By Msgr. Charles Fink.

The recent kerfuffle over kneeling/not kneeling to receive the Blessed Sacrament brought back to me memories of a Church history professor I had in the seminary. He was renowned for his enormous library and his encyclopedic knowledge.

Commenting on the redistricting scheme of the French revolutionaries, who decided that a simple grid defining counties would be much more rational and a great improvement on the less tidy but organically evolved pattern of regional associations then in existence, our priest professor opined that "It takes a great genius to make great nonsense."

With less charity than my former teacher, I'm inclined to say that not only does it not take a great genius to make great nonsense, but that almost any fool is capable of promulgating and justifying even the most patently wrong-headed practices.

Our parish church just underwent a renovation, which saw the restoration of an altar rail and the beautification of the sanctuary, which, though not overly ornate, is truly breathtaking. As per the pastor's instructions, Communion is now distributed at the altar rail. Communicants may kneel or stand and receive in the hand or on the tongue; there is no pressure to receive in any one way.

The upshot of this is that the processional flow of Communion is controlled by the priest, not by the choices of the people as to how they will receive. He is constantly moving, and there is always someone in front of him prepared to receive the sacrament. Those concerned with the efficient flow of the Communion procession should be delighted with this practice, unless, of course, they are motivated by some other agenda.

Fascinatingly, but not surprisingly, with no coercion whatsoever, many parishioners opt to kneel to receive Communion, some in the hand, some on the tongue. Those who choose to remain standing are also divided as to the manner in which they take the sacrament. Not only does this leave everyone free to choose how they'll receive Communion; it encourages and allows for greater reverence in reception.

Chances are that all those coming forward for Communion will have a few moments to stop walking - sorry, processing - stand or kneel at the altar rail, think about what they are doing, receive the Body of Christ, and then feel no urgency to scoot off for fear of holding up the parade. Again, sorry, I mean the procession.

I was brought up in the Episcopalian Church, more the Protestant than the Anglo-Catholic variety. We didn't believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and many of us attended many more Sunday morning prayer services than communion services. But when we did attend communion services, we knelt at an altar rail, took communion in the hand, and returned to our pews, all in a manner much more reverent than is typical in most Catholic Churches nowadays, even though Catholics supposedly believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, while Episcopalians of my stripe did not.

I'm sure there are multiple factors that account for this odd contrast between the level of reverence I experienced at communion services as a church-going Episcopalian and what I've beheld over the course of nearly five decades of distributing the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. But if I were the devil and wanted to set out to destroy belief in Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist, I could not have done a better job than the geniuses who removed all the altar rails, busied our sanctuaries with troops of Eucharistic and other ministers, and turned the Communion procession into an assembly line on which the watchword is "keep moving!"

In a world of rampant and crass unbelief, it's no easy task to hold on to the faith. We can all relate to the man in the Gospel who said to Jesus, "Lord, I do believe; help my unbelief." (Mark 9:24) Help, not hinder. That would include our churches being truly sacred spaces, with primacy of place given to the tabernacle, the altar, and the sanctuary. And yes, ...