Processing from the rear of the church

[muledog]

Our bishop has mandated that we now process for Communion starting from the rear pews to the front ones. He has also mandated that we stand and sing continually from the *Domine Non Sum Dignus *until the last person has received Communion.

This means that, instead of kneeling in prayer prior to receiving Communion, we now have to stand, sing a (usually) banal song, and keep looking over our shoulders to see where the Communion line currently is.

Do any other bishops mandate that the procession line for Communion start at the rear of the church and continue to the front pews?

• muledog

 

[asquared]

let me guess, LA right? So. Cal? I think the same rules should apply to the GIRM as apply to reading and interpreting scripture - NO private interpretations, which is what we have all over the country.

 

[SMHW]

I don’t know that I’d call it a ‘mandate’. But Cardinal Roger Mahoney suggested that those in the back of the church should come forward for communion first in his document, Gather Faithfully Together. Perhaps that’s where your bishop got the idea.

And starting at the back is what my parish does. They had all kinds of meetings, usher training sessions, and timing studies to figure out how best to implement communion from the back of the church first. (Well, actually my parish has one of those church-in-the-round setups where the altar is surrounded 360 degrees by seats so ‘back’ is a relative term. In our case, it means communion from the outermost ring of seats first.)

In general, at all the parishes I have attended in the last year, it is expected that one does not leave one’s pew/row of seats until an usher indicates that it is time.

 

[davy39]

I never heard of such a thing. It sounds like another change just for sake of change. Maybe he heard in the reading that “the last shall be first, and the first last”. Who knows where some of these ideas come from.

 

[Crusader]

SMHW:

I don’t know that I’d call it a ‘mandate’. But Cardinal Roger Mahoney suggested that those in the back of the church should come forward for communion first in his document, Gather Faithfully Together. Perhaps that’s where your bishop got the idea.

And starting at the back is what my parish does. They had all kinds of meetings, usher training sessions, and timing studies to figure out how best to implement communion from the back of the church first. (Well, actually my parish has one of those church-in-the-round setups where the altar is surrounded 360 degrees by seats so ‘back’ is a relative term. In our case, it means communion from the outermost ring of seats first.)

In general, at all the parishes I have attended in the last year, it is expected that one does not leave one’s pew/row of seats until an usher indicates that it is time.

In a word, that documents sucks.

 

[deogratias]

In a word, that documents sucks.

In a word that is a disgusting term and not one I would expect to see used on a Catholic forum.

 

[deogratias]

As far as I know there is no rule saying what order the communicants should come to receive communion.

I remember going to a mission Church once where people just got up and went at will in no orderly manner at all.

 

[Joan_M]

deogratias:

As far as I know there is no rule saying what order the communicants should come to receive communion.

Correct.

I remember going to a mission Church once where people just got up and went at will in no orderly manner at all.

A very faithful priest told me that this is the correct way. In fact, he said that it is non-canonical to go up row by row, (he didn’t quote a specific canon at the time, and I didn’t have a chance to ask him) because this manner really points out quite clearly who is NOT going to Communion, possibly showing who is not in a state of grace, or at least leading to such speculation.

Neatness (the reason for “orderly” procession) is, in fact, uncharitable! Unfortunately, this need for neatness and orderliness seems to be widespread.

I remember when, in most churches, people just went up when they felt like it (at the correct time, of course) - some liked to be first in line, some preferred to wait until the crowd had thinned out. It might have been disorderly, but no one would have noted or seen the ones who did not go at all. Much better!

 

[deogratias]

It might have been disorderly, but no one would have noted or seen the ones who did not go at all

Maybe because almost everyone goes now even if they should not.

Or maybe this is why they go even knowing they should not.

 

[Crusader]

muledog:

Our bishop has mandated that we now process for Communion starting from the rear pews to the front ones. He has also mandated that we stand and sing continually from the *Domine Non Sum Dignus *until the last person has received Communion.

This means that, instead of kneeling in prayer prior to receiving Communion, we now have to stand, sing a (usually) banal song, and keep looking over our shoulders to see where the Communion line currently is.

Do any other bishops mandate that the procession line for Communion start at the rear of the church and continue to the front pews?

• muledog

Communion has always started at the back in my parish. It works out well because they people in the last few rows are always the same people and they have perfect timing.

(Not that my bishop instituted it. He seems to be more focused on implementing liturgical dance and other abuses.)

In any event, I kneel and I feel no need to look over my shoulder – I sense when the person next to me is about to get up. This even works when I am sitting on the aisle…

 

[Crusader]

deogratias:

In a word that is a disgusting term and not one I would expect to see used on a Catholic forum.

Be careful that you don’t dislocate your shoulder from patting yourself on your own back for being such a paragon of purity…

 

[muledog]

asquared:

let me guess, LA right? So. Cal? I think the same rules should apply to the GIRM as apply to reading and interpreting scripture - NO private interpretations, which is what we have all over the country.

Actually, I live in northcentral Indiana. Our bishop is an ardent supporter of Card. Mahony, so I guess that explains why we do things the way we do.

Crusader:

Communion has always started at the back in my parish. It works out well because they people in the last few rows are always the same people and they have perfect timing.

Actually, we have to wait for the cross-bearer to go to the rear of the church. He is the one who initiates the procession, and this always seems to add several minutes to the procession and it’s accompanying hip-hop music.

 

[BayCityRickL]

No one has given even a practical reason for starting from the back of church.

I suspect that people sit in the back who want to exit early, and so they want to receive communion early and bolt out.

Our church did that for a long time and I didn’t like it, because everyone is mentally burdened to a greater degree to follow when it is their turn. and, by that I mean, you have to keep looking over your shoulder for your turn.

It makes no sense to me.

And, to add to the charm of going to communion in my church, the ushers are usually greeting everybody as they file out of the pew, with hearty handshakes and the whole nine yards – like it was “know your usher” time in church.

 

[mercygate]

Our parish tried it. Don’t know why. Didn’t work. Went back to the front-row-first system.

Non canonical to go row-by-row? They have a canon for that? I’m from Missouri.