Wierd Communion line?

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I have come across a parish that insists people come to Communion starting from the back. I don’t really care one way or the other, but find it quite distracting. I was told it had something to do with the last being first. Is this the lastest fad coming down the pike?
 
That is weird and personally I would find distracting, because people would constantly be turning around to see when the others were coming forward and when it was their turn to leave the pew. I can’t see the logic of it at all, except maybe the people who traditionally leave at communion time might actually come up and receive???:confused:
 
If I recall correctly, the idea of going pew by pew is a new fangled idea.
 
Never heard of it, never saw it before. Sounds like it would take longer to do it that way.
 
katy said:
I have come across a parish that insists people come to Communion starting from the back. I don’t really care one way or the other, but find it quite distracting. I was told it had something to do with the last being first. Is this the lastest fad coming down the pike?
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Usually parishes that do this got the idea from Cardinal Mahony’s Gather Faithfully Together. Our parish has been doing this for five or six years now so I’m rather used to it. It does require a fair amount of direction from the ushers.
 
kage_ar said:
If I recall correctly, the idea of going pew by pew is a new fangled idea.
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We go up pew by pew, but from the front. The free-for-all style where everybody just gets up at the same time is problematic in a large church with a couple of thousand people in it – people would get trampled.

Mudgie-in-training and freelance sparkle/coffee grinds sprinkler
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Really, how did they go up before ?

Jim
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Traditionally, whoever decided to approach the altar for communion, just got out of their pew and approached . Those who weren’t going to communion, stayed in their pew.

It wasn’t done in an organized pew-by-pew system.

That only became common when the number of people going up for communion rose to the high levels you see today. Back in the 60s, the majority of faithful Catholics stayed in the pews at the communion most Sundays.
 
SMHW said:
Usually parishes that do this got the idea from Cardinal Mahony’s Gather Faithfully Together. Our parish has been doing this for five or six years now so I’m rather used to it. It does require a fair amount of direction from the ushers.
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I think something was mentiond by somebody at the time about the USA bishops saying it was the peferred way. So maybe it was just Cardinal Mahony? Very annoying. I prefer the method where people just leave their pews and come up as they wish, altho perhaps that isn’t practical when there are large crowds.
 
Kielbasi said:
Traditionally, whoever decided to approach the altar for communion, just got out of their pew and approached . Those who weren’t going to communion, stayed in their pew.

It wasn’t done in an organized pew-by-pew system.

That only became common when the number of people going up for communion rose to the high levels you see today. Back in the 60s, the majority of faithful Catholics stayed in the pews at the communion most Sundays.
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Even if only certain people in the pews were going up to receive, they still proceeded pew by pew, the front pews being first.

Jim
 
One side of our Church goes up for Comunion from the back due to that side having a sloped floor – there is essentially 2 steps up by the time you get to the back on that side and the left side of the pew is “fenced” in by a railing so no one falls and breaks a leg. You can’t get back in to your pew without going all the way around. So that there are no traffic jams we start from the back on that side. It’s really not a problem as we use ushers to assist at all the pews–so you know when it’s your turn to go up. It’s no more distracting than going from the front. 🤷 I’m not sure why it would be…do what works at your parish and focus on what you’re supposed to be doing and it shouldn’t be a problem.

Jennifer
 
I felt as tho I should keep turning abound to know when our turn was.
 
katy said:
I felt as tho I should keep turning abound to know when our turn was.
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Were ushers used to indicate when you go up? If not, then mentally note who’s sitting behind you and go after them. It’s really not that huge of a deal, just something you’re not used to…at least that’s been my experience sitting on the right side of our church.

Jennifer
 
I think maybe it is the attitude that us pewsitters are raw material, putty in the hands of liturgy czars with everchanging ideas of what we should do next to be up on the latest trends.😦
 
I must say, how we go up to receive communion is NOT a liturgial norm or directive in the GIRM or in any other document. It truly is up to the Pasor and whoever else prepares the liturgy to devise the best way to go up. For some parishes it MIGHT work better to start at the back, for others, from the front, and for most it probably doesn’t matter a bit. If you don’t like it, join the liturgy committee and get it changed back! I’m sorry this distresses you, but really, it’s not worth the effort and worry you are giving it. I’d be more concerned about REAL liturgical abuses and not make one up where there isn’t one. Just my opinion, though. Feel free to ignore it…

Jennifer
 
I suspect you are right, a bit over sensitive from past experiences perhaps.
 
My parish goes from back to front…of course we’re in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles so it would fit if that’s the cardinal’s preference.

Here is what Cardinal Mahony said in “Gather Faithfully Together”:

Holy Communion is a procession at Our Lady of the Angels, a practice parishioners have worked hard to bring about. Two years ago, row by row, from the front to the back, people lined up for communion. During Eastertime the homilists talked – and after Mass so did many people – about what the Communion time means. The key was unfolding the wonder and thanksgiving Catholics feel toward the Body of Christ – the consecrated bread and wine, and the Church. Both have the same name. What does it mean when the Body of Christ comes forward to receive the Body of Christ? The sense of a Church in procession has somehow replaced the feeling of individuals lining up. For example, the first to come forward are no longer those in the front pew; rather, the people in the back pews begin the procession so that the whole room seems to be surrounded by a procession of people. Here is a Church partaking of the sacred banquet.
 
First impression response: What a lot of hot air. Who says how what feels? Sounds like thowing his weight around to me, and why does he feel the need to do this? What else does he have in mind? Aaaaah! I think I’ve developed an allergy or something.
 
JimR-OCDS said:
Even if only certain people in the pews were going up to receive, they still proceeded pew by pew, the front pews being first.
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I first experienced “free-for-all” communion at the most traditional-looking church I’ve ever assisted at: St. Alphonsus Church in Baltimore (where St. John Neumann was pastor once). The mass was very reverent even in its abbreviated daily version, and then at communion time, people just got up and knelt at the communion rail waiting for the priest and server to get to them. I thought it seemed to be a throwback to a great tradition. They were definitely not waiting pew by pew.

Makes sense, like Kielbasi said, since people back then probably didn’t receive communion as much.
 
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