Scared genuflection will lead to trampling

[Dr_M]

My parish priest told us that you only need to genuflect when the Blessed Sacrament is present. At our church most bow reverently when arriving at the main santuary for Mass and the crucifix only is present. Many still genuflect however including me. Our church is of modern design with the Blessed Sacrament kept in a room off the santuary so it is really only present during the Mass; not before and not after so I guess technically genuflecting is not necessary if our priest is correct.

Your priest is absolutely correct. You do NOT genuflect to the crucifix, only make a profound bow…However you DO genuflect to the Tabenacle…The Modern Churches are designed with the banished tabernacle

 

[GaiaOne]

I have given up genuflecting. Bum knees. Tryng to get up afterward makes a miserable spectacle that distracts from why I am there. For those of you who genuflect, God bless you and more power to you. I miss it.

 

[daeve]

I, too, am unable to genuflect. Injuries to both knees, 30 years abusing my knees as a dancer and the rest of my years abusing my knees by being fat (stopped dancing, not eating) AND arthritis put an end to that. I wouldn’t be able to get back up.

But I have noticed that most of the people in my parish do genuflect entering and leaving.

As for leaving early, I think that because somebody just said the Mass is over, they figure it’s time to leave.

 

[neophyte]

Whatever happened to genuflecting? Maybe 10% of my parish does it upon entering, and virtually none do it upon leaving. I myself have been afraid to genuflect at the end of Mass for fear of being trampled by the exiting stampede, or starting a domino-like human train wreck if someone trips over me. I’m thinking of maybe staying after Mass every time to let everyone go so I can genuflect in peace.

Anyone else feel this way?

At times like that my impulse is to wait until the high point of the rush, and then genuflect with great care, deliberation, prayerfulness and an absolute lack of hurry.