Our Father

[Monica37]

Just about my whole parrish holds hands. My family and I do not. We are a small parrish and most know how I feel and are really good about it. I just saw from many of ya’ll’s (yes I’m from the South!) posts that the priest should not encourage or discourage it and that he should be in the orans position. My priest holds the hands of the altar servers. Is that right? Not that it makes any difference, they will do what they will. Sorry, but I am weary of it all now.

 

[msproule]

Monica37:

My priest holds the hands of the altar servers. Is that right?

No, it is improper for him to do this. While the posture for the faithful is not (yet) defined, the priest’s most certainly is:
GIRM 152. After the Eucharistic Prayer is concluded, the priest, with hands joined, says the introduction to the Lord’s Prayer. With hands extended, he then says this prayer together with the people.
And for a concelebrated Mass:
GIRM 237. Then the principal celebrant, with hands joined, says the introduction to the Lord’s Prayer. Then, with hands extended, he says the prayer itself together with the other concelebrants, who also pray with hands extended and with the people.
“Hands extended” does *not *mean “hands joined with those around him”.

 

[needmorelight]

thistle:

Who said the 1950’s?
20 to 30 years are decades( two and a half)!!

I also don’t agree with your statement about the gestures not being approved. Bishops all over the world have approved them and that is within their authority to do so. Therefore you cannot say they are not approved or proper. That is purely your opinion but not a fact.

I live in the Philippines. As far as I can remember in the early 1980’s, people have been holding hands (or pray in the orans position) during the Our Father. I think I’ll ask my grandmother how they prayed the Our Father in the Novus Ordo mass before this supposed innovation came up. In case you’re interested, this is what the our Archdiocese of Manila said about holding hands:

rcam.org/news/2005/no_ban_on_our_father_singing_holding_hands.htm

 

[thistle]

needmorelight:

I live in the Philippines. As far as I can remember in the early 1980’s, people have been holding hands (or pray in the orans position) during the Our Father. I think I’ll ask my grandmother how they prayed the Our Father in the Novus Ordo mass before this supposed innovation came up. In case you’re interested, this is what the our Archdiocese of Manila said about holding hands:

rcam.org/news/2005/no_ban_on_our_father_singing_holding_hands.htm

I also live in the Philippines (in Manila) and at my local church and other churches I have attended people mostly hold hands but those who don’t hold out their hands palms upturned and I have never heard of anyone complaining about that. I don’t see anything irreverent about it.
Thanks for the website.

 

[needmorelight]

thistle:

I also live in the Philippines (in Manila) and at my local church and other churches I have attended people mostly hold hands but those who don’t hold out their hands palms upturned and I have never heard of anyone complaining about that. I don’t see anything irreverent about it.
Thanks for the website.

You’re welcome . From numerous threads about posture during the Our Father it seems to be a controversial topic in the US, some bishops explicitly prohibit holding hands and the orans posture. All I can say is check with your diocese.

By the way, I found an article at the ewtn library about this “hot” topic. To quote a few paragraphs:

*"Some readers asked if the U.S. bishops’ vote against allowing the “orantes” posture meant that this gesture was forbidden in the United States. The bishops, in deciding not to prescribe or suggest any particular gesture during the Our Father, did not therefore proscribe any particular gesture either.

The bishops’ conference decision does limit the possibility of another authority such as a pastor or even a diocesan bishop from prescribing this gesture as obligatory. But it need not constrain an individual from adopting the “orantes” posture nor, in principle, stop a couple or small group from spontaneously holding hands.

While **holding hands during the Our Father is very much a novelty ** in the millenarian history of Catholic liturgy, the “orantes” posture, as one reader from Virginia reminds us, is as old as Christianity, is depicted in the catacombs, has always been preserved in the Eastern rites and was not reserved to the priest until after several centuries in the Latin rite — and even then not everywhere. " * Whole article here:

ewtn.com/library/Liturgy/zlitur10.htm