Sit or kneel

[stripes4]

Oh, I go to churches all the time.

They are part of my cultural heritage and I enjoy the architecture and art. I also like to visit churches for history and archaeology and contribute mucho dollars/euros to any archaeological fund they have.

I am practically phobic about churches. I hope to get over it one day, as I know they can be beautiful to look at.

[lordpasternack]

Our newest church doesn't even have kneelers. Some of the old people don't stand.

What you can't do is go up for the Eucharist. Catholics can be very territorial regarding the Eucharist, one must be a full member of the Church.

Really? I've taken Communion a few times in Catholic churches - mainly to get one of the little wafers to shove into my pocket and abuse in my free time. In fact, not that long ago, the guy who handed me the wafer only cast a slight frown when he noticed the badge on my lapel that read "Good Without God". And it's just as well I'd buttoned my jacket so they didn't see the t-shirt...

[klr]

Classic!

[Seth]

I attended a Catholic mass yesterday - services for the recently deceased father of one of my good friends. Before going, I checked with another Catholic friend on the protocol. He said, "stand when we stand, sit when we sit. You don't have to kneel when we kneel; sitting is fine."

Now, I can understand why a religious noncatholic might want to avoid kneeling to the Catholic god - the noncatholic's own god might get offended. As an atheist, though, I don't have any other gods to get offended. So should I go ahead and kneel? Or would the Catholic god, if there were one, prefer obeisance only from people from his own religion?

I think the Catholic God would prefer non-hypocrisy. Good manners, on the other hand, dictates that if the natives rub blue mud in their bellybuttons, you probably ought to rub blue mud in your bellybutton too. It neither picks your pocket nor breaks your leg, so why not go with the flow?

As it turned out, I was too busy controlling my two year old to flip down the little kneeling board. I'm still kind of curious about the question, though.

As a side note, I found it somewhat interesting that the Catholics all seemed delighted to have the little kids there, and didn't mind the resulting disturbance at all. We got some dirty looks from people who weren't Catholic, though. I guess they thought the little kids should be more respectful of this religion which wasn't theirs.

Catholics love children. It's just that simple. They find the antics of children to be as much worship of God as prayer, particularly when they are being joyful and inquisitive. It's just how Catholics are. Catholic parties tend to be raucous affairs with lots of kids around too.

It's one of the reasons I like to hang out with Catholics. They love life and they live it. They eat, drink and are merry, and the more kids the merrier. Catholic families are filled with life and activity. They are rarely staid or stodgy in home life, and they know how to have a good time. I really enjoy being around all the vibrant, messy, loud, life in a Catholic family.

[Seth]

Our newest church doesn't even have kneelers. Some of the old people don't stand.

What you can't do is go up for the Eucharist. Catholics can be very territorial regarding the Eucharist, one must be a full member of the Church.

You can go up with your arms crossed, and get a blessing from the priest instead...

It's not just "territorial," it's doctrine. To Catholics, once the Eucharist has been blessed by the priest, it is "transsubstantiated" into the literal flesh and blood of Christ, so to partake of it when one does not believe is sacrilege. Also, priests are supposed to use care in giving out consecrated wafers to non-Catholics is because there is actually a market for them among Satanists, who also believe it's the flesh and blood of Christ which they use in Satanist rituals.

There is quite a bit of controversy as to whether the wafer should be handed to the person or placed on the tongue, to help prevent theft of the wafer.

I recall having something of a legal argument about whether stealing a wafer is a crime.

But it's certainly rude and inconsiderate, and not something a thoughtful, rational person would do.

[lordpasternack]

Classic!

Yeah... And if the priests had seen that one, they might have had me wait behind for the special communion - and being a gentile I'd then have to ask them the particular protocol with regards to sitting or kneeling.