Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Peace to you and your families.Pope Benedict XVI once commented that to be a believing Catholic is to be in constant search of the right way to honor the Living God. In many ways, God breaking into human history means that the Church always prays anchored in the preaching of the Apostles within a certain cultural, theological, mystical, and liturgical tradition known as a Rite. For the Diocese of San Bernardino, no ritual tradition is as important as that seeded by the blood of Saints Peter and Paul in Rome. The Roman Rite is unique in that it regularly asks that the congregation kneel in the presence of the Eucharist, a fact which in the years since the Council has caused a great deal of uneasiness. Rooted in the fact that every bishop, as the chief liturgist of his diocese, should attempt to increase the Eucharistic devotion of his people, and having heard the desire of the people for greater reverence, I would like to issue the following norms by explaining four points:
1. GIRM 43 leaves the issue kneeling from the Lamb of God until the beginning of Communion to the sole discretion of the Diocesan Bishop. Every bishop has the obligation to seriously discern according to his own prayer, those signs and gestures which communicate to his faithful that the Risen Lord is truly present. Since the GIRM leaves that sole discretion up to the Diocesan Bishop, each bishop’s decision is neither correct nor incorrect. One bishop may choose one fitting option while the bishop of a neighboring diocese may freely choose another. This power is given to them by the rite itself.
2. Kneeling and standing are both “traditional” to the Roman Rite. Kneeling has been normative since the Middle Ages and mandatory for Catholics only from the 1500s. GIRM 6 instructs us to restore the rite to the “norm of the Holy Fathers”. Some of our Roman fathers stood. Some of our Roman fathers knelt. Standing and kneeling are both in keeping with what we have received. What was normative for them cannot be considered foreign to us.
3. The Church does not hold anyone to the impossible. In all of Catholic history, if someone were incapable of kneeling because of age or sickness, the Church has always allowed the individual to sit and offer a reverent bow during the consecrations of the bread and wine.
4. Any new norms issued do not concern the manner in which Communion is received. In harmony with GIRM 160 and Redemptionis Sacramentum, the normal posture for reception of communion is standing. Communion may be received on the tongue or in the hand. If an individual wishes to receive on the tongue while kneeling, they are not to be instructed otherwise or denied. The manner of reception is determined by the individual receiving and not by those distributing communion, not even the priest or Bishop. Drinking from the chalice, however, is required to be done while standing.
With the above in order, by the authority granted to me as the Diocesan Bishop in GIRM 43, I issue the following norms for the entire Diocese of San Bernardino.
Norm 1: In harmony with the directions from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal section 43, following the Lamb of God, the people of the Diocese will resume kneeling until they stand for the Communion procession, receiving in the manner of their discretion. After having received Communion, the posture of the faithful should reflect an acknowledgment of the sacred mystery which is in their mouths and bodies.
Norm 2: If an individual is unable to kneel because of age or sickness, they are not obligated. These individuals may stand or sit and offer a bow of the head if appropriate.
Norm 3: Where Mass is said and no kneelers exist, individuals may choose to stand or kneel. Those who remain standing are not to be instructed otherwise. If the location has provided pads or made other attempts to make kneeling more comfortable, then individuals who wish to kneel may follow the norm.
Brothers and sisters, it is my heartfelt hope that these new norms put hearts at ease, illustrate the unity of the local Church, and help the entire Diocese to remember the prayer of Jesus in St. John’s Gospel: “that all may be one”.
Peace and blessings
Most Reverend Alberto Rojas
Bishop of the Diocese of San Bernardino
