a pew, there is enough room to add kneelers that fully retract and do not require increased spacing between pews. There are companies that specialize in doing just that.