The three wrong ways many Catholics are receiving the Holy Eucharist

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The “bowing” thing in the USA is regional to a large degree. Before coming to the diocese where I now am, where people bow, I had lived in two dioceses and visited many more, and never seen the “bow” practice. We also were not taught to bow before receiving in our First Communion training. In recent years I have seen a couple of people who bow in the lines as well as a couple who kneel on the floor to receive, etc. - it’s still not a general practice in many places.

By contrast, the current diocese I am in generally bows. I suspect that perhaps it was taught in the Catholic schools here.
 
Vatican II said:
  1. To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures, and bodily attitudes. And at the proper times all should observe a reverent silence.
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That’s why the Roman Missal enshrined customs like bowing or genuflecting at communion and the Incarnation in the Creed and the slight bow of one’s head at the name of Jesus, etc. Sadly, many of these things are neglected or not even taught.
 
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Last week in my RCIA class we were taught to bow before receiving it in the hand, and to kneel if we were receiving on the tongue.
 

(Welcome to the faith)​

JanSobieskiIII said:
and to kneel if we were receiving on the tongue.
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That may be “practice” in your parish, or the parish in which you are being instructed, but I would not count on it elsewhere. I’ve not been instructed to kneel since the USCCB established standing as the norm in the US.
(So in obedience, I stand, though I tend to stoop to make it easier for short ministers to administer to my tall mouth. I don’t think it is the most dignified posture, but it seems to be what the bishops’ conference desires, and I don’t get self-conscious about it?)

YMMV
 
We have an altar rail for people receiving on the tongue. So you wouldn’t be kneeling right in front of a standing Priest or minister. I do understand that isn’t the norm in most parishes. Our priest is fairly young and a bit of a traditionalist.
 
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Oh, we have an altar rail – It is just no longer used for the administration of the sacrament.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
The “bowing” thing in the USA is regional to a large degree.
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Hmm… no, not really. Maybe it was a common practice in various regions in the past, but with the new GIRM, the gesture of bowing before receiving the Eucharist in either species is now normative.

Perhaps certain dioceses have done a poor job implementing the new norms?
 
It may be normative, but didn’t we just have some discussion on here with one of the priests a short while ago saying that people are not bound to follow norms for Mass positions?

I cannot remember any discussion, anywhere, ever about bowing before Communion. I do remember speeches from the pulpit at 2 different churches about norms for standing or kneeling afterwards when you got back to your seat. I think the Bishop of that diocese had sent out a letter asking the priests to speak on the standing after Communion.

Do you see the bowing everywhere you go in USA? Because I just got back from spending several weeks in one of my former dioceses and maybe 1/5 of people at most were doing the bow in the Communion line. Which is up from the 0 percent who were doing it a few years ago there. Since I now do it myself due to spending a lot of time in a diocese where close to 100% of people do it, I notice when others don’t.
 
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I think it was at the time they changed all the words at mass (I still think the new wording sounds awkward) our parish priest said we were to bow before receiving communion. Before that I’ve never seen anyone bow anywhere, now I see it everywhere, without exception.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
The “bowing” thing in the USA is regional to a large degree.
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No, it’s in the GIRM in the same way that holding hands during the Our Father is not.

And I was under the impression that it was also the norm when I entered the Church in 2004.
 
All I know is what I see. Like I said, just got back from an area where I attended probably 8 churches in 3 weeks. (I am going to daily Mass these days which means I go a lot of different places to find Masses at times when I can attend on different days.) Almost no bowing going on. Sorry, I don’t have any video footage to prove it.

I’m going to keep track from now on when I visit different dioceses on whether they seem to be bow or no bow.
 
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No it occurred before the changes. At one time people genuflected, which I prefer, but there was a fear that people would be tripped over so they changed it to a bow. When I don’t know but this question and answer from Ewtn has a date of Oct. 2005.
A ZENIT DAILY DISPATCH
 
I think you are probably right About half bow, when I taught religion class I made sure they knew they were to bow. That is why the article list the wrong ways we are receiving communion.
 
We were asked to bow here some time back but I think people might kind of revert back to not doing it.Sometimes the priests have rminded people in homilies
 
Bowing and responding with “Amen” are clearly covered in the GIRM.
There is no excuse, including lack of training, that can justify a Catholic not following the instruction for Mass contained in the GIRM.

Copies are readily available online. It can be purchased for $9.00 from Amazon. Maybe parishes should give them away…
 
No one ever bows before receiving Communion in any church I attend in my area. And I never see anyone kneel for Communion. Nor does anyone bow or genuflect when we recite the Creed or beat their breast during the Confiteor. I live in a very progressive area in a very progressive state on the east coast and our parish is also progressive, which may be why no one bows.
 
MtnDwellar said:
There is no excuse, including lack of training, that can justify a Catholic not following the instruction for Mass contained in the GIRM.
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So what are you or anyone else going to do about it if they do not? I haven’t seen anyone denied Holy Communion over lack of a bow, ever. Nor have I seen the priests taking them aside and speaking to them, or making an announcement from the pulpit.

Also, I think some of the elderly people, just based on their posture and how they are moving slowly up to Communion, are physically unable to bow. They could possibly nod, but that’s about it. I would hope that physical infirmity would be an “excuse”.
 
TigerLily-1 said:
I live in a very progressive area in a very progressive state on the east coast and our parish is also progressive, which may be why no one bows.
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That may be for you. I would clarify that of all the churches where I saw no bows, maybe 1 or at most 2 of them might have been called “progressive”. The rest were just the usual bunch of working- to middle-class Catholics turning the crank as usual.
 
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