How will First Communicants receive in your Parish?

[Phemie]

If we were having First Communion this year they would be receiving standing and in the hand since that's all they are taught. I think in the entire parish only 2 people receive on the tongue - both elderly, one standing, one genuflecting because he can't kneel.

We have no Catholic schools so parents have to enroll their children for sacramental preparation. This year the invitation was made but not one family signed up so no child in our parish will make his/her First Communion this year.

[YoungTradCath]

Originally Posted by Phemie

If we were having First Communion this year they would be receiving standing and in the hand since that's all they are taught. I think in the entire parish only 2 people receive on the tongue - both elderly, one standing, one genuflecting because he can't kneel.

We have no Catholic schools so parents have to enroll their children for sacramental preparation. This year the invitation was made but not one family signed up so no child in our parish will make his/her First Communion this year.

I can't help but get the feeling that your parish is severely mangled in many ways. I mean that in a piteous way, not to give offense.

[Phemie]

Originally Posted by YoungTradCath

I can't help but get the feeling that your parish is severely mangled in many ways. I mean that in a piteous way, not to give offense.

Ya think?? No regular confession, no religious education beyond sacramental preparation, pastors who over the last 9 years have not wanted to be pastors but strictly sacrament dispensers, and one who didn't particularly want to do that, etc., etc.

The pastor who will take over this summer has his job cut out for him. The first and most difficult will be informing those who've been running the parish for the last 4 years that he's now the one who will be in charge because he's the one who answers to the Bishop. The last one ignored the Bishop's recommendation on the set-up he'd implemented.

[Mrs Sally]

Originally Posted by Corki

Your poll didn't allow multiple responses. Our FHC students are taught to receive both in the hand and on the tongue. There is usually a mix of the two at our FHC Masses. We don't have a set up that allows for easy distribution when kneeling. As far as I have ever seen, all received FHC standing.

Our FHC students only practice COTT through the CCD program. However, COTH is explained. Most of the children receive on the tongue while standing at their FHC Mass. After, they tend to do what the rest of the family does. Which is a mix of the options (although I have never seen anyone receive on the hand while kneeling -- but that person is probably out there!)

[anp1215]

I've never been to a FHC Mass for the children, but when adults come into the Church they mention both, but with more emphasis on in the hand. They mention on the hand more, hold your hands like this, etc. I think that's because about 90% receive in the hand at my church so the teachers kind of forget that the tongue is an option.

[arkwright]

What a silly poll !

Have people nothing better to do than fuss about such matters in the way they do ?

The fact is that reception of the Eucharist should be reverent and filled with love , and the way we receive the Eucharist is left to one's own personal choice , and I presume that parents whose children will be receiving their first Holy Communion will talk to their children and guide them to making their own choice as to how they receive the Lord .

No one should be judgmental and start spouting off that one way is superior to another .

I receive the Eucharist in the way I find most appropriate in the circumstances I find myself in . I respect the right of others to receive in the way they choose . If it differs from my way it is not superior or inferior .

One essential that is missing in all of this is doing what Jesus commanded .

He took the bread which had become his Body and instructed that it be eaten .

He took the wine which had become his Blood and instructed that it be drunk .

Jesus commanded that we both eat and drink of the Eucharist under both species . His command is crystal clear and obvious to those who understand the most simplest of instructions .

So the children receiving their first Holy Communion should be guided to obey Jesus , and lovingly and reverentially take his Body in the form of bread and drink his Blood in the form of wine .

[zab]

Originally Posted by arkwright

What a silly poll !

Have people nothing better to do than fuss about such matters in the way they do ?

The fact is that reception of the Eucharist should be reverent and filled with love , and the way we receive the Eucharist is left to one's own personal choice , and I presume that parents whose children will be receiving their first Holy Communion will talk to their children and guide them to making their own choice as to how they receive the Lord .

No one should be judgmental and start spouting off that one way is superior to another .

I receive the Eucharist in the way I find most appropriate in the circumstances I find myself in . I respect the right of others to receive in the way they choose . If it differs from my way it is not superior or inferior .

One essential that is missing in all of this is doing what Jesus commanded .

He took the bread which had become his Body and instructed that it be eaten .

He took the wine which had become his Blood and instructed that it be drunk .

Jesus commanded that we both eat and drink of the Eucharist under both species . His command is crystal clear and obvious to those who understand the most simplest of instructions .

So the children receiving their first Holy Communion should be guided to obey Jesus , and lovingly and reverentially take his Body in the form of bread and drink his Blood in the form of wine .

I agree that it is a silly poll in that:
1, it doesn't give enough answeres to choose from
2. The language used is silly (improper use of language)
However, the topic of posture for First Communicants (particulary children) is not silly. Reception of Communion in the hand is the option _not the other way around. Our pastor wanted our parish children to have the experience of receiving their First Holy Communion on the tongue while kneeling. This is the most reverent way in which we can receive Communion and it is the way that is encouraged by Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. After that, the children may choose the option of how they will continue to receive Communion.

[FAH]

Originally Posted by arkwright

What a silly poll !

Have people nothing better to do than fuss about such matters in the way they do ?

The fact is that reception of the Eucharist should be reverent and filled with love , and the way we receive the Eucharist is left to one's own personal choice , and I presume that parents whose children will be receiving their first Holy Communion will talk to their children and guide them to making their own choice as to how they receive the Lord .

No one should be judgmental and start spouting off that one way is superior to another .

I receive the Eucharist in the way I find most appropriate in the circumstances I find myself in . I respect the right of others to receive in the way they choose . If it differs from my way it is not superior or inferior .

One essential that is missing in all of this is doing what Jesus commanded .

He took the bread which had become his Body and instructed that it be eaten .

He took the wine which had become his Blood and instructed that it be drunk .

Jesus commanded that we both eat and drink of the Eucharist under both species . His command is crystal clear and obvious to those who understand the most simplest of instructions .

So the children receiving their first Holy Communion should be guided to obey Jesus , and lovingly and reverentially take his Body in the form of bread and drink his Blood in the form of wine .

I'm sorry if you find the language of the poll silly and options limited, but this is an important issue. Receiving Communion whilst kneeling and on the tongue inspires humility - the child is fed from the hand of the Priest, the alter Christus, instead of feeding themselves from their own hand.

It teaches supreme reverence for Our Lord truly and substantially contained under the veil of bread and wine. Alright one might bow before receiving Holy Communion whilst standing and in the hand, but kneeling is an act of submission, it teaches the child how they are unworthy to approach the Lord and so they must do so in a position of such humility and submission, kneeling before their very God.