LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Shelton Fabre of the Archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky, issued a document on the norms for receiving the Eucharist last week, which notably discouraged communicants from kneeling as they receive the Blessed Sacrament.
The May 14 document entitled Norms for Posture and the Communion Rite emphasized that while the faithful cannot be denied Holy Communion if they choose to kneel, diocesan clergy will be required to instruct parishioners no later than June 22 that standing is the “normative” posture for receiving the Sacrament in the United States. These guidelines are similar to other statements bishops have made that discourage kneeling while receiving the Eucharist.
“Standing is the norm for the reception for Holy Communion,” Archbishop Fabre wrote, citing the designation of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2002.
“While communicants may not be denied Holy Communion because they kneel, catechisis of the faithful (such as sacramental preparation) should instruct that standing is the normative posture for reception of Holy Communion,” he added. “Deacons, servers, and other liturgical ministers are to observe the normative posture of standing to receive Holy Communion to appropriately model this norm for the faithful.”
The tradition of the Catholic Church, unbroken until after the Second Vatican Council, is that the lay faithful receive the Blessed Sacrament, administered by a priest, his hands having been consecrated for the handling of the sacred Eucharist, on the tongue while kneeling.
The Code of Canon Law, which binds all bishops and priests in the Roman Rite, legislates the following:
Sacred ministers cannot deny the sacraments to those who seek them at appropriate times, are properly disposed, and are not prohibited by law from receiving them. (Can. 843 §1.)
Any baptized person not prohibited by law can and must be admitted to Holy Communion. (Can. 912)
Additionally, Cardinal Francis Arinze, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDWDS) under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, has underscored the importance of receiving the Blessed Sacrament while kneeling to show proper reverence while receiving the Lord.
‘If you kneel now they treat you as if you did something wrong. If you believe that Christ is our God why don’t you kneel? Why don’t you crawl?’
Cardinal Arinze pic.twitter.com/fBrMbGYmzp
— Catholic Arena (@CatholicArena) April 27, 2025
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, too, citing Cardinal Arinze’s past comments, recently promoted kneeling for Holy Communion in a series of X posts.
Why don’t you kneel? If kneelers are not provided only the very young with healthy knees can kneel. https://t.co/UgZVxskFJ5
— Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone (@ArchCordileone) April 28, 2025
It’s worth noting that Archbishop Fabre’s document also featured more traditional guidelines for communicants to follow as they approach to receive the Sacrament, including kneeling from the Agnus Dei until they join the Communion procession. One of the guidelines also stressed that the faithful can’t be denied the Sacrament if they choose to receive the host on the tongue.
READ: Italian priest scolds ‘disobedient,’ ‘prideful’ parishioners for receiving Communion on tongue
Archbishop Fabre’s guidelines about standing to receive the Eucharist echo those of other notable Catholic prelates, such as Cardinal Blase Cupich, the heterodox archbishop of Chicago. Last year, Cupich all but forbade the faithful from kneeling to receive the Blessed Sacrament, claiming that doing so “disrupts the flow” of the Communion procession.
READ: Cardinal Cupich discourages kneeling for Holy Communion, says standing is the ‘norm’
“[N]o one should engage in a gesture that calls attention to oneself or disrupts the flow of the procession [to and from Holy Communion],” he wrote, though he has allowed heterodoxy and liturgical abuses in Chicago parishes.
