Priest says no Kneeling, prefer no receiving Communion on tongue

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Duane1966 said:
I had a different perspective of the communion rail growing up than you did. Was it wrong of me to post my perspective, since it was different than yours?
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I am glad you posted your experience as it is the same as mine. I don’t disbelieve LongingSoul. I am quite sure that was her experience I do find it strange. I never had to keep together with my family as I would find them in the pew when I returned to it. Of course, many of the times I received was with my class and my parents weren’t even present. I don’t know if my classmates were afraid. It was never mentioned.
 
I did a quick scan of the thread and I didn’t see anyone bring this up.

I would be very frustrated to hear a Priest say something like this.

I only receive on the tongue. There are practical reasons why someone would receive on the tongue…forgetting what is considered more reverent or not.

When I’m in the communion line…it’s almost a certainty that I’m at least carrying a very grabby 18 month old.
I keep her hand out of the way so she doesn’t make a swipe at the host.

Also, I usually have my three year old…walking along side me and holding my free hand.

It’s way too cumbersome and complicated to rearrange the kids so I have two free hands for the host.

Suffice to say…my hands and arms are totally preoccupied and it makes more sense for me to receive on the tongue.

Not to mention…this is the only way I’ve ever learned how to receive the host. I’d be unsure what to do if I had to receive on the hand.
 
If you insist on recieving on your tongue, that’s fine – after all you’re entitled to.

Just don’t get upset when some elderly priests (with shaky hands) choose not to distribute communion.
 
By the grace of God, the archbishops of Vancouver have retained the altar rail at our cathedral. We have 7 well attended masses on Sunday and 4 daily masses each day of the week, and at all you always have the choice to either go up the centre aisle to receive standing or to go up on either side to receive kneeling at the altar rail. By my estimation it’s about half and half at all masses. There are 7 priests in residence so the priests come out at the appropriate time to help distribute communion for each mass leading to very few EMHCs even with thousands of parishioners. I noticed one comment on this thread regarding how long the altar rail takes. In my personal experience at multiple parishes it’s actually much faster.
 
adrift said:
I am glad you posted your experience as it is the same as mine. I don’t disbelieve LongingSoul. I am quite sure that was her experience I do find it strange. I never had to keep together with my family as I would find them in the pew when I returned to it. Of course, many of the times I received was with my class and my parents weren’t even present. I don’t know if my classmates were afraid. It was never mentioned.
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My experience is the same as yours. Even when my parents were present it was not important to me to be kneeling close to them to receive. We just slipped into a vacated spot and waited.

I don’t recall the distribution of Communion at the altar rail to have taken long - except at Midnight Mass and the Good Friday service because at those times almost everyone received and the church was packed.
 
GoGoDiego said:
According to Eucharisticum Mysterium:

34. … In accordance with the custom of the Church, the faithful may receive communion either kneeling or standing. One or the other practice is to be chosen according to the norms laid down by the conference of bishops.

From the GIRM:

160 … The faithful may communicate either standing or kneeling, as established by the Conference of Bishops.

And from the USCCB:
  1. The norm for reception of Holy Communion in the dioceses of the United States is standing. Communicants should not be denied Holy Communion because they kneel. Rather, such instances should be addressed pastorally, by providing the faithful with proper catechesis on the reasons for this norm.
You may either receive communion on the hand, as stated by the USCCB or on the tongue.
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GoGoDiego

You are quoting the rules that were in force up until 2004. In that year Eucharisticum Mysterium was supersed by a new Instruction from the CDW, titled Redemptionis Sacramentum, as I pointed out in my post #15 on this thread:
BartholomewB said:
Galnextdoor

Your old priest is definitely wrong. No doubt about it. The Congregation for Divine Worship issues Instructions from time on time on the correct procedure for the celebration of mass, including the question of communicants receiving kneeling or standing and on the tongue or in the hand. The two most recent Instructions of this kind were Eucharisticum mysterium in 1967 and Redemptionis Sacramentum in 2004. In the matter of kneeling/standing to receive the Eucharist, there were not one but two significant changes from the 1967 Instruction to the one that followed in 2004.The two changes mutually reinforce each other:

***Dropped: ***The faithful should willingly follow the manner of reception indicated by the pastors so that communion may truly be a sign of familial union among those who share in the same table of the Lord (Eucharisticum mysterium, No. 34).

***Added: ***it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing (Redemptionis Sacramentum, No. 91).

You may point out to your priest, if you choose to, that he is eleven years behind the times. He is still following Eucharisticum mysterium, in which the priest’s decision overrode the individual communicant’s preference. Since 2004 it has been the other way around.

In case you’d like to print out the relevant bits of Redemptionis Sacramentum — or even the whole thing — here’s a link for you:

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html#Chapter

One last point. In the event that the priest should try and drag the USCCB into the argument, remind him that a national bishops’ conference, whether in the United States or anywhere else, is not empowered to rewrite an Instruction issued by the CDW.

Good luck!

Regards
Bart
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corsair said:
So to avoid all this debate, I just go to an EF Mass where I do not have to even worry about it. if it bothers you, just go to the Mass of your choice, both are valid.
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People do not have a choice about what type of mass they can go to. Before I moved, I would have to drive 65 miles one way to go to a different mass.
 
twf said:
By the grace of God, the archbishops of Vancouver have retained the altar rail at our cathedral. We have 7 well attended masses on Sunday and 4 daily masses each day of the week, and at all you always have the choice to either go up the centre aisle to receive standing or to go up on either side to receive kneeling at the altar rail. By my estimation it’s about half and half at all masses. There are 7 priests in residence so the priests come out at the appropriate time to help distribute communion for each mass leading to very few EMHCs even with thousands of parishioners. I noticed one comment on this thread regarding how long the altar rail takes. In my personal experience at multiple parishes it’s actually much faster.
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When I was in another state recently, I had the privilege of attending mass at a church that still had the altar rails. It seemed to me that the it was faster. The priest doesn’t have to wait for each person to step up and bow before receiving. I thought that if a person cannot kneel before God before receiving him, then who should we kneel to.

I just wish that receiving on the tongue and kneeling were not perceived as “bad” by some priests.
 
Galnextdoor said:
People do not have a choice about what type of mass they can go to. Before I moved, I would have to drive 65 miles one way to go to a different mass.
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Catholics throughout history and around the world, go to extraordinary measures to receive the Eucharist. In Russia, China and other countries who’ve been hostile to Christianity over time, gathered in basements and secret holes with meagre means and makeshift altars and utensils to attend Mass. Some didn’t see a Priest for years on end and had to make the best of the Sabbath in their hearts.

It just seems insane to me that people are so distraught because they can’t kneel and be different to the communal gathering because it isn’t holy enough for them, when it is meant to be a shared communion with each other and Christ.

These are true first world problems that would make our ancestors in faith shake their heads.
 
LongingSoul said:
These are true first world problems that would make our ancestors in faith shake their heads.
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LongingSoul

It’s interesting that you should see this as a first-world problem. I live in a large Catholic third-world country, Brazil, and I have never heard anybody mention this kind of problem at all. In a half-dozen different parishes where I have attended mass regularly over the years, the breakdown of communicants who opt to receive kneeling or standing and in the hand or on the tongue is always very much the same. About 80 percent standing, in the hand; about 10 percent standing, on the tongue; and about 10 percent kneeling, on the tongue. It would be unthinkable for a priest or, worse still, a mere minister of the eucharist, to presume to “correct” a communicant.

I should add that communion here is always in one kind only. The chalice is only for the clergy and servers at the altar and, even then, usually only by intinction.

As for kneeling, no churches in Brazil have altar rails or kneelers. When we kneel, we kneel on the floor. It helps, I suppose, that this is a warm climate where the temperature never falls below about 40. The floor is never too cold to kneel on.
 
I haven’t read all the replies, so maybe this has already come up, but maybe this is a situation of an old man getting crabby (or crabbier) as he ages? I generally find the best way to deal with folks like that, priest or no, is to give them a wide berth and pray for them.

If he tends to say the same Masses, avoid them if you know he will refuse to administer on the tongue and that’s your preference. Or just receive in the hand because that is a licit option in the US even if it’s not your preference. Or receive from an EMHC if they will still administer on the tongue (also permitted even if not your preference).

It sounds like this priest is more frustrated about his likely declining abilities than anything. I don’t see at all how complaining is going to help, even if communicants have the right to receive how they wish.

If I was in this parish, and he was the only priest, and I knew he was going to raise a stink about it, I’d just receive in the hand and offer a prayer up for the priest and his declining health.
 
LongingSoul said:
These are true first world problems that would make our ancestors in faith shake their heads.
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Probably, if nothing other than the fact that virtually everyone receives today while they didn’t. Sometimes I wonder with all the hostility felt around communion time how anyone is disposed to receive in the first place.
 
My parish priest has no issues with the few people who prefer to receive on the tongue, but I’ve never seen anyone at my church kneeling to receive but I do see them at other churches I go to (but its rare to see). Those who choose to kneel and on the tongue usually sit in the back and make sure they are the among the last to receive.

I am also an EMHC at Mass, and if some assumes the position to receive on the tongue, I don’t question it & I dont touch the mouth nor the tongue when distributing Holy Communion.
 
There is one youngish man (somewhere in his thirties) that does kneel Holy Communion at our Sunday Mass. But he is also an EMHC and brings Holy Communion to the homebound. After Mass, he goes up to the Tabernacle and helps himself to Hosts out of the ciborium. I don’t understand why he kneels for Holy Communion and receives on the tongue. :confused:
 
George_Stegmeir said:
I am very uncomfortable with having Holy Communion in the hand. I guess it is because I grew up being taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Jesuits that touching the Host with unconsecrated hands was a sacrilege.
This was back in the 1940’s, well before V II.
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Me too. I never was able to do it.
 
LongingSoul said:
Why do people want to kneel and receive on the tongue? I remember the old communion rail days as a kid. It was scary trying to stay with the family especially when you knelt down after father had passed and your parents received but you had to wait for the whole cycle to come around to you again. It was always a source of worry for us kids.
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For one, because I don’t like putting things in my mouth after shaking hands with people. Frankly, I’ve seen too many people in my life leave the restroom without washing, or sneezing or coughing into their hands. It’s quite fascinating that people still do these things, think no one notices, and just automatically expect others to shake hands or touch them and act all offended when we don’t.

The other reason is that I feel closer to the Eucharist by receiving on the tongue. I’ve been told that is how it always used to be done.
 
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