I’m hearing reports that all over the country, dioceses (really diocesan flunkies) are cracking down on people who kneel to receive Communion. Yes, the new instruction from the US bishops is that the normal position in which to receive Communion is standing and the Vatican says that when Communion is distributed under both species one should receive standing… BUT when so much else is going why is there this suddent burning and urgent need to crack down on kneelers?
The most flagrant and recent case is at Christendom College in Virginia, a small, very orthodox school. A priest there has allegedly told the students that the Pope has decreed that no one may kneel to receive after December 1 and that disobedience of this rule is the first step on the road to damnation. That’s what he said! And the Pope has said no such thing.
Can anyone tell me of a single case anywhere where a bishop has cracked down on people who make no sign of reverence before receiving Communion? Can anyone tell me of a case outside of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Sydney, Australia, where a bishop has denied Communion to even the most flagrant dissenters from Catholic doctrine? So why the witch hunt against those who want to kneel?
Granted, I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to kneel to receive—I don’t kneel, but bow instead—but why is kneeling so dangerous when there is such an obvious loss of faith in the Real Presence among the vast majority of Catholics?
