Question about kneeling duriing the Consecration

[ccmcmg]

I’ve been Catholic for over 50 years and don’t remember a time where kneeling was not required during the Consecration. OTOH, kneeling during the Our Father is not an appropriate posture unless you are at a Mass in the EF.

That being said, if you are not prevented from kneeling during the Consecration by a health or safety issue, it shouldn’t matter what others are doing. The rubric for the faithful at that point in the Mass is kneeling. Unity is important but unity with the Church is more important than unity with people who are not following the Church.

Agreed. The whole ‘kneeling vs not kneeling’ actually created quite a division in our previous parish. In fact, after our very FIRST Mass we attended, we were chastised by two other parishoners because we knelt, and ‘they don’t do that’ there. Guess what? Along with many liturgical abuses now rectified, they DO kneel.

I’d agree with that, making a point of doing something different than everyone else draws attention to you and is distracting to the other people there who are praying and is confusing to newcomers. The general instructions I would give to anyone not accustomed to attending mass is to follow the lead of the others there as to whether they should be kneeling or standing.

I prefer to follow my Church, and not the populace. There are many things that are going on around me that might draw off my attention or distracting, but I have to remember to concentrate on MY OWN prayer. The confusion to the newcomers is not the people that are following the proper rules, but the ones that are NOT.

Okay, here we go again. At our parish we don’t have kneelers and we stand during the Consecration. We are expected to stand. When I go to a parish with kneelers I have to remind myself to kneel during the Consecration. I would prefer to kneel. But my understanding is that our priest can ask us to stand during the Consecration.

A lot of us cannot kneel on the floor and I have great trouble doing it myself so I don’t kneel. In our chapel where we have Daily Mass we do have kneelers and we still stand. Except last time when we had a substitute priest at Daily Mass about 75% of the attenders were kneeling.

Personally, I would kneel and not worry about the other guys not doing it. I can understand that kneeling was not required because of the construction going on but that’s passed. Still, if others aren’t doing it, that’s on them. I’m certain that the Priests at your Parish notice this and will eventually say something or pass on a kind and charitable message for them to do so.

God bless and the peace of Christ to you.

Not necessarily. Some priests DO allow for this type of ‘freedom of expression’, and they are wrong.

No, standing because most do makes no sense, but neither is advice from conservatives who say you must kneel credible. If you chose to kneel and nobody else does, kneel…and if you wish to stand when all others kneel, go for it. Liberals and conservatives have their opinions, but only what God thinks counts.

True, what God thinks is all that matters, but if we are to be Catholic, we should adhere to Catholic rules.

This is a tough one. We do owe obedience to our priests, but they owe obedience to the bishop. Whether or not he has chosen to take on this issue personally, the expectations of the bishop are clear. An individual priest does not have the right to change the liturgy of his own accord. Sometimes bishops decide that they have more pressing responsibilities than taking on every “minor” liturgical abuse, but that doesn’t change the anything. The instructions in the diocese that covers most of Northern California (so I’m guessing it is your diocese) are that we are to kneel from after the Sanctus through the Amen, then again after the Agnus Dei until the reception of communion.

I understand what you are saying; however, my first obedience is to our Lord, then to our Faith, which leads from the Vatican down to the parish level. It’s sad when ‘minor’ abuses accumulate, and suddenly you have a plethora of abuses all in one Mass and parish. If my parish priest chooses to disobey or lead as such, I not only have the right to disagree, I have the responsibility.

 

[MissRose73]

My mother’s church has chairs and no kneelers at all. No one kneels at all from the Sanctus to the Pater Noster then after the finish of the Agnus Dei until the Blessed Sacrament is reposed to the tabernacle but that is the norm for churches that have pews with kneelers.

I did see some people kneel during the parts I mentioned at the diocesan cathedral that has no kneelers. That would be really uncomfortable for due to my knee issues, and a padded kneeler makes it easier on me.

Every church I go to for the EF Mass has kneelers but there is more kneeling and genuflecting done more at that Mass type compared to the Ordinary Form.

 

[catholictiger]

I don’t believe there are any countries in which kneeling during the consecration is not the norm. The US adaptation to the GIRM simply dictates a longer period of kneeling. We kneel for the entire Eucharistic Prayer, while the norm in the GIRM (without the US adaptation) states that the people should kneel for the consecration. This is from the GIRM without the US adaptation:

thanks for the clarification

 

[adrift]

I don’t believe there are any countries in which kneeling during the consecration is not the norm. The US adaptation to the GIRM simply dictates a longer period of kneeling. We kneel for the entire Eucharistic Prayer, while the norm in the GIRM (without the US adaptation) states that the people should kneel for the consecration. This is from the GIRM without the US adaptation:

I believe you are correct and what countries I have visited it is what I have observed that all kneel at the consecration. However, it does seem to be a standard myth that they don’t. It should be clarified that we are speaking of the Latin rite.

Quote:
They should kneel, on the other hand, at the Consecration, except when prevented
on occasion by ill health, or for reasons of lack of space, of the large number of people present, or for another reasonable cause. However, those who do not kneel ought to make a profound bow when the Priest genuflects after the Consecration.

Thank you for posting this. My experience is that when there is standing the profound bow is left out.