The Bishop and the Eucharist

[ZDHayden]

I recently spoke with my parish priest concerning kneeling for reception of the Eucharist. He stated that, while I am free to do so, I will be acting against the wishes of the Bishop, as the previous Bishop issued a statement to the effect that all communicants should receive standing up with a slight nod of the head at the word ‘Amen.’ He said that, until the current Bishop issues a statement to the contrary, assume that the previous Bishop’s wishes are still active.

I’ll be honest, the response was disappointing. If the Church is correct, and the bread and wine become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, then should we not treat the Eucharist with upmost respect? This, I think, is especially important if the statistics on this are right, that a vast majority of American Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence.

What should I do? Write the Bishop, or is it a small matter that I should just let go and go with the flow of things?

Thank you.

 

[malphono]

I think the priest already answered the question: anyone who prefers to receive kneeling is free to do so. It doesn’t seem that he said he would not accommodate that preference, so if one prefers to kneel, then go for it.

 

[jeanne71350]

I recently spoke with my parish priest concerning kneeling for reception of the Eucharist. He stated that, while I am free to do so, I will be acting against the wishes of the Bishop, as the previous Bishop issued a statement to the effect that all communicants should receive standing up with a slight nod of the head at the word ‘Amen.’ He said that, until the current Bishop issues a statement to the contrary, assume that the previous Bishop’s wishes are still active.

I’ll be honest, the response was disappointing. If the Church is correct, and the bread and wine become the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, then should we not treat the Eucharist with upmost respect? This, I think, is especially important if the statistics on this are right, that a vast majority of American Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence.

What should I do? Write the Bishop, or is it a small matter that I should just let go and go with the flow of things?

Thank you.

You have every right to kneel if you want to. If someone stops you, they are wrong. You might want to watch this video, the guy reads a lot of doctuments on this from Rome: youtube.com/user/kolbe1019#p/u/11/gkOZg0xty6s

It honestly does not make sense to me why the norm when entering a Church is genflecting out of respect for the Tabernacle (most people do this) but when Christ fully present in the Eucharist is right there, there is only a head nod!

-Jeanne

 

[ZDHayden]

Thank you both. The links were very helpful, jeanne.

 

[Zekariya]

Standing is not incorrect. The Orthodox and Eastern Catholics stand during Sunday Divine Liturgy and from Pascha (Easter) until Pentecost.

The First Ecumenical Coucil:

“Canon XX.
Forasmuch as there are certain persons who kneel on the Lord’s Day and in the days of Pentecost, therefore, to the intent that all things may be uniformly observed everywhere (in every parish), it seems good to the holy Synod that prayer be made to God standing.”

ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.vii.vi.xxx.html

 

[drforjc]

Standing is not incorrect. The Orthodox and Eastern Catholics stand during Sunday Divine Liturgy and from Pascha (Easter) until Pentecost.

The First Ecumenical Coucil:

“Canon XX.
Forasmuch as there are certain persons who kneel on the Lord’s Day and in the days of Pentecost, therefore, to the intent that all things may be uniformly observed everywhere (in every parish), it seems good to the holy Synod that prayer be made to God standing.”

ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.vii.vi.xxx.html

Standing is not incorrect insofar as it is allowed by current Church legislation. However, later Church legislation can supersede disciplinary decisions (not dogmatic decisions, but your example is clearly disciplinary), even when made by an Ecumenical Council.

 

[Brendan]

I recently spoke with my parish priest concerning kneeling for reception of the Eucharist. He stated that, while I am free to do so, I will be acting against the wishes of the Bishop,.

Even if the bishop wishes otherwise, you would not be disobedent to him, as the Vatican has stated that anyone kneeling to recieve is not to be considered disobedient or acting illictly

As the authority by virtue of whose recognitio the norm in question has attained the force of law, this Dicastery is competent to specify the manner in which the norm is to be understood for the sake of a proper application. Having received more than a few letters regarding this matter from different locations in the United States of America, the Congregation wishes to ensure that its position on the matter is clear.

To this end, it is perhaps useful to respond to your inquiry by repeating the content of a letter that the Congregation recently addressed to a Bishop in the United States of America from whose Diocese a number of pertinent letters had been received. The letter states: “… 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. Indeed, the faithful should not be imposed upon nor accused of disobedience and of acting illicitly when they kneel to receive Holy Communion.”

ewtn.com/expert/answers/kneeling_for_communion.htm

The authority for this norm is not the local bishop, nor even the USCCB, but the Vatican itself. And under Canon Law ( Canon16), it is the legislator who may issue authentic interpreations (and only the legislator).

This is what the Vatican is referrring to in the first part of the quote above.

There are a total of three responses from the Vatican concerning the application of this norm, print them out and provide them to the priest you referred to.