I am a member of a parish merging with a more trad parish in the Cleveland diocese. The trads both kneel at the altar and have a line for those receiving standing, and receiving on the tongue seems to be the norm for their communicants.
Our parish church will be where the newly-merged parish will worship, and our priest is vehemently opposed to kneeling for Communion (please note this opposition is not coming from our parishioners - I think most of us love and respect the people from the trad parish.) As members of merger committees, we contacted the Diocese for some kind of guidance (which served to anger our priest, unfortunately), and we were given documentation from the USCCB stating that the norm in the US is to receive standing, but that anyone who kneels cannot be denied, and of course, receiving on the tongue is perfectly correct.
Our priest appears to think he will be named the new pastor, and we are hoping the parishioners from the other parish will not be discouraged, because I think we will be a strong parish - we need each other, and each parish has fine attributes and good, decent parishioners. Please pray for us.
I believe this is a scenario we will see played over and over throughout the country. Be sure to remember this parish in particular and all parishes going through these transitions in your prayers.
No comments:
Post a Comment