Would you like to have kneelers for communion back in style?

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It wasn’t a matter of being in a state of grace; it had far, far more to do with the fast after midnight. And confessional lines were not particularly longer then than they are now.
 
There are approximately 17,240 parishes in the US. 5,000 signatures is less than the number of parishioners in one large parish… and hope springs eternal.

Not only that, but the decision that we in the US approach Communion standing is per the USCCB request; so petitioning Rome is a) an end run around the bishops, and b) extremely likely, if anything was done, to result in the matter being booted back to the bishops.

Good luck with that one.
 
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You think so? But the midnight fast ceased in 1953. . .12 years before the end of Vatican 2. And the 1 hour fast started in 1958. Only people 19 and older at the end of 1965 would have any memory of a midnight fast, and the closer to 19 you were, the fewer years you observed. S

Was there really a difference between the number of people remaining in the pews before 1953 than between 1953 and 1965?
 
stpurl said:
Was there really a difference between the number of people remaining in the pews before 1953 than between 1953 and 1965?
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There was a 3 hour fast when I made my First Communion in 1964. I don’t recall when it was relaxed to the current level.

But when I was a kid, less than half the attendees at Sunday Mass received, although by the time I graduated high school, it was the vast majority.
 
I seem to remember people kneeling on the side for the remainder of the mass
 
I have no idea what the GIRM says for Italy, and no problem with an Italian petitioning Rome for matters concerning Italy. I did not pull the petition (as in, read it) as I consider it beyond a waste of time in the US. Anyone and everyone is welcome to have a personal opinion; my point in my comment is that for the US, a petition seeking 5,000 signatures would have about as much effect as spitting in the wind.

On occasion, we get focused on our opinion and fail to take into consideration some of the real world practical aspects of it. Whether or not I might agree with the petition, I try to see the matter in context; and for the US, the context is pretty much as I have stated. Some presume, when I make statements setting the reality of the situation, that I am “against it”. Rather, I try to pick battles than can be won, and not waste time on impossible windmill tilting.

Thanks for noting it was from an Italian; I missed that.
 
I received my first Communion in 1953.

Some of the issues with the three hour fast had to do with when (time) Sunday Mass was scheduled. Similar to today, there were some who felt that the three hour fast was a “cop out” and continued as before. Families, no surprise, tended to be larger and getting everyone up, dressed, organized, fed and off to Mass within the three hour window was problematic. And that was three hours before Mass started, if I remember correctly.

So if the last Mass was at 10:00 a.m., everyone had to be finished eating by 7 a.m. It is easy to say “Well, that is no problem” without ever experiencing what it actually takes to accomplish that. So the net effect was eat, and don’t go to Communion, try to get everyone coordinated at starting at 5:30 or 6 a.m., or if that doesn’t work, have an actual fast which in effect may be 16 hours (assuming the Saturday night meal ended about 6 p.m.).
 
My aunt had 11 children, the oldest born in 1947, the youngest in 1964. They walked nearly a mile to Mass every Sunday for the 10 a.m. Mass and whether it was a midnight fast, 3 hour, or 1 hour, the children and their parents managed. We were only a family of 5 but we managed as well.

If Mass is over at 11 or 11:15 and people are home by noon, then it’s brunch time if only ‘tea and toast’ were managed by 7:30 (remember, the fast went until communion time, not the time of Mass starting), and if it’s a 1 hour fast, then people have until about 9:30.

I can’t understand why in an era when there’s so much virtue shaming about people needing to diet, etc., and when a lot of people routinely roll out of bed and grab a donut and coffee as their morning meal well before 7:30 and call it normal, that there is a huge fuss about the idea that a person might go from 6 p.m. on Saturday until noon on Sunday to have a meal.

Are we so hypocritical today that the only time we want to discipline our bodies is to make them ‘look good’, and that gets applauded, but discipline of the body as a part of worship is somehow just 'too much"?

What a world we live in. What a crazy, mixed up world.
 
I do think that some people use Lent as a sort of religious diet. They name all these foods they are giving up, and all of the exercise they are going to do, and it ends up sounding like a weight loss program. I am not sure that is what is intended. One thing, like sweets, or sodas, or smoking is giving up a bad habit. Naming 10 things that are sugary, carb laden and fatty sounds like a diet.
 
Exactly. The disconnect between people saying how for Lent they’re giving up say a big breakfast for a coffee and then having a 'healthy salad for lunch" and people saying, “Oh how awful, imagine having to go without food on Sunday until nearly lunchtime”. . .is staggering. You want to scream, “But it’s the SAME DANG THING, PEOPLE, except in the first you’re doing this for YOURSELF and in the second you’re doing it for God --but somehow the first is ‘good’ and the second is 'wrong” according to our ‘progressive’ society!
 
Many times I have given up sweets for Lent with absolute success. Because as you say, that is giving it up for God.

However…after Lent, I have trouble giving up things when it is just for me. 😊
 
I’m a convert, so for me it would be something new. But I love the idea of receiving Christ on my knees, seems more reverent.
 
I like it and I’m a relatively new Catholic. The church I was confirmed in is pretty old school, and uses a communion rail.
 
Here is one. I am sure there are more! (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)Cathedral Church of Our lady of Walsingham; Houston, TX: 2003
 
jas84173 said:
I understand that. But why was this centuries long tradition taken away?
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To be clear, which long tradition being taken away do you mean?
a) The prohibition against kneeling in prayer on Sunday from the Nicean Council, violated away when kneeling for Communion and other parts of the Mass were instituted, after centuries of standing in respect, or
b) the abrogation of that abrogation?

🙂
Funny, it was considered liberal and far fetched following the Council of Trent when it was only railings and kneelers and people could actually see what was happening.
Prior to that there was litereally a screen in between the congregation and the altar. No One ever knew what was going on. It’s interesting.
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there was not uniformity from diocese to diocese prior to Trent, nor was latin universal before Trent. Some latin, some greek, some vernacular. Rome itself switched to the vernacular in the 3d or 4th century.

Prior to Trent, some dioceses used the liturgy of rome, some used other older liturgies such as St. John Chrysotum (still the EC and EO byzantine most common), and others had local liturgies.

hawk (is there a “stirring the pot” emoji? 🙂
 
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