When Did Your Parish Start Holding Hands At The Our Father?

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This hand holding thing really cracks me up. Talk about a bunch of old Catholics getting all caught up in their panties on a non issue. I would get the idea that some folks were severely potty trained by an evil nun and now are afraid to hold hands, like they might get smacked with a ruler… What does this take away from your 1 hour worship service, (God forbid it should go 1 hour and 15 min or we‘ll be in the parking lot talking about how windy the Priest is)? Are you afraid that you’ll get germs? You are about to go share a cup of wine (sic) with 200 other people. Talk about germs, yuk!!! Oh, I guess in the old days only the priest received the blood of Christ and the rest of us, while kneeling at the communion rail, received the Blessed Sacrament on our tongue. I do hope he washed his hands with soap and water before the mass began. I have seen the little finger bowl rinse and that hardly qualifies. Maybe it should go back to that way of the past. Oh and we need to turn that priest around and face him the other way, and maybe we should use Latin more than we do.

In my parish, we hold hands during the Our Father, Thanks Be to God. And when a sign of Peace is exchanged, it is often a kiss (Liberals). With the major abuses going on in the Church and the Mass, this whole issue seems ludicrous to me, but then I’m not a cradle Catholic, but one of those… converts.
 
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Cleindian44:
So, what is wrong with it?
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Nothing. Some people just don’t like it, and that’s OK, too.
 
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GloriaPatri4:
I’ve been wondering the same thing.

Did the holding hands start on the east coast or the west coast? I doubt if it started in the Midwest, more than likely it started here in California. Judging by the poll and the people who voted between the years 2000 and 2005 it looks like it is still spreading.
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I don’t know if it started in California or not but I suspect it started in small gatherings outside of Mass which spread to small group Masses (other than Sunday Mass). When these small groups got together on Sundays they kept up the practice. Eventually the whole parish followed suite.
 
I don’t know where or when it started in the United States. From 1980-1982, I was stationed in Central America. At the Church I attended in town the Priest was very liberal, militant and liberation theology oriented Most of his Sunday Masses were thinly veiled political statements, in which Jesus Christ was actually a revolutionary more than the Son of God… The weekly Masses, particularly in the evenings were all I guess what you could call Charismatic style Masses with lots of handclapping, tambourine playing, speaking in tongues etc. They always held hands during the Lords Prayer.

After coming back to the States I lived in South Texas, and even though our parish was incredibly liberal, you just don’t know how liberal :eek: , they did not hold hands. I first saw it in the United States 1996 when I came to San Diego.
 
Our parish didn’t start holding hands during the Our Father until the early '80s. Being very young, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that, and besides, it felt like we were giving ourselves physically (tho symbolically) up to God, and that God’s Church was expressing the fact that we are all One Body in Christ. It is not until recently, after a significant re-coversion (another story in itself) that I realized that Mass was a time of reverence and sacredness, and now, when I go to daily Mass, I no long attempt or allow anyone to hold hands with me, nor do I hold my hands up in the orans position, as so many of my fellow parishioners have a tendency to do. I’m starting to see a lot of younger, deeply faithful Catholic adopting the same gestures that I and Jimmy Akin adhere to during the Our Father…funny thing is the older people in our parish seem very set on the hand holding (kinda of a seek-and-capture-ya! game in the pews!)

Oh well.

Tonks40
:confused: :cool:
 
This is apparently pretty widespread. I went to weekday Mass at a church in Memphis, TN tonight as I’m out of town on business this week. They hold hands too!
 
We used to hold hands as common practice, but then our Archdiosese came out with a whole bunch of “new” regulations I guess for the mass, including bowing before you recieve the host (which we never really did, but some chose to on their own before anyway) and NOT holding hands during the Our Father. It was quite a shock to me because I’ve been doing it my whole life. Our pastor said simply that between families we can still chose to hold hands, but he can no longer lead the practice from the alter. It was something about the Our Father being a vertical prayer, not a horizontal one…and I guess holding hands made it horizontal? But yeah, I’m always unsure because, while our church no longer does, other churches I sometimes go to still do hold hands. It’s kind of like kneeling during the Consecration. I, as well as a few others in my church, chose to kneel, but it’s not a common practice through our whole church…but then go to another church and EVERYONE kneels without question. I’m not really sure why there’s all these differences, I was told it was something to do with the different orders and rights your parish was associated with…huh, I don’t know:)

In Him,
Britty
 
The holding hands thing was not happening in our church in the 1970’s, when I was a kid. Then, because of family problems, we did not go to mass through most of the 80’s. Then I started to attend mass again in the 90’s, and suddenly everyone is holding hands during the Our Father! I was surprised and disturbed by this change. I am not a touchy-feelly type of person, so this really bugged me. Now, it is not exactly encouraged or discouraged in our church, which is OK for now. But, I have had to discourage my boys from doing this because it is not correct form, plus I do not want them holding the hand of a STRANGER. I would like to see it go away.
 
This issue is hilarious. Holding hands during the Our Father is so despised on this forum. Why is this treated like an abomination that is threatening to bring down the Church?

Personally, I like it. I think it’s a great community gesture, and for those of you who think that the “Our Father” is only a private prayer between you and God, take a look at what you are saying…

OUR Father… give US this day, OUR daily bread… forgive US OUR trespasses…

Sounds like we should be united in our love of God, loving each other like Jesus taught us, humbly asking for His blessings.

…so what’s wrong with holding hands again?

Pete
 
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JackPaul:
With the major abuses going on in the Church and the Mass, this whole issue seems ludicrous to me, but then I’m not a cradle Catholic, but one of those… converts.
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In my opinion, it’s exactly due to the major abuses that have many of us casting a squinted eye at anything that isn’t “by the book”. :ehh: The littlest crack in the armor can blow up into something major. It was during that period in time when everything was very relaxed and every little change was accepted blindly that the worst evil slipped in unnoticed. We’re all kind of “on guard” now.
As for being one of those – many outstanding devout Catholics appearing on EWTN are …converts. May you be as blessed. So many cradle Catholics are like spoiled rich kids…we don’t realize how good we have it. :bowdown:
 
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Pete2:
This issue is hilarious. Holding hands during the Our Father is so despised on this forum. Why is this treated like an abomination that is threatening to bring down the Church?

Personally, I like it. I think it’s a great community gesture, and for those of you who think that the “Our Father” is only a private prayer between you and God, take a look at what you are saying…

OUR Father… give US this day, OUR daily bread… forgive US OUR trespasses…

Sounds like we should be united in our love of God, loving each other like Jesus taught us, humbly asking for His blessings.

…so what’s wrong with holding hands again?

Pete
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I never really saw the big freak-out either…I didn’t necessarily like having to hold hands with a stranger as a kid, but when I got older, it just made the prayer feel that much more powerful because it was like an entire family saying it all together…and I know that it still is all of that without the holding hands, but it just to me felt more like a communion when you were embracing and being embraced by fellow believers.
Still, if the Church says no, there’s obviously something I’m missing:) So I’m ok with it…sometimes I’ll take my sister’s hand or my friends hand if they’re having a tough time to remind them that I’m there…it just made it that much more of a community for me.

In Him,
Britty
 
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Pete2:
This issue is hilarious. Holding hands during the Our Father is so despised on this forum. Why is this treated like an abomination that is threatening to bring down the Church?
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Some say that it is not specifically mentioned in the GIRM, and therefore forbidden. Many things not expressly mentioned in the GIRM are allowed, so perhaps it is best to use good judgement and follow the guidelines of the Parish you are attending. Handholding during the Lord’s Prayer is very common at AA, and since Alcholism is a big problem in many families, perhaps this is another reason many wish to assume that posture, and a Pastor would not want to discourage this, since it really not an abuse. No posture is perscribed in the GIRM.

It is sad to see the reaction of some.
 
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Searching13:
Some say that it is not specifically mentioned in the GIRM, and therefore forbidden. Many things not expressly mentioned in the GIRM are allowed, so perhaps it is best to use good judgement and follow the guidelines of the Parish you are attending. Handholding during the Lord’s Prayer is very common at AA, and since Alcholism is a big problem in many families, perhaps this is another reason many wish to assume that posture, and a Pastor would not want to discourage this, since it really not an abuse. No posture is perscribed in the GIRM.

It is sad to see the reaction of some.
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I’m new here and I may have missed it.
At the church I am attending, the priest said that we should never do anything that is not stated in the GIRM.

Can you give an example of something that is not in the GIRM which you do in mass?
 
At our parish its not a parish thing but more a family thing.
We hold hands as a family and will reach to a fellow parishinor in our pew if they are alone. I find it mostly stays within a pew. I see it more as “the family that prays together…stays together”. 🙂

Beebs
 
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tadly:
Can you give an example of something that is not in the GIRM which you do in mass?
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I run the sound at Mass. Since running the sound isn’t stated in the GIRM, is it forbidded? I also wear shoes to Mass, but that’s stated in the GIRM. Is that forbidden, too?

My point is that the GIRM tells what to do, but not always what NOT to do.
 
I see it sometimes but like some else said its usually just families. What really bothers me it the ones with their arms extended palms up. When did this start??? Is this something old brought back or some new thing?
 
Michael Welter:
I run the sound at Mass. Since running the sound isn’t stated in the GIRM, is it forbidded? I also wear shoes to Mass, but that’s stated in the GIRM. Is that forbidden, too?

My point is that the GIRM tells what to do, but not always what NOT to do.
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It never tells you what not to do.

Is running the sound part of the liturgy or a job perfomed?

Do you consider your shoes to be part of liturgy or part of protecting your feet?

And here is the point of view from the St. Louis Diocese…
Is holding hands during the Lord’s Prayer allowed or encouraged?

BCL Newsletter, October-November 1989

No. The community’s corporate act of receiving communion is the primary symbol of unity with Christ and the Church. The Sign of Peace immediately preceding the reception of Communion is a liturgical rite that should not be minimized or duplicated in any way. A separate but related issue is the situation of individuals who for personal reasons feel uncomfortable with the practice of holding hands. In this case those individuals feel increasingly excluded from the worshipping community. Sensitivity is needed to include all and draw all to the true symbol of unity.
If you are not in the St. Louis Diocese, check with your Bishop.
 
A separate but related issue is the situation of individuals who for personal reasons feel uncomfortable with the practice of holding hands. In this case those individuals feel increasingly excluded from the worshipping community.
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How do we know this is true? Was a study done to determine how these people feel, or is this an assumption on the part of the author?
 
Michael Welter:
How do we know this is true? Was a study done to determine how these people feel, or is this an assumption on the part of the author?
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Well, it’s the Bishop’s site, it was approved by him, but you can ask here…
"Should you have any additional questions that we might be of help with, please do not hesitate to contact us here in the Office of Worship.

May God bless,

Reverend William W. McCumber

Director"

Taken from here…

archstl.org/worship/girm.html
 
And the USCCB has said
usccb.org/liturgy/q%26a/mass/orans.shtml
Orans
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Many Catholics are in the habit of holding their hands in the “Orans” posture during the Lord’s prayer along with the celebrant. Some do this on their own as a private devotional posture while some congregations make it a general practice for their communities.

Is this practice permissible under the current rubrics, either as a private practice not something adopted by a particular parish as a communal gesture?

No position is prescribed in the present Sacramentary for an assembly gesture during the Lord’s Prayer.

Email us at bcl@usccb.org
Committee on the Liturgy | 3211 4th Street, N.E., Washington DC 20017-1194 | (202) 541-3000 © USCCB. All rights reserved.
 
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