Bishop’s decree: Stop holding hands during the Our Father...

Michie

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Hot on the heels of the new Roman Missal translation, the Bishop of Covington, Roger J. Foys, has issued a decree clarifying the proper gestures and postures for Mass, according to rubrics laid out in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.

Bishop’s decree: Stop holding hands during the Our Father...
 

Michie

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Jared- aren't you the one that said your hands sweat? This should relieve some pressure. :)

I know I have been seeing less of the hand holding in the past couple of months. Not sure why as no announcement has been made here.
 
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Michie

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Must be an American thing. :sorry: I've been to Mass in plenty of places over here and never once encountered this. :scratch:
It's my understanding that we really are not supposed to in the first place. It can be distracting.
 
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AMDG

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Wow. Hand-holding is not in the rubrics one way or the other. To me that seemed to mean that if some folks decided to do it *spontaneously* the Bishops simply weren't going to say anything. I guess I was wrong. This Bishop seems to say "if it's not in the rubrics, it's not in the rubrics period, exclamation point. Don't do it!"

As far as the hand-holding being an American thing, it's only popular in some parishes. In other parishes, it's not.
 
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pdudgeon

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well, since the prayer is written as a communal prayer, it would make sense to join hands while the community says the prayer together. for teenagers i can see making an exception to hand holding between the sexes due to the distraction factor, but otherwise i think it's a very nice gesture.
 
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Cosmic Charlie

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Wow. Hand-holding is not in the rubrics one way or the other. To me that seemed to mean that if some folks decided to do it *spontaneously* the Bishops simply weren't going to say anything. I guess I was wrong. This Bishop seems to say "if it's not in the rubrics, it's not in the rubrics period, exclamation point. Don't do it!"

As far as the hand-holding being an American thing, it's only popular in some parishes. In other parishes, it's not.

Act of spontaneity, community and support are discouraged in the Church.

Singing too loudly can get you a stern talking to in a lot of parishes.

The anality of the banalities of worship is sort of discouraging.
 
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FullyMT

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Does this guy have the authority to stop it outside of his diocese though?
Well, according to the rubrics it shouldn't be happening anyway, but for the most part the "no hand holding rule" hasn't been promulgated effectively.
That said, when I am with my family or close friends in the pews, I will still hold hands with them as they are offered.
 
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AMDG

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well, since the prayer is written as a communal prayer, it would make sense to join hands while the community says the prayer together. for teenagers i can see making an exception to hand holding between the sexes due to the distraction factor, but otherwise i think it's a very nice gesture.

Actually, the Eucharist is to foster communion--not a hand gesture. The fact that there is holding-hands distracts from Jesus being our unity. And the rubrics are there for a reason. They make a Mass said in America in union with a Mass celebrated in the Vatican in England or in France or in Japan or in Germany or in Terra del Fuego or in Africa or ...
 
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Adam Warlock

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Act of spontaneity, community and support are discouraged in the Church.

Singing too loudly can get you a stern talking to in a lot of parishes.

The anality of the banalities of worship is sort of discouraging.

That's a depressing perspective!
 
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This bishop needs to transfer TO THE DIOCESE HERE! :thumbsup: There's enough hand-holding and liturgical abuse in my area to my one's head spin like Linda Blair....

Now if they can just eliminate communion in the hand, have the priest face the altar, altar boys only, bring in incense, and have zero extraordinary ministers, we'll be in business! :p
 
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Fantine

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Wow. Hand-holding is not in the rubrics one way or the other. To me that seemed to mean that if some folks decided to do it *spontaneously* the Bishops simply weren't going to say anything. I guess I was wrong. This Bishop seems to say "if it's not in the rubrics, it's not in the rubrics period, exclamation point. Don't do it!"

As far as the hand-holding being an American thing, it's only popular in some parishes. In other parishes, it's not.

So this bishop is saying that in his diocese this is how he interprets the rubrics, not that it is necessarily written in stone.

But I see some positives in this. People may try to find the community they lack during Mass by participating in Bible study groups, etc. They may nurture and support one another more in their choirs and church organizations to make up for the lack during Mass.

There was a priest up in Wisconsin, Fr. Art Baranowski, who started the movement towards small church communities. Hopefully things like this will grow.
 
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Michie

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Act of spontaneity, community and support are discouraged in the Church.

Singing too loudly can get you a stern talking to in a lot of parishes.

The anality of the banalities of worship is sort of discouraging.
Well if it makes you feel any better, you can hold my hand Charlie. We can always thumb wrestle during prayer.

*Which I've actually seen* ^_^
 
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Michie

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If that were me I'd be praying for vistory. :D
It was a father & his teenage son. Father grabbed his hand & teen boy was having none of it. It ended in a thumb wrestling match. I could not help but giggle. ^_^

I'd whip Charlie's thumb btw.
 
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Michie

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"Active participation" and holding hands at the Our Father. Wherein Fr. Z rants...
You can only clap your hands for so long. Therefore, what happens in the next logical move is that lay people have to start doing what the priest does and, if possible, where the priest does it. The distorted and defective notion of “active participation” eventually leads to the false conclusion that people have rights to carry things...
 
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