Should we make the sign of the cross when we genuflect to enter/exit the pew?

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Some of my fellow parishioners do this, but some don’t. I would like an official answer if at all possible.
 
JChapel said:
Some of my fellow parishioners do this, but some don’t. I would like an official answer if at all possible.
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Outside of Mass you can do whatever you want, there is no “official answer”.

During Mass the GIRM 273-275 discuss genuflection, bowing, and reverence of the Book of the Gospels.
 
JChapel said:
Some of my fellow parishioners do this, but some don’t. I would like an official answer if at all possible.
Click to expand...
This is a matter of custom and personal preference. There is no official answer.
 
The custom (and it is a custom), as I understand it, is that one genuflects when passing in front of the tabernacle (with our Lord present) and bows when passing in front of the altar. In some parishes, the tabernacle is behind the altar; in others it is in a side chapel. So what I do depends on what’s in front of me. 😉

Some people get into a habit of something or other without knowing why, some are limited by mobility or other factors, some may choose to honor the Lord’s presence in a different way.
 
JChapel said:
Some of my fellow parishioners do this, but some don’t. I would like an official answer if at all possible.
Click to expand...
If you were accompanying in a liturgical procession the priest who was presiding, as an altar server for example, then you should not make the sign of the Cross when you genuflect.

For those who are in the congregation, there is no rubric that prescribes or proscribes making the sign of the Cross while genuflecting. It is left to the individual. All else being equal, you will in any event have just made the sign of the Cross with holy water when you entered the Church, as you would again customarily when you leave.
 
I genuflect typically twice when entering and twice when leaving.

Once, with my Holy Water if I see the tabernacle, and again when I enter my pew.

I do the same again twice as I leave.

I typically Cross myself each time
 
I notice many people will do so nearly time they enter and leave the pew in the EF but not always in the OF. I will do so when first entering and when leaving after the dismissal. If I have the rare need to go to the bathroom, sometimes I do so other times I don’t.
 
As others have said, there is no official answer to your question. Some make the sign of the cross, some don’t. Personally, I do not. I have already made the sign of the cross with holy water when I entered the Church so I genuflect on my right knee and bow my head in the direction of the Tabernacle…usually holding onto the pew in front of me to help me on the way down and on the way up…🙂
 
Bow to the altar, genuflect to the Blessed Sacrament. At our abbey, the tabernacle is in a side chapel. So upon entering or leaving one’s pew, one bows to the altar. If entering the side chapel, one genuflects.

Genuflection is an act of worship and is thus reserved for God’s presence. Bowing is an act of reverence (towards the altar on which the sacrifice takes place).

The monks always bow to the altar, unless the Blessed Sacrament is present on it, for example at adoration. Friday we had first Friday benediction after Vespers, and the schola, when coming into the center of the choir to sing the chants, all genuflected in unison towards the Host in the monstrance. Otherwise when they enter or pass the altar, they bow.

Even if pressed for time, when I go to Mass at the abbey, I will make at least a quick visit to the Blessed Sacrament chapel and there I genuflect to the Real Presence. But when I go to the nave to take my place in my pew, I bow.

Liturgical gestures, and even these gestures such as these done outside the actual liturgy but in the spirit of it, have precise meanings.

Similarly, one bows to the Crucifix except on Good Friday and the Feast of the Holy Cross (coming up next week on Sept. 14th) when one genuflects towards it.
 
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