Earlier this month I wrote about a new rubric that has been approved by the CDW for England and Wales concerning the reception of Holy Communion. This says that in England and Wales, Holy Communion is to be received standing but adds the important qualification “though individual members of the faithful may choose to receive Communion while kneeling.”
I also mentioned the unconvincing claim in “Celebrating the Mass” concerning the act of reverence before receiving Holy Communion:
"In England and Wales it is through this action of walking solemnly in procession that the faithful make their sign of reverence in preparation for receiving Communion."This has now been superseded by the new rubric which states that when they receive Holy Communion standing, “it is recommended that the faithful bow in reverence before receiving the sacrament.” It is a solid bet that both of these sections of the new rubric were insisted upon by the Congregation for Divine Worship.
It is surprising then, to see that in the cards for the people that are published by the CTS, the following instruction is included:
“Communicants come forward in reverent procession: they receive Holy Communion standing.”This is unsatisfactory because it omits both the instruction to bow in reverence, and the option to kneel, while implying that the "reverent procession" is a sufficient act of reverence before receiving Holy Communion.
I'm not blaming the CTS for this; I presume that they produced the card under the direction of the Liturgy Committee of the Bishops’ Conference. Was their advice given to the CTS before the final text of the rubric was received? Or is the Liturgy Committee simply going to ignore the qualifications that were mandated by the CDW because they don't like them? In either case, I think that the New People of God have the right to what has been given recognitio by the Holy See.
Interestingly this rogue instruction does not appear in the people’s cards produced by the Redemptorists or McCrimmon.
27 comments:
I have never once recieved my Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, standing or in the hand.
And I am damn proud of this!
The card denies the faithful the information that they may kneel for Holy Communion but,I notice, it makes the optional Sign of Peace obligatory.
Suggest you contact those in authority at the CTS: they're more likely to listen to a priest. As publishers to the Holy See, I doubt they would knowingly want to go against the wishes of the magisterium.
Things must be bad at the CTS, if the Redemptorists can get it right!
This was my comment on your last post on the matter, Father:
"I can see where this is going. They wanted to get it on paper that the norm is standing. Later on the kneeling bit will simply be phased out."
It's all just happening rather faster than I imagined...
They don't give up, do they? Whenever the instruction on the text was given, the fact is that it is now in direct contravention of the direction from the CDW.
The cards should now be pulped and a correct version printed. But what's the betting this is the version which will appear in most churches, by order of the EWBC.
I also fail to understand what "reverence" would there be in the fact of standing in line.
We don't kneel before getting on the bus, or before buying a cinema ticket.
"To stand in line" is synonym of "queueing", not of "showing reverence".
Mundabor
The small print is interesting, though fuzzy. Granted recognitio by the CDW and Discipline of the Sacraments in 2010. It has the imprimatur of Archbishop Peter Smith, dated 18 May 2011.
At Westminster Cathedral last week, the priest (of a certain age) decided to use the Homily as a tirade against those who would receive reverently and from the priest.
He contemptuously discouraged the faithful from kneeling so as not "to make a show of your piety to others, and because it would make the communion queue too long". He also railed against those who prefer to receive from the priest rather than from Extraordinary Ministers of Communion. Apparently this is one thing which angers him, and in his own words, he seldom gets angry.... This is the same priest who makes no sign of reverence whatsoever when the Blessed Sacrament is taken away to be reserved in the tabernacle.
The solution is simple of course- bring back altar rails!
If I am truthful, I often leave Mass when he has celebrated it with a fair deal of anger myself. Its object and origin is probably not the same though.
He will not be in active service at the Cathedral after the Autumn musical chairs.
The only answer is the SSPX. If they can be granted some sort of structure in the next few months then we steam on in there for Mass and forget the local mafia.
I am a fairly placid and undemonstrative person and I queue with the rest for communion in my parish church hopeful that my interior disposition is reverential. But the more I hear and read of the deliberate discouragement of piety the more "taliban" I become. Perhaps I shall adopt genuflection (3 fold?) in the "queue.
I live close to the Cathedral and often come away saddened and angry with what happens there. The list is endless. It comes as no surprise therefore that a priest of the cathedral can criticize what the Holy Father has encouraged as the best way to receive Holy Communion. It is the 'emperor's new clothes' syndrome, they know that there is a true renewal beginning within the Church, thank God, and they are anxious to extinguish it.
Dear Father, Could you please produce your own leaflet, an A4 sheet to be folded in three, with the relevant texts, but without the nasty rubrics? You could then offer it for downloading. It would be a great service to the Church. I know you are fairly handy with these things. Many thanks!
All of this is claimed by our Bishops to be a return to `ancient usage`. In fact5 I have been studying writings on the early Church and The had a greater belief and reverence for the Sacred Species than I could have ben imagined. At first they received in the hand, yes, but they wee not allowed to touch the host with their fingers. The head had to bow to the palm and swallow. Almost every saint and scholar in the early Church were adamant about adoration before receiving. St Augustine went so far as to say not to adore before receiving was a sin. I now kneel and receive in the tongue, I believe every catholic should.
I should have mentioned that the transition from the palm of the hand to the mouth was caused by their anxiety that every small particle of the host which fell on the ground was seen as the entire Jesus. Orthodox Churches, Coptic Churches, Syrian Churches, indeed all who believe do not allow Communion on the Hand.
Mall - I would dearly love to do so and to make such a leaflet available free of charge on the internet.
However, the moment it went online (or actually, probably about five days afterwards) people with passport-photo adorned lanyard ID cards would come and visit me, pecking chunky handheld devices, and threatening me with a suit for copyright infringement.
Perhaps the word 'kneeling' could be tippexed out if anyone has these rogue cards.
Better to buy the others though, or print your own.
And of course drives a wedge between Pope Benedict and the Faithful of E&W. If the Pope requires one thing at his Masses...
The more I read of these kinds of shenanigans, the more grateful I am that the Holy Spirit led me to the Oxford Oratory to be instructed and received. All those who were received, as I was, at the Easter Vigil this year, received instruction from our wonderful Father Daniel on how to receive Our Lord before we made our first Holy Communion: kneeling at the altar rail and on the tongue.
Just a thought: a priest at Westminster Cathedral discourages "making a show of piety". Yet from September when one attends a dinner party on a Friday we will have to refuse the meat meal lovingly and generously offered by our non-catholic hostess as a show of catholic identity. Shomething wrong, shurely?
Vetusta - interesting. I had another reader telephone me the other day furious about that sermon.
Vetusta
As a hostess I always check with guests about allergies, likes/dislikes when inviting people, and never take offence if I forget and they volunteer the information. Nightmare situations like unveiling Beef Wellington to discover the guests "only eat white meat" abound, these days. I am a faddy eater myself, and like St Thomas Aquinas I loathe fish. My main grump is that for many years on Friday suppers non-catholic friends present me with the dreaded piscines, unveiled with a flourish of triumph because "they remembered at the last moment that you were a Catholic".......
For the record, tonight I am cooking salmon for the family, and cheese on toast for my fussy self.
@ Universal Doctor, i was at that Mass but not in it ut rather to the side of the Main Altar saying First Vespers instead. He was driving me livid with his bombastic statements and the way he was lampooning 2000 years of high doctrine sound and dogmatic. What we really piped me up was also the prescence of a woman vested in choro in the sanctuary reading the psalms and what not. Just made me so damn angry.
However I held my temper and continued praying what everyone else should have been praying instead of attending what is a very ropety concept of 'anticipated masses'. Aside from this mug of a priest, I'm all for bringin back rood screens firstly to clearly separate the laity from the sanctuary and Altar rails.
Unfortunately, the Black Rubric mandating standing at communion is also in the new edition of "A Simply Prayer Book", which I fear will give it a wide circulation.
For years I bowed as a sign of respect when approaching the blessed sacrament. This seemed to confuse priests outside my home parish, who attempted to bless me rather than give me communion (obviously they thought that if you bow your head but don't extend your hands - I dislike receive manually - you want a blessing). So I stopped bowing and now I genuflect instead.
At the CTS Reviews site (http://ctsreviews.blogspot.com/2011/07/libro-de-oracion-comun.html) there is an interesting review of the CTS's new Simple Prayer Book in SPanish and ENglish. It includes a comparison of some of the rubrics (if such they be) in both languages, and there are some differences. The Spanish speakers are not obliged to have the sign of peace, and are not instructed to form a reverent procession and receive standing... Imprimatur? +Peter Smith.
Re: standing and processing to show respect
What you do is, you get two big flagpoles and put big flags with Catholic emblems on them, like the Five Wounds or the Sacred Heart or Mary or your name saint. And when it's time for Communion, you walk down the aisle waving your flags in the air. And then when you receive Communion, you use the poles to prop you as you kneel and get up again. They also make it clear that you can't possibly receive Communion in the hand, because obviously your hands are full.
Yeah, it's probably a good thing I'm not a liturgist. I would be really obnoxious. :)
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