Holding Hands During The Our Father

[the_rev]

I can't stand it! I hate doing it serving especially with the Priest GRRRR.....


I should print this off and mail it to him!

Muwhahahahaha!

[ilovechrist]

our Parish is split on the issue.

personally, my family holds hands. when serving on the altar--

thats a NO NO

[voiciblanche]

Argh. Horribly, horribly distracting.

I, for one, am not a touchy-feely person [i]at all.[/i] Not with my family, not with my friends, not with anybody. I don't like being touched. I don't like holding hands, not even with my own family. Therefore, it has always been terribly distracting for me in the middle of Mass to have to hold hands with a bunch of people I don't know (my family's been through four or five parishes that were pretty large in my lifetime and we never got to know anyone.) I stopped doing it a little while back, and every now and then it's a problem, for example, my four-year-old sister doesn't understand and will yank at my folded hands if I'm not careful. But, generally, I find that if you have your eyes lowered/closed and hands folded, people around you won't try to wrestle them away.

I don't think the priests/deacons/altar servers do it at my parish, either... thankfully.

[Brother Adam]

The problem is the matter has been settled by the Vatican for us. Holding hands is a no-no. No one who doesn't have a very good reason to disobey should hold hands. While you don't want to cause a riot in mass, be firm in your resolve to follow the Church and not the feel-good whims of misguided laity.

There have been those who have caused weaker brothers to fumble on this issue because it is very distracting to those of us who choose to follow the Churches teaching.

Though it should always be the intent of the law above the letter of the law. If someone was about to make a scene because I wasn't holding their hand, I would do so as the intent of the law is always above the letter of the law.

[AfroNova No Limit Soldier]

voiciblanche, FYI - the Church started with everyone kissing at the sign of peace. On the LIPS.

If anyone wants to hold my hand during the Our Father, I'll just keep holding his hand all the way till the end of Mass.

[dUSt]

[quote name='P3chrmd' date='Sep 5 2004, 08:04 PM'] I actually like doing it...it gives me a strong since of community [/quote]
Ahhh... and now we have proof of the theological effects of it! This is [b]exactly[/b] why we [b]shouldn't[/b] hold hands during the Our Father because it transfers our focus from the Eucharist to the community.

There is a time to build up community, but it is not during the consecration of His Body and Blood.

Our prayers, at that moment during mass, should be [b]vertical[/b] (to God) and not [b]horizontal[/b] (to our neighbors).

I hope this makes sense.

[HomeTeamFamily]

thats a great explanation dust

[Paladin D]

I wouldn't be able to [b]not[/b] hold hands during the Our Father, because almost every week I altar serve. My parish priest askes me to come down from the Sanctuary and to hold hands with him and the congregation. If I was just someone in the congregation, I would be able to not hold hands. But in this case, I can't.

[Ash Wednesday]

I don't like holding hands during the Our Father, and I usually avoid it.

If I bow my head and close my eyes like I'm really concentrating, most people don't try to hold my hand.

I will hold someone's hand if they are one of those "hand thrusters" or "hand grabbers" because I don't want to be rude. Usually in mass I sit by myself so it doesn't usually come up.

I don't think they do the hand holding in Europe. And I don't remember them doing it in Brazil. I think it's a very American Evangelical influenced thing.

I don't really care for shaking hands in mass, either. It's not that I don't want to know people in my parish, or that I don't care about them. But I think it's a forced social gesture, and there are better ways to socialize and get to know your parish: by getting involved.

What's more I really hate it when the Catholic college students from our local campus ministry turn it into "inside joke and social hour."

Last week I turned around to shake some of these students hands when they were at our parish (school hasn't started here yet) they spent at least 10-15 seconds laughing and joking, while I was waiting for them to notice that I was offering my hand. Finally I got fed up and turned around and they didn't notice me until I was already turning around and it was too late.

[musturde]

I heard from a priest that the Bishops of U.S told Rome that they couldnt take out a tradition passed on soo long in U.S. The priest said that he doesnt want us to do it but he's not gunna break our hands apart if he sees us doing it.

[Paladin D]

[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='Sep 6 2004, 02:15 PM'] I don't like holding hands during the Our Father, and I usually avoid it.

If I bow my head and close my eyes like I'm really concentrating, most people don't try to hold my hand.

I will hold someone's hand if they are one of those "hand thrusters" or "hand grabbers" because I don't want to be rude. Usually in mass I sit by myself so it doesn't usually come up.

I don't think they do the hand holding in Europe. And I don't remember them doing it in Brazil. I think it's a very American Evangelical influenced thing.

I don't really care for shaking hands in mass, either. It's not that I don't want to know people in my parish, or that I don't care about them. But I think it's a forced social gesture, and there are better ways to socialize and get to know your parish: by getting involved.

What's more I really hate it when the Catholic college students from our local campus ministry turn it into "inside joke and social hour."

Last week I turned around to shake some of these students hands when they were at our parish (school hasn't started here yet) they spent at least 10-15 seconds laughing and joking, while I was waiting for them to notice that I was offering my hand. Finally I got fed up and turned around and they didn't notice me until I was already turning around and it was too late. [/quote]
I see no problem with shaking hands during the sign of peace, I like it actually. I (and many others) do not like the holding of hands during the Our Father.

[Apollo]

Is it wrong to hold the hand of your wife during the Lord's Prayer?

Just wondering...

[Brother Adam]

Wife, child, mother, or grandpa, it's still the same, they have asked us not to. Again - it puts the focus on community instead of God.

[P3chrmd]

[quote]Wife, child, mother, or grandpa, it's still the same, they have asked us not to. Again - it puts the focus on community instead of God. [/quote]

I don't see it that way...but we can just agree to disagree about that one...I am obviously like the ONLY one on Phatmass who has no problem with holding hands during the Our Father...soooo...im going to keep my mouth shut! LOL

[Sinner]

Not in the rubrics........ My Parish is a buncha HH's ...handholders. I come up from my knees with my eyes closed and my hands foldes for prayer.... gets me out of it 90% of the time. Our Priest and Servers do not do it. I will do it when virtually forced. I

[Thomas Michael]

[quote name='musturde' date='Sep 6 2004, 02:24 PM'] I heard from a priest that the Bishops of U.S told Rome that they couldnt take out a tradition passed on soo long in U.S. The priest said that he doesnt want us to do it but he's not gunna break our hands apart if he sees us doing it. [/quote]
Hmph. No wonder liturgical reform takes such a painfully long time in the U.S. It's like the bishops are saying the American Church is addicted to hand-holding and they can't stop themselves. Why don't you just start your own American Rite and get it over with, that's what y'all really want, isn't it.... :angry:

[WildCatRupe]

I am curious as to the informatio y'all are working from, especially when you term the holding of hands as a "liturgical abuse." I just read throught the General Instruction of the Roman Missal. There was no statement one way or the other regarding the validity of holding hands. The one thing I would like to mention is this: unity in posture. The GIRM says that maintaining a common posture is "a sign of the unity of the members of the Christian community gathered for the Sacred Liturgy: it both expresses and fosters the intention and spiritual attitude of the participants." This statement most directly appliest to posture during the Consecration, but is applicable at other times as well. We are a community together in prayer, and physical signs of that unity seem to be encouraged in the GIRM. The way I view the holding of hands is as a sign that these people to whom I am connected are lifting me and my petitions up to our Lord, just as I am lifting up them and their petitions. If someone has an official, promulagated document that clearly shows that we are not supposed to be holding hands, please, post it.

Timmy

[Norseman82]

How about a practical matter?

At my parish, with all the people coughing and sometimes sneezing into the hands that they use at the sign of peace (which makes me sometimes tell them I won't shake their hand for that very reason), it could very well be unsanitary! As I recall, during the SARS outbreak in Toronto a few years ago they told people to NOT shake their hands during the sign of peace.

Cold and flu season will be on us shortly....

[homeschoolmom]

and what about the fact that by the time you grab your neighbors' hands and QUIET yourself back into prayer mode, we are already up to "Thy kingdom come..." Not optimal prayer focus...

[Ash Wednesday]

[quote name='Thomas Michael' date='Sep 7 2004, 07:10 AM'] Hmph. No wonder liturgical reform takes such a painfully long time in the U.S. It's like the bishops are saying the American Church is addicted to hand-holding and they can't stop themselves. Why don't you just start your own American Rite and get it over with, that's what y'all really want, isn't it.... :angry: [/quote]
They have been talking about an American schism for a long time now. I would say the American bishops have a very "fractured" relationship with the Vatican.

All it will take, to me, would be another council reinforcing the Church's stances on contraception, abortion, gay marriages, and an ultimatum for the bishops to put up or shut up, and boom. Some orthodox bishops would stay on, and some would not. You'd probably have the "American Catholic Church" and the "Roman Catholic Church"...