"Thou Shalt Not Kneel": West Virginia Bishop Orders Standing Until After Communion

Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston, West Virginia, in a January 2 letter renewed a predecessor's policy that Catholics should remain standing during the Eucharist after the Agnus Dei until after receiving Holy Communion.

The change was implemented by Bishop Bernard Schmitt in 2003.

Monsignor Brennan wrote that he has been asked by the faithful "to restore the practice of kneeling", admitting that this is "the common pattern in the dioceses surrounding ours."

But Brennan drivels that "kneeling after the Lamb of God, while traditional, actually breaks the continuous posture of the Rite". He adds that younger Catholics, who rarely attend the Eucharist anyway, know nothing but this liturgical abuse.

He asked for "sincere obedience" and concluded: "We have [allegedly] much more important things to do than debate the merits of standing or kneeling after the Lamb of God."

For a Catholic, there is nothing more important than kneeling and worshiping before the Lamb of God.

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