St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and Fr. Bede Wevita - Part 2

This second part of the three-part series of blog posts about Fr. Bede and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is in regard to Fr. Bede's instruction to the faithful of his parish to cease kneeling for Holy Communion.

While kneeling to receive is not practiced by the majority of faithful Catholics in Las Vegas, there are some who feel called by the Holy Spirit to do so. According to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal), they are perfectly within their rights to kneel for Holy Communion, even if their priest doesn't like it.  Paragraph 160 of the GIRM states:

The norm established for the Dioceses of the United States of America is that Holy Communion is to be received standing, unless an individual member of the faithful wishes to receive Communion while kneeling (Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Instruction, Redemptionis Sacramentum, March 25, 2004, no. 91).

A couple of weeks ago, on the weekend of October 28th, 2012, an announcement was made at Mass to the effect that individuals should not kneel for Communion, but should stand to receive in unity with everyone else. This announcement was accompanied by a bulletin announcement by Fr. Bede.

Apart from the fact that Fr. Bede has no right to insist on a particular way of receiving Communion, there are several points that require a response from the faithful, with kind assistance from a canon lawyer who has made clarifications in regards to this bulletin announcement.

Quote: "Moreover, blessing yourself after you receive the Eucharist is not entirely appropriate.  Doing these actions when you receive the consecrated host undermines what happens at Holy Communion and what we have become - the Body of Christ."

Response: Making the sign of the cross does not undermine what happens when receiving Holy Communion. We have not "become" the Body of Christ in receiving Holy Communion.  We are baptized into the body of Christ, the Church.  The Eucharist continues to strengthen our union with Christ as members of his body. 

Quote: "Genuflecting or making the sign of the cross before or after receiving communion is not correct."

Response: There was a response from the Vatican permitting people to genuflect before receiving.

Another point is that concelebrating priests are to genuflect when approaching the altar to drink from the Chalice.  For example, the Host may have been brought to them at their seats by a deacon, but then they walk forward to the altar to drink the Blood of Christ. 

GIRM 248.  After the principal celebrant’s Communion, the chalice is placed at the side of the altar on another corporal. The concelebrants approach the middle of the altar one by one, genuflect, and communicate from the Body of the Lord; then they move to the side of the altar and partake of the Blood of the Lord, following the rite chosen for Communion from the chalice, as has been remarked above. 

At every Mass the priest genuflects three times to the Eucharist - once at each consecration and then once before, "Behold the Lamb of God ..."

Quote: "Furthermore GIRM states that "A common bodily posture, to be observed by all those taking part, is a sign of unity of the members of the Christian community gathered together for the Sacred Liturgy, for it expresses the intentions and spiritual attitude of the participants and also fosters them." "For the sake of uniformity in gestures and bodily postures during one and the same celebration, the faithful should follow the instructions which the Deacon, a lay minister, or the Priest gives, according to what is laid down in the Missal."

Response: The unity of bodily posture is meant for times when everyone is doing the same thing at the same time -- e.g., sitting, standing, kneeling.  The several responses from the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments acknowledging the rights of the faithful to genuflect, kneel to receive, etc., and also the right to choose between receiving in the hands or on the tongue, make it clear that they are not insisting on uniformity in receiving Holy Communion.

Quote: "Attention must therefore be paid to what is determined by this General Instruction and by the traditional practice of the Roman  Rite and to what serves the common spiritual good of the People of God, rather than private inclination or arbitrary choice."

Response: It is agreed that attention should be paid to the GIRM. However, the last line of this quote in particular is completely insensitive to the devotional expressions of the individual. If you ask a person who kneels for Communion why they do it, they will usually express a sense that God is calling them to it. It is never due to a mere "inclination" and "arbitrary choice".

They will also tell you that kneeling for Holy Communion is not always easy because of how uncommon it is in Las Vegas. In fact, it is likely that there are many more people who deeply desire to kneel for Holy Communion as an expression of their faith in the Real Presence, but who are so self-conscious and afraid of being judged that they cannot bring themselves to do it.

Fr. Bede has been known to attempt this sort of restriction on kneeling to receive in the past as well. When he was at St. John Neumann he also decreed that parishioners were not to kneel to receive, much in the way that he is doing now at St. Elizabeth's.

In addition to making the announcement at Mass at St. John Neumann, the instruction was also published in leaflets inserted into the missal. Please view this missal insert from St. John Neumann. This leaflet was found there in 2010.

Note number 5, "...the appropriate time to show unity in the Lord is when we all stand together at communion."

Because Fr. Bede does not agree with kneeling for Communion does not mean he can prohibit it. Church documents clearly support the practice.

Call to Prayer:

O Word Made Flesh, we thank you for the gift of yourself in the the Sacrament of the Eucharist and we glorify your Holy Name.  We ask that you give us the strength to follow your commandments in both letter and spirit, and to please you in every sphere of our lives, both public and private.

We humbly ask that you enkindle the fire of your love in your Holy Priests, and we ask you to foster joy in their hearts when they encounter expressions of devotion to your Real Presence.

May we all discover a sense of awe in the True Presence of Christ. Help our priests nurture and encourage the devotional life especially where they call to mind the deepest mysteries of Christ. Amen.