ON BENDED KNEE: Teri Carpentier kneels during a service at St. Mary’s by the Sea in Huntington Beach. Kneeling, she says, is praying “with our bodies, not just our minds.” (Karen Tapia-Andersen / LAT)
If kneeling is a mortal sin, then many of us will gladly suffer eternal damnation.
Is that Bp. Brown's Diocese?
Isa. 45: 23
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
Rom. 14: 11
11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
Philip. 2: 10
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
"Kneeling "is clearly rebellion, grave disobedience and mortal sin," [said] Father Martin Tran..."
A mortal sin? Isn't that a tad extreme?
So far Restore the Sacred has published 19 flyers that have been handed out and e-mailed to parishioners. After flyer 15 was published on February 19, Father Tran sent 37 families a form letter on February 27 informing them that he "officially" invited them "to leave the parish St. Mary's by the Sea and the diocese of Orange. You will be welcomed back only with your sincere heart-felt repentance/conversion on these issues mentioned above." Father Tran also wrote that he had Bishop Brown's approval for this "invitation."
The issues that offended Father Tran included, "personal attacks and false allegations against Bishop Brown," "false allegations against the American Bishops," "personal attacks and false allegations against Father Martin Tran," "false accusations/condemnations against various ministries of the Diocese of Orange as heresy," and "creating misleading, confusion, division and chaos in the parish by intentional disobedience and opposition to the current liturgical norms of the Diocese (mandated by the Bishop), set by the USNCCB and Bishop Brown, approved by Rome."
http://www.losangelesmission.com/ed/articles/2006/0605rk.htm
Any bishop who determines that people MUST NOT kneel prior to recieving communion has a serious pastoral problem. Considering such reverence for the Lord as a mortal sin leaves no doubt as to the priest's pastoral problem.
I am quite certain that any priest who would publicly proclaim that kneeling is a mortal sin is the same sort of priest who would at the same time refuse to proclaim that abortion or deliberate defiance of the Church's teaching on birth control is a mortal sin.
We went through the same thing - but worse - when we were told in the early 1990's that kneeling for the consecration was also a bad thing.
Father Clem Davis of St. Bartholomew Parish was the culprit.
It is for this reason that I kneel to recieve communion no matter where I am - and always will. Thank God that the Vatican has made it clear that any priest who even suggests that doing so is disobedient is to be reported through proper channels so that such abusive treatment of devout parishioners can be stopped.
Back in 1997, we were going to church in Enterprise, AL (St. John's), and one Sunday before Mass the priest announced that "from now on, kneeling would be optional" Well, that first Sunday 3/4 stood, (not me), by the end of the month, barely 1/2 were standing and within 2 months, everybody was back on their knees!!
All Latin Rite Catholics who are physically able should be kneeling for the Consecration everywhere, although I think there are some liberal parishes where this is not done.
That said, there is absolutely no theological basis for Fr. Tran's statement, nor is there a pastoral reason to try to enforce such rigidity on this point. There is nothing wrong with Catholics, on their own, choosing to follow a well-established pious practice.
In my own parish, although the archbishop has established the norm in our diocese to be standing, our pastor has asked us to kneel. If someone wanted to stand, I don't believe he, or anyone else, would take issue with it.
It goes without saying that this really isn't about kneeling.
This is, of course, the parish where the bishop retracted the indult. It would seem, from appearances at least, that Fr. Tran has been tasked with "breaking" the traditionalists. What the motivations is for this, I cannot say.
I would ask FR Catholics to pray for Fr. Tran, the Bp. Brown and the parishioners.
Also, this is an absolute load.
This happened at my former parish as well - the priest forbade kneeling during the Consecration and after Communion. The entire parish stood but we ended up moving to the back pews and kneeling so as not to cause a problem. But you know there were church ladies who verbally corrected us (my children and me).
It is difficult... you want to be obedient to the priest but all the while 'every knee shall bend' drums through your head. I know that some think 'a kneeler' is trying to show off piety or stand out or make a statement, but this just isn't true - if anything, you try to be as unobtrusive as possible (we moved to the back). Eventually we just left the parish so as not to be disobedient to the priest.
Anyhow, God works in mysterious ways and the priest was transferred to be the chaplain of the only Indult Mass in our Archdiocese. He doesn't like the Latin, thinks we as Americans should separate from Rome (Rome doesn't understand us) and as you now know, he doesn't like kneeling. So the assignment must be great penance for him. When he left, the parish went back (on their own) to kneeling at the proper times.
If anything, the pastor and bishop look bad in this article.
Uhhhh. While we're getting excited about kneeling in the western church, what about the eastern Catholic churches where kneeling generally isn't the tradition? (Except during certain penitential periods like the Great Fast).
I prefer bowing. And kneeling without the full prostrations just loses some of it's reverence in my view.
First you monkey with the liturgy to the extent that it makes interior devotion and adoration much more difficult.
The next move is to actually prohibit exterior signs of devotion and adoration.
Ironically, I bet if you asked this priest if masturbation or sodomy were mortal sins, he would equivocate.
With all due respect, Father, this stuff is already available in 25 and 50 lb. bags at the local garden supply store.
I beleive this is something of a discussion in Orthodox churches as well (where some western rite traditions such as kneeling have rubbed off).
From an Orthodox site on the issue:
"The canons concerning bows and kneelings now accepted by the Orthodox Church and set forth in the books of the divine services, and particularly in the Church Typicon, are observed in monasteries. But in general, Orthodox Christian laymen who have zeal are, of course, permitted to pray on their knees in church and to make full prostrations whenever they wish, excepting only those times when the Gospel, Epistle, Old Testament readings, six psalms and sermon are read. The Holy Church lovingly regards such people, and does not constrain their devout feelings. However, the exceptions with regard to Sundays and the days between Pascha and Pentecost apply generally to everyone. According to ancient tradition and a clear church law, kneeling must not be performed on these days. The brilliant solemnity of the events which the Church commemorates throughout the period of Pentecost and on Sundays precludes, in and of itself, any external manifestation of sorrow or lamentation over one's sins: for ever since Jesus Christ, "blotting out the handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, ... nailing it to His Cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:14-15)—ever since then "there is, therefore, no condemnation to them who are in Jesus Christ" (Rom. 8:1). For this reason, the practice was observed in the Church from the earliest times, beyond a doubt handed down by the apostles, whereby on all these days, in that they are consecrated to the commemoration of the glorious victory of Jesus Christ over sin and death, it was required to perform the public divine service brightly and with solemnity, and in particular without kneeling, which is a sign of repentant grief for one's sins. The second century writer Tertullian gives testimony concerning this practice: "On the Lord's Day (i.e. Sunday) we consider it improper to fast or to kneel; and we also enjoy this freedom from Pascha until Pentecost" (On the Crown, ch. 3). St. Peter of Alexandria (3rd cent.—cf. his Canon XV in the Rudder), and the Apostolic Constitutions (Book II, Ch. 59) also say the same thing."
http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/kneeling.aspx
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie (so-called) has pronounced that congregants shall remain standing during the communion processional.
Too bad. I still kneel. "Pope Donnie" can command I do handstands if he wants, I will still kneel.
Perhaps we need to get our feedback about kneeling after the Agnus Dei at Communion time to the bishops if they are going to be voting on this.
The thing I always want to ask enemies of the church like Tran is, "Why do you insist on *less* reverence for Our Lord?"