There’s been much talk here about obedience and disobedience, about unity and disunity.
Are you aware that the universal norm is kneeling for Communion?
Does that make the Church in America disobedient to the universal Church, or in disunity with Her?
Many of the bishops who desired the different norm have since resigned in disgrace. In many instances in their office, they did not have the Church’s best interests at heart.
I wonder if the norms were being decided upon now, if there would be a different outcome. No matter. What has been decided has been decided. But from The Vatican’s response to the American bishops, one can almost feel that it is we here in America who are pushing the envelope and insisting on doing things according to our own whims and desires.
"…while this Congregation gave the recognitio to the norm desired by the Bishops’ Conference of your country that people stand for Holy Communion, this was done on the condition that communicants who choose to kneel are not to be denied Holy Communion on these grounds."
I followed this issue very closely as it unfolded. The Vatican tried to steer the American bishops very prudently, but we were like rebellious adolescents, wanting it “our way.” The Vatican specifically said that Girm n. 160 needed to be modified so that no one who knelt to receive Holy Communion was treated with disrespect for doing so by priests, deacons, and lay ministers in particular, and was told to include something to that effect in their adaptation. So, the bishops adapted it to read that it would handled pastorally. We all know that the way it is phrased makes it sound as though those kneeling are doing something wrong, and the Vatican insists that that is not the case.
"Indeed, the faithful should not be imposed upon nor accused of disobedience and of acting illicitly when they kneel to receive Holy Communion".
One might be able to call hand-holding during the Lord’s prayer a whim, as there is no traditional basis for this posture. Not so with kneeling. Kneeling to receive Holy Communion is not a whim; it’s a universal norm, which cannot be made “illegal, illicit, or disobedient” just because we are attending Mass in different country. A whim might be to do a cartwheel before receiving Holy Communion.
Stop and think a moment: Do you suppose when a person dies and his soul is judged by the Just Judge, that he will be punished for kneeling before the Body and Blood of their Lord? God knows our hearts. If we are kneeling in arrogance, pride, or vanity, He knows it. If one is kneeling in humble adoration and true contrition for his own unworthiness, God knows that to.
When one inisists upon this poorly-worded “law” in the US to the extent that the rest of the universal Church is discounted and the counsels from the Vatican in the aftermath are portrayed as having little authority here sounds legalistic, Pharisaical, and arrogantly American, as the Europeans so often charge. We’ll rule ourselves, no matter what the Vatican says, it seems to say. Those who do as the Vatican says, they’re wrong for following “whims.”
That’s a great abuse!!! Receiving Communion without proper disposition, etc., etc., etc. I’m sure I could come up with more but I’m sure you can find a number reading through RS. For the life of me, I can’t remember holding hands during the Our Father labeled as an abuse by Rome. It might have been but I just can’t remember. Heck, it might even be in RS. I don’t prefer is though because it is distracting. We don’t do this in my Church so I don’t give it much thought.
