Omigosh...No kneelers!

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I was out of state for a wedding in Az. and was happy to find a Catholic Church close to the hotel I stayed at.
I went to Mass on Sat afternoon, but when I entered the Church (a modern building attached to the school) I was shocked to see folding chairs with no place to kneel, I felt very out of sync after communion…so I knelt down on the tile floor. I suppose I got a few strange looks, but I just felt out of place sitting!
I have always knelt after communion, since I was little.
I remember listening to a CD by Father Larry Richards (Mass Explianed) where he said…if we really knew that Jesus was truely present at the Alter and in the Eucharist, would we ever get off ours knees?
Am I alone here?:confused: …or does anyone else feel this way?
 
remember a photo of Pres Kennedy and wife just before or just after 1960 election, or perhaps while he was still a senator living in Georgetown, and they attended Mass in a Catholic parish that was still building its Church and held Mass in the school gym. There were folding chairs, and JFK and Jackie were photographed kneeling on the floor with everybody else. don’t know why magazine was allowed to fotograph inside Mass, but I do remember to B&W photo
 
Hey Kayla,

I go to the University of Kentucky and sometimes I’m forced, due to time limits, to attend our campus’ Newman Center, which also has no kneelers! I also felt very strange, but I was not as brave as you the first time (God bless you for doing the right thing). I posted to Ask an Apologist on this site and she said that lack of kneelers was not an excuse for standing. So the next time I went (2 weeks ago), I knelt. Like you I also got some strange looks (especially since it was nothing but college students). But you did the right thing!
 
They built a brand new church in a neighboring town and spent a lot of money, but apparently they were too cheap to buy kneelers!

When we went there, my poor little children were so confused. They usually use the kneelers to stand on so they can see over the pew in front of them. This parish tries to be so “inclusive” but they just didn’t think of those of us who like kneelers.

Why did God give us knees if He didn’t want us to use them in worship?
 
Our parish doesn’t have kneelers. We are in a temporary building so we have movable chairs. When I first moved there, I was one of a handful who even knelt for the consecration, let alone after Communion. Father was new too and gradually getting the parish on track. Within a few months of my arrival, he was “reminding” everyone to kneel after the Sanctus and now he “reminds” them after the Agnus Dei too.

My sister and one brother go to churches without kneelers. At their chuches, my family is usually the only ones kneeling at the consecration. I wonder if this is a US thing. We are a bit spoiled. We were in Mexico for vacation and the Church had kneelers in about 1/2 of the church. This didn’t stop anyone from kneeling, even the Religious Ed teachers who were standing at the ends of the pews and didn’t even have seats.

We spent some time on assignment in Venezuela. The Masses here are very crowded with many people standing in the aisles and even out in the courtyard. All kneel.

As a child, our church had regular picnics a few times a year, usually on Sundays. We started with Mass and everyone knelt in the dirt. Now it seems that a lot of people are looking for an excuse and lack of kneelers is a handy one.
 
most of the churches I go to in Mexico are tiny country chapels with cement floors and no kneelers or pews, wooden benches if you are lucky. Everybody kneels, even the old people.
 
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puzzleannie:
most of the churches I go to in Mexico are tiny country chapels with cement floors and no kneelers or pews, wooden benches if you are lucky. Everybody kneels, even the old people.
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Even if it hurts, I love to kneel in worship and prayer. It’s just… worth it. Not even protestants do much kneeling in the first place, and Muslims use so much of the body…

Kneeling is just right! 😛
 
The church I go to has the oddest thing I’ve ever seen–kneeling cushions. They hang on the back on the chair in front of you when not in use. If you’re going to go with those, why not just have the fold down individual kneelers on each chair instead?
 
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Almeria:
The church I go to has the oddest thing I’ve ever seen–kneeling cushions. They hang on the back on the chair in front of you when not in use. If you’re going to go with those, why not just have the fold down individual kneelers on each chair instead?
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Maybe it was a money issue. If they already had the movable chairs (like we do) but wanted to give people something that was “like” kneelers but didn’t want to go out and buy all new chairs. It might have happened because of complaints or a change of pastor from one who was anti-kneeling to one who wanted people to kneel at the appropriate parts of Mass.
 
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kayla:
I was out of state for a wedding in Az. and was happy to find a Catholic Church close to the hotel I stayed at.
I went to Mass on Sat afternoon, but when I entered the Church (a modern building attached to the school) I was shocked to see folding chairs with no place to kneel, I felt very out of sync after communion…so I knelt down on the tile floor. I suppose I got a few strange looks, but I just felt out of place sitting!
I have always knelt after communion, since I was little.
I remember listening to a CD by Father Larry Richards (Mass Explianed) where he said…if we really knew that Jesus was truely present at the Alter and in the Eucharist, would we ever get off ours knees?
Am I alone here?:confused: …or does anyone else feel this way?
Click to expand...
After communion there is no prescribed posture. However, what I did not see in your post is what did everyone do from the end of the Sanctus to the end of the doxology? Kneeling is mandatory at this part of the Mass.

-Ted.
 
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silverwings_88:
Even if it hurts, I love to kneel in worship and prayer. It’s just… worth it. Not even protestants do much kneeling in the first place, and Muslims use so much of the body…

Kneeling is just right! 😛
Click to expand...
Our tradition of kneeling here in the USA stems largely from Church custom in the British Isles – most of which are now Anglican.

Not a lot of kneelers in Europe…
 
Nota Bene:
Our tradition of kneeling here in the USA stems largely from Church custom in the British Isles – most of which are now Anglican.

Not a lot of kneelers in Europe…
Click to expand...
True, European Catholics primarily kneel on the floor. No kneelers required 🙂
 
Most of the Cathedrals we saw in Italy did not have kneelers. Most of the people kneeled but I think most of them were also tourist.
 
Defensor Fidei:
After communion there is no prescribed posture. However, what I did not see in your post is what did everyone do from the end of the Sanctus to the end of the doxology? Kneeling is mandatory at this part of the Mass.

-Ted.
Click to expand...
Everyone else sat in their folding chairs! not one person knelt on the floor but me.:o …but I was sticking to my guns (I mean knees)!
 
After communion there is no prescribed posture. However, what I did not see in your post is what did everyone do from the end of the Sanctus to the end of the doxology? Kneeling is mandatory at this part of the Mass.

We have a Church not too far from my own parish, where they do not kneel, ever. I spoke to the Pastor about this at a meeting shortly after attending Mass there about this and I mentioned what I thought the rule was regarding kneeling - after the Sanctus through the Great Amen. He told me I was incorrect.
 
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kaimpls:
After communion there is no prescribed posture. However, what I did not see in your post is what did everyone do from the end of the Sanctus to the end of the doxology? Kneeling is mandatory at this part of the Mass.

We have a Church not too far from my own parish, where they do not kneel, ever. I spoke to the Pastor about this at a meeting shortly after attending Mass there about this and I mentioned what I thought the rule was regarding kneeling - after the Sanctus through the Great Amen. He told me I was incorrect.
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So there are no misconceptions, this is the instruction from the current 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, except when prevented on occasion by reasons of health, lack of space, the large number of people present, or some other good reason. Those who do not kneel ought to make a profound bow when the priest genuflects after the consecration. The faithful kneel after the *Agnus Dei *unless the Diocesan Bishop determines otherwise.
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The frustrating part is the extremely vague “or some other good reason”. That is very subjective, and I supposed it could be bent to fit whatever subjective opinion one had. For my part I always kneel when it is prescribed, as I can’t think of a good reason to prevent me from doing so (even lack of kneelers).

As for after communion, I grew up kneeling so that’s what I continue to do, except in one situation. If I have to sit in the front row during daily Mass in our chapel (it has those individual seats with kneelers),I won’t kneel…not because there are no kneelers, but because the first row of seats is so close to the steps leading to the sanctuary, I’d block everyone returning to their seats.
 
There used to be kneeling in the Lutheran church. You can still find flip-down kneelers in some of the older churches.

As newer churches were built, kneelers usually ended up being left out for money reasons. There aren’t any requirements to kneel in the Divine Service in a Lutheran Church, though it is allowed at certain points.

If the church has kneelers typically they are used, if they don’t, people never kneel in a LCMS church as far as I have seen.

BTW some members do the sign of the cross during parts of the service and at the Ash Wednesday service the minister did one over his lips before the sermon. The liturgy talks of using the sign of the cross, but few Lutherans use it. :confused:
 
I once spent a week in a monastery checking it out. At daily mass we had folding chairs and kneeling cushions on the floor. The visitors in the back had kneelers.
 
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