Via Ignatius Insight is canon lawyer
Dr. Edward Peter’s article at Catholic Exchange titled "Another Look at the Orans Issue."
Orans is Latin for “praying.” In liturgy today, the “orans position” is the gesture whereby the priest extends his arms out from his sides, with hands open and facing up, during certain of his audible prayers at Mass.
The orans position (or sometimes, orante), is obviously different from the priest folding or joining his hands, and is prescribed for the celebrant at various points in Mass: for example, during the Opening Prayer, most of the Eucharistic prayer, and the Our Father. The “orans issue” is the recent practice of some lay persons in the congregation adopting this gesture as their own, notably during the Our Father, and introducing thereby, if nothing else, disunity in worship.
I remember it being widely reported before that the orans position was approved by the bishop’s conference for the laity. Understandably there was a lot of confusion on this issue since the bishop’s site left old information that this would be permitted with the new sacramentary. This did not happen and the information to this was not removed for a long period after the new sacramentary was approved (though it appears to be finally gone now.) There is more in depth information on this in the Nov 2003 edition of Adoremus Bulletin.
I think much of the postures used by the laity is like a game of Simon Says. They adopt or mimic what the priest is doing regardless of the posture (or lack of posture) specified in the GIRM. That in these days of radical egalitarianism that people feel left out if they are not engaging in the same posture as the priest. Like they were in an aerobics class following the instructor. More blurring of the lines between the priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial priesthood. Funny how some are always talking about the priesthood of the faithful and yet are not willing to make any sacrifices. Too many have confused the call for "active participation" in the Mass by Vatican II with physical and not prayerful action.
Update: Jimmy Akin comments on the same article and makes the same observation I did.
Could it be . . . a desire to get the laity to imitate the priest and thus further blur the lines between the two?
And then goes on to quote a Vatican document that expressed the same concern. Read his post for the paragraph he quotes and what it means. There is a very powerful statement made about the non-ordained faithful to "quasi preside" at the Mass and he further comments on the weight of this document.
Interestingly he also does the same thing I do during the Our Father.
In my own case, I solve this problem by clasping my hands in front of me and closing my eyes. 99.99% of the time that takes care of the issue, though I did once experience an elderly woman using her fingers to pluck at my elbow in an attempt to pierce through my obviously meditative attitude and get me to Conform to the handholding she wanted to inflict on me.
No I don’t get upset if this doesn’t work since I realize the other person is simply ignorant of the fact that this is not an approved posture. Something you really can’t blame most people for since it is so prevalent at many Churches (though fairly rare in my own.) But as I side effect I have found myself closing my eyes during many parts of the Mass and simply listening to be helpful for concentration.
30 comments
The “orans” thing is pretty widespread at my parish – I and others deal with it by continuing to hold an open missal in our hands while saying the Our Father.
I wonder if this is more a West Coast problem, since I’ve rarely encountered this on the East coast. But it may just come down to the bishop – ours, Mahony in L.A., has been a leader in wanting deviations from the GIRM (like his effort in the archdiocese to abolish kneeling during the consecration, etc.)
What, you mean the orans posture during the Our Father isn’t required by the GIRM as was promulgated here in the Diocese of Cleveland? Funny…never would have guessed… 😉
It is very common in Chicago area as well.
The parish where I attend we rarely ever do the hand shake of peace and if and when we do, no one holds hands. I do however hold hands when I go to visit my parents, where everyone links up from one side of the church to the other. I don’t go out of my way to stretch myself over to others to grab their hand, which I can see is possibly upsetting for some of the long time parishoners of that parish. I just find it all over done. The priest is the one presenting our gifts. We’re not the priest so why all the whohaha.
I can attest, just having having come from 5 pm Mass, the “orans position” is alive and well in my parish on the East Coast (NJ). I used the clasped hands manuever during the Our Father today.
Once upon a time, a priest at our parish introduced something called “The Blessing Song” at the end of Mass for people who had birthdays, baptism anniversaries, wedding anniversaries in that week.” It went
May the blessing of the Lord be upon you
May he bless you in the nay-ayme of the Lord.
May the blessing of the Lord be upon you.
May he bless you in the nay-ayme of the Lord.
No one was terribly enthusiastic about the Blessing Song, but people mumbled along with it, and when Father insisted that we all raise our hands to join in blessing, people went along with that too.
Sort of.
Most actually just raised one hand.
One day, I was standing at the side of the church, and suddenly realized that they all really looked like they were going “Heil Hitler!” I pondered what would happen if someone took a picture and it ended up in the local newspaper.
Thankfully, the bishop put an end to the whole thing in time, pointing out that it really blurred the priest’s special role. I don’t think he heard about the Nazi bit.
I became Catholic in 2003 after 30 years as a Protestant minister. One of my concerns was to not do anything that could be seen as mimicing the priest. Here in north Texas we have a lot of people who hold hands during the Our Father, although the clasped hands/closed eyes approach works pretty well. “The Lord be with you” – everyone’s hands go out. “Lift up your hearts” – everyone’s hands go up. “Let us give thanks….” Everyone folds their hands. I don’t mimic the priest because he refuses to say, “Simon says….”
On the other hand (St. Tevya is one of my patrons), I sometimes lift up my hands during the singing of hymns or during the intercessions (I assure you that not many in our parish do this and certainly not the priests) but hadn’t really thought about staying away from the orans posture per se as much as simply not mimicing the priest.
I had always assumed that those doing this were at least initially TOLD to do it by some misguided person, and I must admit this is one of the few things I’ve generally personally escaped.
Mind you, in what had to be one of the worst Masses I ever went to, and after having almost every other phycial, mental, moral religious, and emotional sense violated in some manner, I felt someone groping for my hand at the Our Father. I wrenched it out of the woman’s grasp, and gave her such a look of poisonous hatred that she recoiled in horror and didn’t even try for the sign of peace…
“You’re not from here, are you…?” she said afterwards. “No. I muttered “And I won’t be back, either…” I made sure she saw me shake the dust off my feet too!
Our priest has the alter servers join him on the alter and hold hands with him during the Our Father….
I think part of it is a lack of catechesis on the part of the pastor. The pastor expects you to bow with him during the incarnation portion of the creed, I can see how it seems natural to orans with him for the our father.
Or strike their breast during the confiteor for that matter, let alone kneel during the Credo on Christmas Day and the Annunciation.
I solve the problem the same way that you do and our church is absolutely full of hand holders and imitation priests (but to be fair they think that is the approved method).
On the handshaking, our priest reminded everyone that in the very beginning everyone used to give each other the KISS of peace so we could thank our lucky stars that it was merely handshaking that went on nowadays …
As I understand the Adoremus article, the orante position is not mentioned: not required or condemned. It is up to the Bishops to set the standards for their flock. Our Bishop has left it up to parish pastors. Our Pastor said that families can do the hand holding if they like but too many parishioners with arthritis, muscle illnesses, etc had complained to him about the hand holding. However this is different from the orante position. I am charismatic and sometimes I am moved to raise my hands in prayer. If it is condemned by Church authority then obedience demands that I stop. I am not trying to imitate and become a female priest!
Um, forgive my ignorance, but how is holding hands the same as the priest’s gesture, since I’ve never seen a priest hold hands for the Our Father? One of the great things, IMO, about the Mass is people praying together (which is incredible to listen to, especially if the Our Father is chanted). I think the hand-holding–if one chooses to do so–enforces that. I’ve never seen or heard it referred to by anyone as their attempt to usurp priestly function.
Also, re: the Sign of Peace–what Sign do we give, if not the handshake (and, if I’m realted to the person, it’s a Kiss of Peace)? Is there some other gesture we’re supposed to be going for? Are we supposed to ignore the priest when he says “Let us turn and offer one another the Sign of Peace”?
I treat the holding hands thing as a “when in Rome…” issue. I prefer not to do it, but for the sake of conforming to the congregation, I take part when I find myself someplace it’s done (such as at my home parish).
OTOH (St. Tevye pray for us): When I close my eyes, I find myself more likely to notice someone substituting gender-neutral language, which really bugs me. And my 3-year-old will more likely misbehave if I close my eyes, too.
Until I read this I had no idea that the faithful were NOT to hold their hands in the orans position. We were told by our priest that hand-holding during the Our Father was no longer considered acceptable practice and that we should hold our hands up in a prayerful position instead…oh and also we are to stand after we have received Communion. Our Bishop has said he has no intention of making any kind of “normative posture” in the Diocese, so every parish is just doing their own thing. As far as I know, every other parish in the diocese is still holding hands. It is very confusing to me, and I try very hard to keep up on what exactly is the proper thing to do at Mass.
So if you see someone who is doing the wrong thing at Mass, do not assume they are doing it willfully or trying to be “more priestlike”, they just might be mis-informed.
At the last GIRM change rollout, we were instructed that the orans position was the new norm, but for laity the hands should be low and in front instead of up and to the side like the priest. Whatever. People still do what they did before including hand holding, orans high or low, hands clasped high or low, hands in pockets, arms folded, etc.
It�s all a bit disunified, but come to think of it, the closest I�ve come to seeing unity was at a parish where everyone would hold hands in circles around the altar like some cosmic chain around the van de Graaf generator and pray to “our mother and father in heaven.” What “unified” them didn’t do much for me.
And, whether hand holding or orans, what�s the deal with raising them higher during the doxology? It�s because of that that I typically clasp my hands near my heart and close my eyes.
The Barrister slaps away any hands reaching out for his during the Our Father. *smack*
“Keep your *smack* hands to your *smack* self. Cantcha see *smack* I’m praying here? *smack* *smack* *smack*“
Why does this topic always seem to cause “religious wars” among Catholics of various stripes? I, for one, can find a great many things worth more attention than whether or not people hold hands, extend them, fold them, or what ever during the Our Father.
On the other hand, I don’t recall that the rubrics say what “the faithful” are doing with their hands most of the time. Usually, the most specific you get is “Stand”, “Sit”, “Kneel”.
I don’t think we need anything more specific.
Peter
No one at our parish holds hands during the Our Father, and if (if) father offers the sign of peace to the community, it’s a quick shake and back to mass. No more than a minute is taken for this, and no roam”in Catholics.
Actually, I fear that I (or at least my home parish, St. Andrew Russian Catholic Church in El Segundo, CA) am responsible for spreading the Orans position for prayer in the U.S. during the Lord’s Prayer portion of the Divine Liturgy. In fact, we might be responsible, at least in part, for His Eminence Roger Cardinal Mahony’s Gather Faithfully Together
I’ve been going to St. Andrew since 1987, having left the RCs for Eastern Catholicism after the Papal Mass at around the same time (yes, there was a causal connection; and no, I’m not quite ready to go there yet). St. Andrew is under the omophorion of the Melkite Bishop of Newton, Massachusetts, and as a result, we have a lot of Melkites and other Arab Christians coming to our services. Fr. Alexei also hosts St. Paul Melkite Mission at St. Andrew’s, and there is a strong Arabic presence there as well.
At any rate, the Orans position for prayer appears to have developed among Melkite Christians and Greek Orthodox, particularly in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. It was there when I was first at St. Andrew’s, and I suspect it came over from Arab Christian refugees from Jerusalem. Most of us at St. Andrew’s thought it okay, and many cultivated its use in our prayer lives, particularly during the Lord’s Prayer.
Around September of 2003, a few months after the death of my first wife, and soon after I was appointed choir director there, my first week’s assignment was to direct the music of the liturgy while His Eminence Roger would be visiting. I’m afraid that I offended some members of my choir while doing so, but I decided against any “barnstorming” music, and instead chose music which the congregation knew and regularly sang. When he got there, His Eminence found an entire congregation singing together, with many of us in the Orans position during the Lord’s Prayer. I fear that the rest was history.
I’ve finally read Gather Faithfully Together, and it seems to me that most of His Eminence’s desiderata there appear to be what we have at St. Andrew’s: a congregation actively and deeply involved with and in the Divine Liturgy, in prayer life, and in the Scriptures. I don’t think it a coincidence that our parish priest, Fr. Alexei Smith, was later chosen as Director of Ecumenical Activities for the L.A. Archdiocese, even though he was not a Roman Catholic priest.
I do think it a pity that while His Eminence appears deeply and sincerely to have wanted such congregational involvement, he does not appear to have investigated the process by which St. Andrew’s entered into that congregational involvement: primarily through a devout and well-educated priest who is one of the finest homilists I have ever heard, who teaches the Scriptures and the Church Fathers in every sermon, and who is a true icon of Christ in the service of the Divine Liturgy.
Or maybe His Eminence has, and by having Fr. Alexei as Director of Ecumenical Activities, is attempting to show to the priests under his jurisdiction what a true priest is.
Anyhow, sorry about inflicting the Orans Position on you guys. It seemed like a good idea at the time. . .
Hands are sometimes held during the Our Father in my parish (especially among family), but we also have four-hour Adoration with high turn-out and people my age (post-Vatican II) are learning Latin to better sing traditional hymns. So I really don’t think the hand-holding presents a problem in and of itself.
However, I DO think that giving people dirty looks and other uncharitable behaviour is just that – uncharitable. Why not get to know your fellow parishioners and avoid sitting next to the hand-grabbers instead?
Jean, I totally agree. A person can stand for what they believe without being nasty about it. Jesus talked about people who, while straining to make sure a gnat wasn’t in their food, reached over, grabbed, and chowed down on a camel. Humps, hoofs, and all of that un-kosher critter went down unbeknownest to the gnat-strainer. If I am going to be like that, Lord, at least give me a sense of humor and help me not to take myself so seriously. And, above all, help me to treat my brothers and sisters with respect.
Two quotes:
“When I go to Rome, I fast on Saturday, but in Milan I do not. Do you also follow the custom of whatever church you attend, if you do not want to give or receive scandal.” — Saint Ambrose
“You don’t know what you don’t know.” — Donald Rumsfeld
Peter – while I agree that the orans thing in and of itself isn’t a big deal compared to some other problems in the Church, insofar as it further blurs the distinction between the priest and the laity, even symbolically, its understandable why folks get upset.
Jean – agreed, but reaching out and grabbing the hand of someone whose hands are closed in prayer seems equally uncharitable and impolite to me. Yet, if the norm at a parish is that hands are held at certain points of the Mass, I can certainly see that others would expect everyone else to participate with them, so it would become a non-thinking thing to grasp the hand next to you before checking to see if the other person is willing to go along with that.
From what everyone is saying it does seem like the bishops in general don’t want to get involved with laying down guidelines for this, prefering to leave it to each local pastor. As a result, you never know what you’re going to encounter when you step into church as a visitor, which can lead to some fairly uncomfortable experiences.
Bernard, that’s hilarious. Thanks for that story.
You’re welcome. Sometimes I feel like Forrest Gump. . .
Orans… yessss! The people who do it during the Our Father at the Shrine here are mostly from Africa, and I love it. They pray with their whole bodies- for the same reason we kneel, stand, sit, etc. Reminds us that we are there as whole persons. It doesn’t look to me at all like they’re trying to be priests, and I think different positions for prayer can be very helpful. Who hasn’t lied down prostrate in front of a tabernacle and felt immediately the prayer?
I have found that I have adopted the “closed eyes” during the Our Father for the precise reason of not seeing hands coming at me. And I figure if my eyes are closed I won’t hurt the feelings of the owners of those hands. I don’t want people to take it personally – it’s not because they are any particular hands – and I think looking at the hand owners and not acknowledging them or shaking one’s head in a negative fashion is mistaken as a personal rejection. And clasping my hands beneath my chin with my chin down – way down- is good body language that says I’m not holding hands with anybody. (Though I do feel at daily Mass – which is a more intimate and friendly group – that I am assuming more and more of a tuck-and-roll position. If I pull in on myself any more, I’ll be underneath the pew…)
“Who hasn’t lied down prostrate in front of a tabernacle”
I guess me, for one. As I understand it, prostration tends to be a lot more common in the Orthodox & Marionite traditions than in RC, at least among laity.