Soooo......I shouldn't have kissed the blonde next to me and shaken hands with my wife???
Posted on 07/23/2005 9:15:15 AM PDT by netmilsmom
The Houston / Galveston Diocese appears to encourage it because it seems that it's expected at my church.
I'm not crazy about it, nor am I nuts about the handshake sign of peace thing.
Thanks everyone!!!
LA Diocese encourages holding hands during the Our Father, as did the church we went through RCIA with. I refuse to do it, and I don't like it either. It is touchy-feely. I find that the orthodox churches around here don't do it and the feel-good ones seem to. But you can always pick out the other conservatives, even in the most liberal church (around here) because they won't do it.
I'm in your diocese Allegra. I can't stand it, especially the "wave" at the end. My son goes to our parish school and I have to reteach him at Mass. I think my parish is bi-polar. On the one hand they have 24/7 Exposition, and then on the other they have stupid folk music on Sundays. Sacred Heart priests, but I don't know if they are conservative or liberal.
Same with the Sign of peace, a kiss for close friends and relatives a hand shake for the others.
Soooo......I shouldn't have kissed the blonde next to me and shaken hands with my wife???
LOL, sure ya could it is okay, but I wouldn't want to have had to sit down at your Sunday dinner.
It's alive and well in the Sacramento, California diocese! I HATE IT!!!!!
Could you please weigh in on this?
Holding hands during the Our Father has become commonplace, but it is an illicit addition to the Liturgy. Clarifications and Interpretations of the GIRM ["Notitiae" Vol. XI (1975) p. 226] explains:
". . .holding hands is a sign of intimacy and not reconciliation, and as such disrupts the flow of the Sacramental signs in the Mass which leads to the Sacramental sign of intimacy with Christ and our neighbor, Holy Communion."
112. QUERY 2: In some places there is a current practice whereby those taking part in the Mass replace the giving of the sign of peace at the deacon's invitation by holding hands during the singing of the Lord's Prayer. Is this acceptable?
REPLY: The prolonged holding of hands is of itself a sign of communion rather than of peace. Further, it is a liturgical gesture introduced spontaneously but on personal initiative; it is not in the rubrics. Nor is there any clear explanation of why the sign of peace at the invitation: "Let us offer each other the sign of peace" should be supplanted in order to bring a different gesture with less meaning into another part of the Mass: the sign of peace is filled with meaning, graciousness, and Christian inspiration. Any substitution for it must be repudiated.
Maybe we should lobby state legislatures to make "bad liturgy" a tort? :-)
At my parish in Mississippi, holding hands during the Our Father is a common (and unfortunate) practice. I'm a recent convert, and I simply can't stand it.
There are a couple of people who do it at our parish (mostly at the Folk Mass < shudder >) but even the Folks at the Folk Mass look at them funny.
It is definitely NOT encouraged in our parish, but I haven't heard anybody say something officially.
There is a loony-left parish near where a lot of our dog trials are held, and if we're running long I scamper over there for Mass. There, they look at you funny if you DON'T hold hands, but I just smile and shake my head if necessary (they can't grab your hands if you fold them quickly!)
I can't say that it is "encouraged" in the Rockford, Illinois Diocese, but it is certainly allowed. Ditto for the Chicago Arch Diocese.
I'm happy to say that during RCIA we were taught this, and as a result, my family are some of the very very few who do not hold hands during the Our Father.
Certainly not!.. If that is a picture of your wife.
?:^T
I refuse any sign of false closeness to strangers. I have always hated the sign of peace.
I go to the FSSP parish of St Stephen's here in the Sacramento diocese, it is very wonderful! I really love the Latin Mass, I had never been to one before I came here. There is so much reverence and the focus is where it should be: on God! :)
The real point is diocesesan promotion of this practice, and if a diocese is promoting it, they are violating rulings by the Holy See raised in Doubts/Questions posed to the Holy See by proper authority. I could speak about the Diocese of Metuchen from years gone by, but the words I would type would break forth into flame on your computer screen rendering it a total loss -- and I don't wish that on my friends.
But back to the matter at hand: Holding hands for the Paternoster is illicit. Period.
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