Q : 
Should we kneel at the consecration? In my parish we no longer kneel which personally I feel is wrong but I speak to deaf ears I continue to walk my own path and feel very upset.
【 Question from 】 Calgary, Canada

Fr. Francis : 

According to the General Instruction to the Roman Missal, people should at least kneel from the epiclesis (the invocation of the Holy Spirit before consecration) to just before the Memorial Acclamation, unless a person is not able to do so.

The person responsible for promoting proper liturgical norms in each parish is the pastor. So if you have done your best to discuss the issue with him and still he fails to do something about it, we need to consider a number of possibilities:

  1. He has reasons that he felt are legitimate; e.g., the majority of the congregation is elderly and can’t kneel anyway.
  2. He is ignorant of church norms.
  3. He is defiant of church norms.
  4. Either his fellow priests or his bishop, or both are not following the proper norms and he felt little compulsion to “rock the boat” or be different.
  5. Personal weakness of will.

Of course, you may write to the bishop to see if he can do something about it.

However, there is one thing you absolutely need to do. You must not allow yourself to be angry. Turn that energy to pray for your priest. Be cheerful in the right, for cheerfulness and peace of heart wins an open ear. Anger drives away even the virtuous.

I was in the same boat 20 years ago. I just kept kneeling and offer my adoration as reparation for any offence committed by others. I spoke with my priest numerous times, but I never judged him or others, for one’s reverence toward God is not measured by external postures or gestures. God alone knows their hearts, and He alone can move their hearts.