Obedience or Disobedience... liturgical policies?

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diggerdomer said:
For those following the GIRM as approved for the U.S. I was not aware of this. I didn’t realize there were occasions where the minister can choose. Can you help/clarify? Thanks.
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Here it is:
92.] Although each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, at his choice,178 if any communicant should wish to receive the Sacrament in the hand, in areas where the Bishops’ Conference with the recognitio of the Apostolic See has given permission, the sacred host is to be administered to him or her. However, special care should be taken to ensure that the host is consumed by the communicant in the presence of the minister, so that no one goes away carrying the Eucharistic species in his hand. If there is a risk of profanation, then Holy Communion should not be given in the hand to thefaithful.179
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So, then, unlike the reception of Holy Communion on the Tongue, there is an instance where one should not be receiving in the hand when the risk of profanation occurs.
 
diggerdomer said:
For those following the GIRM as approved for the U.S. I was not aware of this. I didn’t realize there were occasions where the minister can choose. Can you help/clarify? Thanks.
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In addition to what Benedictgal already posted, there are some practical reasons for denying Communion in the hand in favor of Communion on the tongue.

Here are a few examples:

If a person has unwashed hands. I don’t mean “stained.” I mean if someone is being disrespectful by knowingly attempting to receive with unwashed hands, such as a young person who’s been “playing in the mud” or some such. This is different from someone who has “stained” hands because of work or a hobby, even though they might be stained, they were still cleaned.

When I say Mass at the high school, I don’t allow Communion in the hand to students who have used their hands as notebooks. I’m not going to place the Body of Christ onto a palm that has a drawing of a heart with the words “Suzy luvz Eddie” and “Jackies new cell 212-555-1212”. And yes, that does happen.

And yes, the (then-called) Congregation for Divine Worship addressed this issue of clean hands in 1985.

Someone who is obviously not about to receive in the way that the rubrics describe. Examples: a woman who is also carrying a purse in one hand, or a parent carrying a child. Not only are they unable (or sometimes unwilling) to receive in the way the Church describes, but the danger of the Host falling is obvious. I’ve also had people try to receive in the hand while holding a cell phone. Note the word “try.”

Another reason would be the rare times when I have no choice but to break apart the Hosts because there aren’t enough. In that case, the danger of crumbs falling is very real and I won’t give on the hand–only on the tongue.

The minister cannot choose the manner in which the communicant receives. However the minister can (and sometimes even must) refuse on an individual basis to distribute on the hand IF the communicant doesn’t intend to receive with due reverence, according to the rubrics, or if there’s some danger of outright profanation (such as walking away with the Host).
 
Monica37 said:
Saw the title and was thinking the same question recently but for a slightly different reason. I am away from my regular parish for awhile. I have limited choices so often I attend a quite liberal parish. I realize that I put myself in that situation and deal with most of what I see going on, but they do not kneel at any time during the Mass including during the Consecration. We are temporarily in a gym that has no kneelers, but is not wanting to kneel on the bare floor a reason to not kneel? I have been to many churches in the area and their kneelers are just solid wood and people kneel on those. My question is, I feel terrible not kneeling at the Consecration, but I don’t know if I am supposed to go along out of obedience. The other thing is that I am very conservative (I wear a veil anyway), and have been accused at previous parishes of trying to be “holier than the Pope” which is absolutely not true, but I don’t want to put anyone off here, as it is a very small community. What is my obligation at the Consecration? Sorry to hijack, but it is still a question of obedience, I think.
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We have a parish nearby that has no kneelers (built in the early 80s, I believe). When we attend there I kneel anyway. But - I believe standing for the consecration is an approved option. What makes me crazy at the parish in question is that people don’t stand, they SIT through the consecration. That’s just disrespectful.
 
A related situation to this conversation would be the circumstances of people who find themselves in the queue behind someone who insists on receiving on the tongue, thus potentially putting the people who receive after them at risk.

Is a person who is concerned about the virus (immuno-suppressed, perhaps, or just hypervigilant) faced with the choice of abstaining from Communion indefinitely in order for others to exercise their right to receive on the tongue? Is there a Romans 14 application here?

(This is not hypothetical. I know a number of people who are being advised by physicians that they should not attend Mass at all.)
 
NHInsider said:
We have a parish nearby that has no kneelers (built in the early 80s, I believe). When we attend there I kneel anyway. But - I believe standing for the consecration is an approved option. What makes me crazy at the parish in question is that people don’t stand, they SIT through the consecration. That’s just disrespectful.
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We had the Mass for Thanksgiving Day in the school cafeteria of my old parish. The new pastor told us that if we were healthy, then, we needed to kneel. The only ones who could not kneel were the elderly. If they could not stand for long periods of time, then, he told them to stay seated.
 
NHInsider said:
We have a parish nearby that has no kneelers (built in the early 80s, I believe). When we attend there I kneel anyway. But - I believe standing for the consecration is an approved option. What makes me crazy at the parish in question is that people don’t stand, they SIT through the consecration. That’s just disrespectful.
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From the GIRM: “In the dioceses of the United States of America, they should kneel beginning after the singing or recitation of the Sanctus until after the Amen of the Eucharistic Prayer”. Standing is permitted under extenuating circumstances (a true standing room only Mass, the inability to kneel; not a poorly designed church).
 
benedictgal said:
We had the Mass for Thanksgiving Day in the school cafeteria of my old parish. The new pastor told us that if we were healthy, then, we needed to kneel. The only ones who could not kneel were the elderly. If they could not stand for long periods of time, then, he told them to stay seated.
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We had a parish expansion last year, so for months Mass was celebrated in the parish hall.

Everyone who was physically capable knelt then too.
 
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