Were our Hearts Not Burning? (Lk 24:32)
Fr. Paul Ward                                                                      Home

 

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Some priests tell me that I am only allowed to stand until the last communicant has received. Can I kneel after I receive Holy Communion?

 

Yes, you ma. I heard that silly one, too, about everyone standing. American priests! I only wish they'd open a book once and a while and educate themselves before speaking. One thing is to make an honest mistake, but really this gets to the point of culpable ignorance. Furthermore, it is so frustrating to see priests and bishops of the Catholic Church continually discouraging the faithful from kneeling before the Eucharistic Lord.

 

One lay man was on a "worship commission" (which should be summarily banned, by the way) in a parish. He suggested we implement that practice. I explained that said practice is not in the GIRM. He replied, "But I saw Fr. N. on Channel 7 say so, it must be true." No joke. Well, let's get to the proofs...

 

Cardinal Francis George, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy, issued the following “dubium” or “question” to the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments (CDWDS), the Vatican’s liturgy office:

 

“In many places, the faithful are accustomed to kneeling or sitting in personal prayer upon returning to their places after having individually received Holy Communion during Mass. Is it the intention of the Missale Romanum, editio typica tertia, to forbid this practice?”

Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of the CDWDS, officially responded to this question on June 5, 2003, as follows:

“Negative, et ad mentem (No, for this reason). The mens [reason] is that the prescription of the Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani, no. 43, is intended, on the one hand to ensure within broad limits a certain uniformity of posture within the congregation for the various parts of the celebration of Holy Mass, and on the other, not to regulate posture rigidly in such a way that those who wish to kneel or sit would no longer be free.”

 

 

Interesting articles on kneeling:

- http://www.adoremus.org/699_Knee.html

- And Ratzinger, http://www.adoremus.org/1102TheologyKneel.html “...Kneeling does not come from any culture -- it comes from the Bible and its knowledge of God…”