Jesuit priest says the USCCB has issued new norms approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship.Those who want to receive the Eucharist kneeling, must ask for special permission before Holy Mass.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
(UPDATE 07 OCT) yours truly, denied Holy Communion (speaking of whom should be denied Communion!)
Hello Folks, (all 3 or 4 of you, Susan, Bear, Lynda, Nathalie, Victoria!)
I'm not really back yet. I know the Synod on the family is beginning and I should just be praying and fasting! But--speaking about whom should be denied Holy Communion---something happened to me on Saturday, 4 October, which I earlier only suspected was the stuff of urban legend. My apologies to all you who have suffered this embarrassment...now I know such things really do happen!
I was visiting a Catholic Church in a large city not far from Corpus Christi....(I am being deliberately vague) where a young-ish (about 50 years old) and ebullient Catholic priest refused me Communion for kneeling.
'Friend, please stand for Communion'...
'I can wait, Father',
pause pause...
I surrender and move on.
Spiritual Communion for me!
I have his email address and am going to write him. I want you all to follow along to see if I utterly fail in my attempt to win him over. I will be 'scrubbing' references which might allow outsiders to identify either 'Father Friend' or yours truly, Sorry!!
My first email, minus the [scrubbed] material looks like what is posted below in bold italics, ..... When and if Father Friend replies, I'll make a new post of it....
I'm not really back yet. I know the Synod on the family is beginning and I should just be praying and fasting! But--speaking about whom should be denied Holy Communion---something happened to me on Saturday, 4 October, which I earlier only suspected was the stuff of urban legend. My apologies to all you who have suffered this embarrassment...now I know such things really do happen!
I was visiting a Catholic Church in a large city not far from Corpus Christi....(I am being deliberately vague) where a young-ish (about 50 years old) and ebullient Catholic priest refused me Communion for kneeling.
'Friend, please stand for Communion'...
'I can wait, Father',
pause pause...
I surrender and move on.
Spiritual Communion for me!
I have his email address and am going to write him. I want you all to follow along to see if I utterly fail in my attempt to win him over. I will be 'scrubbing' references which might allow outsiders to identify either 'Father Friend' or yours truly, Sorry!!
My first email, minus the [scrubbed] material looks like what is posted below in bold italics, ..... When and if Father Friend replies, I'll make a new post of it....
Hello Father Friend!
I worshiped with your [SCRUBBED] Catholic Community on Saturday 04 October.
By way of background, Father, I am a[RAPPORT BUILDING SCRUBBED]. I see you are also a [SCRUBBED]therefore I hope you will not take my words the wrong-way, but more as grumbling coming from one [SCRUBBED] to another J!
I think you probably know why I am writing, but in case you don’t please forgive me the recap: My [SCRUBBED]is in your town and I live some [SCRUBBED]miles distant. I was just getting back to my hotel and was still in my work uniform, barely in time to make your Saturday vigil. I was edified by your sermon, your celebration of the Holy Mass. I love that your bulletin emphasized October as our Lady’s month and many other things…..however when it came time for Holy Communion….as you know-unless you do this kind of thing quite often and routinely…I was shocked when you refused to give me Holy Communion!
What was my crime, my public sin? I knealt to receive our Lord.
Father, again by way of background perspective, this is the first time, that any priest has (ever!) made a public example of me at the Communion rail-- never in the multitude of parishes – Lifeteen, guitar, Pentecostal, 80’s style, etc. -to which my professional travels have taken me in the U.S. and abroad, certainly never by any [SCRUBBED]!
My purpose in writing this letter is not to cry about the embarrassment you caused me, as I believe such things should be ‘cheerfully endured’ and there from benefited, but instead I want to find out why you acted the way you did. As I see it, Father, we could not have both been acting rightly. Either :
–a- Father was wrong to deny me Communion
or –b- I was wrong to kneel for Communion.
I do not rule out the latter possibility, but if you will convince me that it is wrong or forbidden to kneel at one’s most intimate encounter with Jesus Christ, (an venerable and august tradition) then I feel you do owe me an explanation! If my wide-spread experience mentioned above is in any way representative of things in general, I am afraid your action leaves you quite alone on this. That per se does not mean you are wrong!
However neither do I rule out the former -a- as also a possibility, i.e. that Father-acting in good conscience- might have been wrong. In which case please be assured that I am determined –as one of your very own order once put it- “never to despair your recovery” and will vigorously try to win you over to my side!
Do pray for me and do know that I am praying for you!
[[[FATHER WRITES A GOOD REPLY]]
[[[FATHER WRITES A GOOD REPLY]]
Good morning K.C.
Thank you for your personal and faith-filled message. I appreciate your
message and tone, and hope that my reply will match your sincerity.
Saturday I did not intend to deny you Holy Communion, nor to cause undue
attention to you. I intended to follow the norms as given to our
archdiocese and the Catholic Church in the USA.
Let me first state that I had just talked about the reception of Holy
Communion to the three congregations one week prior to Saturday, and that
was. The whole of the instruction in the link comes from the United States
Catholic Conference of Bishops. This group, according to the General
Instruction of the roman Missal is authorized by the Vatican's Congregation
for Divine Worship to set the practice for the reception of Holy Communion.
http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/liturgy-of-th
e-eucharist/the-reception-of-holy-communion-at-mass.cfm
The text is below.
The points which I made were the unity of the body of believers in the
procession and the reception of Holy Communion, the proper display of
reverence (bow) and the courtesy of opening one's mouth or holding out one's
hands to receive Our Lord.
With respect to kneeling. Are you wrong to kneel? In a word, yes. It's not a
sin, nor a crime.
The bishops state, "In the United States, the body of Bishops determined
that Communion should be received standing,"
In addition to the principle of unity, we have no Communion rail and the
concern about foot traffic and safety is real. In other places/circumstances
kneeling is fine. I ask you to read the bishop's instruction and take to
heart their message, particularly where they state: "These norms may
require some adjustment on the part of those who have been used to other
practices, however the significance of unity in posture and gesture as a
symbol of our unity as members of the one body of Christ should be the
governing factor in our own actions."
With respect to your question, "Am I wrong to deny you Communion?" I did not
deny you Holy Communion, nor was it my intention to deny you Holy Communion.
I was surprised by your departure when I said to you "please rise to receive
Communion." As such I had no opportunity to address the matter r reception
of Communion. ask you to see me after Mass. There was an added challenge
this past Saturday in particular because of a blessing of a parishioner who
is to [SCRUBBED] this week and the purposeful procession to the parish dinner at
the other chapel. I am sorry that I did not see you afterwards.
In addition to being obedient, I believe that I am a priest who should look
at people with a pastoral approach of applying the norms. It's a challenge
to be pastorally sensitive and instructive during the reception of the Holy
Communion. Since you desire to receive Holy Communion kneeling, I counsel
you to bring this up to a priest before Mass, asking for an accommodation. I
have made pastoral accommodations only for [SCRUBBED]
but I do not do this without knowing this request in advance. Politely put
and respectfully intended, the responsibility rests on those who do not
follow the Church's norm. What I ask is that they be the last person in the
procession to receive Holy Communion. I extend this accommodation to you
with the note to politely ask for the accommodation before Mass begins.
At Mass I mentioned that I am a Jesuit. Having professed final vows[SCRUBBED]years
ago, I do take the vow of obedience seriously. Being a Jesuit, I know that
if I do not educate the congregation about general instructions for the
liturgy, I'm not act responsibly as a priest. I even could possibly be
giving the false impression, "Oh, he's a Jesuit - those Jesuits." There are
very few of us in the [SCRUBBED] who are active and I don't want to
make it harder for more Jesuits to serve in [SCRUBBED] .
The more that I'm put into a place of not publically following general
instructions, the heavier the weight I feel for not giving proper
instruction, guidance and pastoral response.
A line from today's morning prayer called attention to God's mercy. In that
spirit I send you my fraternal regards as one[SCRUBBED]to another,
and my paternal care as pastor: that any lacking on our part be made up for
by our union in Christ and the prayers of the saints, who keep us from
spiritual harm.
Are you still at []SCRUBBED? If you are open to a cuppa joe or a talk, I would
like that.
Father Friend
[kc] hopefully to be continued.......
http://kneelingcatholic.blogspot.it/
http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/norms-for-holy-communion-under-both-kinds/
The people approach the altar and, bowing with reverence, receive Holy Communion. People may receive the Body of Christ either on the tongue or in the hand. The priest or other minister offers the Eucharist to each person saying, "The Body of Christ." The person receiving responds by saying, "Amen," a Hebrew word meaning, "So be it" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2856).
http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/order-of-mass/liturgy-of-the-eucharist/
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