From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
An assistant priest at my parish is telling my ccd class not to kneel during the Consecration of the Eucharist during mass. Any advice?
I pondered this for bit and then asked some trusted clerics including a couple of bishops.
First, I’d ask for a private meeting with that priest.
I would ask that priest to put his explanation in writing, along with his justification.
If he refuses, tell the pastor, in writing, that you tried to get an explanation. If the pastor won’t deal with it, forward it to the local bishop.
Try to get everything in writing, if possible. Also, if you have a meeting of any kind, make notes about it immediately after while your memory is fresh.
UPDATE:
A priest friend added:
First step, contact the pastor and ask him. Secondly, contact the diocesan office of Divine Worship.
Many priests say silly things – sadly, ordination does not infuse the ordinand with wisdom or even smarts. In the 1970’s, there was a movement to violate liturgical law and make the faithful stand during the consecration. In some places, this practice became “normal” even though it was a violation of the law (and also stupid).
The current norms in force in the United States require that the faithful kneel from the end of the Sanctus through to the end of the Canon.
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Father, is there a rule that we MUST stand at the Sanctus? May we kneel, as it seems appropriate? Thank you.
I was recently reminiscing on an incident when I was in seminary (coming up on a pretty long time ago now…tempus fugit) wherein a priest from the order than ran our university (three guesses, and anything other than “SJ” doesnt count) interrupted the Eucharistic Prayer to command three kneeling seminarians to stand (the rest of us had long since learned to go along and get along).
The next morning, our (diocesan) seminary rector spoke to us after Morning Prayer. He apologized that the incident had happened (because he knew we would get no apology from the priest in question), and explained that to keep the peace, our community had a “when in Rome” approach to the nearby religious Order’s oddities. (The three kneelers were new to seminary that term).
But then, the Rector the taught the best lesson I learned in the whole of seminary: “Father [name] interrupted the most sacred moment of Mass to yell at [the three men] and command them to do something they knew to be wrong, and they obeyed, instantly and without question, *because he is a priest.* Gentlemen, THAT is what clericalism is!”
So, at least there is a silver lining to priests behaving poorly: they can serve as a warning to others!
But, still, folks ought to take their recourse to the Church to have such silliness corrected as well.
From the web site for the Diocese of San Jose CA
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Therefore, I am asking each assembly to take a unified posture during the Eucharistic Prayer, whether it is kneeling or standing throughout. The posture would be determined by each parish and would be the normative posture for that parish. But this should not be rigidly mandated for those unable to participate in the parish’s normative posture because of bodily limitations caused by age, health, disability, or weakness.
In our diocese, we have had the custom of standing after the Agnus Dei (“Lamb of God”).
So that our diocese may continue to be unified in this posture, we will continue to stand after the Agnus Dei.
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A few of us kneel.
Quaeritur: What is the point, theologically/liturgically/ecclesiologically speaking, of this obsession with “uniformity of posture”? Does it serve in some way as a poor proxy for “unity of belief” (which many Catholics in the pews manifestly do NOT have)? I mean really, mandating all these things really does seem to smack of the worst kind of clericalism, doesn’t it? And there’s something super-American about it, too, and not in a good way–similar to the whole “dismissing by pew for Communion” phenomenon. I am really and truly confused by people who put such great stock in the unity of physical posture at Mass. And to those who accuse people who kneel to receive of being disruptive, how much more disruptive is it for a priest to stop distributing Communion and take the person to task in front of the congregation for desiring to receive in this valid manner?
I am forced to ask who truly benefits from these uniform posture mandates?
At a Tradional Catholic College they don’t pray the second confteor. No a big issue. Some students and adults are accustomed to praying the second, and do it without making it an issue. we are the same.
We have some Polish people in our parish, they kneel from the beginning of the Sanctus until the Our Father, I have started kneeling at the Sanctus until the prìest genuflects prior to the recession. Really I’m trying my utmost to avoid any communication verbal/nonverbal at the sign of peace, people still insist in touching my arm, how can they not know that I am asking through prayer for peace in the church and also in the wider world.
Also I’ve observed that in the older rite, people are less concerned in what others are doing, kneeling/standing
From the web site for the Diocese of San Jose CA
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Therefore, I am asking each assembly to take a unified posture during the Eucharistic Prayer, whether it is kneeling or standing throughout.
There is nothing wrong with most everyone being together using the same posture. But the GIRM already states which posture, so a bishop leaving it up to the “assembly” is just shirking his job.
What is the point, theologically/liturgically/ecclesiologically speaking, of this obsession with “uniformity of posture”? Does it serve in some way as a poor proxy for “unity of belief”
So far as I understand it: the point is that our posture is part of our prayer. Just as it makes no sense at all if some people recite the Confiteor while other people recite the Our Father, or have a lector read the first reading while the priest starts the Canon, or some singing the psalm while others sing the Agnus Dei, so also with posture. Standing is a a kind of a sign of respect, which is why we stand for the Gospel, to attentatively hear Christ, the Word of God. Standing is also suited for prayers of praise, which is why we stand during the Gloria.
It is not essential for everyone to be in the same posture for the mass in order for people to pray well without distraction. But it is indeed essential for there to be a norm for certain postures and certain actions at stated times, which most attend to. Imagine a mass at which every single person present stood, knelt, or sat at whatever moment they wanted, some getting up to light a candle, some getting up to put money in the poor box, some getting up to leave, some coming in at the Sanctus, some kneeling or bowing or prostrate at the communion rail, some singing while others are trying to keep a holy silence, etc. (and imagine half of those getting up to move around being in the middle of the pew, climbing over others to get where they are going). Imagine people doing all these various things during the homily. Imagine half the people coming forward to receive communion after>/i> the priest has returned to the altar to purify the chalice etc.
Posture is part of our prayer: in order to pray with the congregation, we should expect – for the most part – to maintain similar posture as others, for parts of the mass where a posture is regulated as fitted to that part of the Mass.
In addition to the excellent advice given to the the opening Quaeritur, I would also suggest that this is an excellent opening to teach the CCD class that lots of priests are badly formed, and that they (the class) can search other resources (rather than just rely on the priests bald assertions) for the truth: the Catechism, the GIRM, Canon Law, documents from the Congregation for Worship, etc. Heck, in this case many missals and missalettes will clearly show that the people are to kneel. After going to the pastor, if he declines to act, make it a class exercise to write to the bishop asking for advice (and citing the GIRM etc).