Posted on 07/09/2007 11:32:33 AM PDT by NYer
Speaking of communion, how do you suppose the Holy Eucharist will be distributed at Tridentine masses said in Catholic Churches designed and/or renovated post Vatican Council II, where the altar rails were removed?
You don’t need a rail to kneel.
No differently than with the rail. I attended the 15th Anniversary Mass of the Erie Diocese Latin Mass Apostolate this past spring. They use a parish church that has a high altar, a 'people's altar,' and no altar rail. The communicants kneel at the step (where the rail at one time was) and receive communion. Those unable to kneel stand and receive on the tongue.
At the parish in Wilmington, DE that has two Tridentine low Masses a month, they have a High altar, but no altar rails. They reserve the front row for the distribution of Communion.
We have freestanding kneelers at the front of our church.
I asked my pastor if we were getting an altar rail during the renovations of our main going on right now.
He wouldn’t say, but hinted that, “We’re hoping for it.”
. . . having just installed quite a bit of deck railing, I can tell you that once you noodle out the details the work goes VERY quickly!
I'm guessing the letters were from those whose bishops were not so "generous" with the indult as JP II asked and intended! Not to give any examples . . . you know who you are! ;-)
Some parishes may not even need to go buy a rail. One parish in my diocese still has the rail, but it has been removed (unbolted from the marble) and pushed in front of the first pew. It could easily be reinstalled.
I think the communion recipients will either be advised to bow reverently to the Priest or Deacon, or simply kneel on the floor. A lot of Catholics bow their heads slightly already, in churches without rails.
Of course, Episcopal churches generally never got rid of the altar rails, and I had always knelt to receive Communion (except a Mass in a gymnasium) before I joined the Catholic Church.
Putting a rail into our sanctuary would be easy - even though it's a new church and has never had a rail before. There are 2 or 3 steps up to the altar from the floor of the nave, and it would be a fairly simply matter to bolt the rail to the edge of the altar level and put moveable kneeling cushions on the top step.
Its so wonderfully odd - just awhile ago the so-called progressives were making gains in trying to force the faithful to reject traditional forms of reverence (namely kneeling), and now this from B16!
B16 is brilliant in his simplicity - and oh so effective!
It is most interesting that B16 has basically called the bluff of the so-called progressives by simply holding them to their own standard of inclusivity and diversity.
B16 has demanded that the so-called progressives actuallly embrace people whose story is different, whose experience is different, whose truth is different (to use so-called prgreesive language) than that of the so-called progressives!
Imagine that.
He says to the so-called prgressives: embrace your flock - all of them - stop ostracizing some of them!
I’m curious for your opinion: Do you think this will make it easier for disaffected Anglicans/Episcopalians, to enter the Church, now that there will be much less to give up Liturgically.
Some of us genuflect and remain there until being fed.
It is quite easy to do - and quick - and not at all disruptive.
The trick is to look down to the floor while on the way down and then look up once in position. The lack of eye contact will cause the person giving communion to pause until they see you look up. Thsi technique really works well.
As when genuflecting normally, it is easy to get back up after recieving.
Now: I have a question of protocol. In the case of kneeling to receive or receiving on the tongue (which I do when I receive from the priest himself, but not from an EEM), should one refrain from receiving in both kinds? If one does receive in both kinds, should one kneel twice?
. . . when worlds collide . . .
I think this will make it easier for High Church Episcopalians to come on over.
BUT - I really believe that almost all the High Church Piskies have already made their decisions, at least in this ECUSA diocese. There weren't very many High Church folks in Atlanta to begin with, it is traditionally a Low diocese. There were 2, maybe 3, High Church parishes, and they have been bleeding steadily ever since the new prayer book came in. GC 2003 was simply the last straw for the few who remained.
Low Church or Broad Church Episcopalians cling to the old concept of ECUSA as "The Protestant Episcopal Church in America" and will not become Catholic. Their beliefs and practices are far too un-Catholic (even anti-Catholic) to ever make that leap. They would more likely become Lutheran (though even that would be a stretch) or join one of the Continuing churches that is not too "high". Most of the Network bishops tend towards "low" in practice and those guys will feel far more comfortable there. Of course, if the Network bishops are completely unable to get their act together, they're going to start to scatter to all sorts of splinter churches or just go independent.
Now it might be a different story in a diocese where there are more High Church Episcopalians. If they have been hanging in in a mostly orthodox parish until now, this may well encourage them to take the plunge as a group.
But it just doesn't appear that the Anglican Use has caught on nationwide. There are only 6-8 parishes or small groups interested in starting a parish, and a couple seem to have died on the vine. Pity, because if you're going to have an English Mass, the language is as close to Cranmer's beautiful and majestic prose as one can get, without the messed up theology.
I wonder if anybody has suggested to His Holiness that the Anglican Use Rite might be a nice ‘alternative’ for ANY parish to use . . . maybe the promulgation of the new translation would be a good time to offer that as an option?
Years before Vatican II I was once visiting a church with a priest friend. He pointed to the altar rail at the top of several steps, and said it was bad design. People who had trouble climbing steps would find it hard to get to the altar rail. He recommended instead that the altar rail be put on the people's side of the bottom step. Let the priest climb up and down, but allow even people who have trouble with stairs to reach the altar rail.
I think that's still a good idea.
Bowing is part of veneration when recieving. The majority of communicants do not bow, genuflect or show any adoration at all. The best thing would be to kneel. Then there will, finally, be some holiness shown.
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