"Do Anglicans Receive Communion Kneeling At The Communion Rail?"

The moderator of our Bible study asked us this last night, knowing of our background. He was, it turns out, exploring the idea of working with the parish priests to re-introduce the practice -- for whatever reason, the communion rail still exists at our parish. I pointed out that even mainstream-traditional priests like Fr John Riccardo find it impossible to implement simply due to traffic. He replied that it might be practical at times like the 6:30 AM Sunday mass. He then explored questions like how the Anglicans handle handicapped people or those for whom kneeling is difficult. This was clearly a serious discussion.

It's worth pointing out, of course, that the practice of kneeling to receive the Sacrament well predates the Church of England, and the gentleman was not asking how the Anglicans do things with any intention of becoming more Anglican. He was using Anglican practical experience to explore how one might go about re-introducing a traditional Christian practice. (I also added that Anglicans use cushions at the communion rail.) But this brings me to an unanswered question touching on Anglicanorum coetibus: to what extent are ordinariate parishes catering to cradle Catholics who for whatever reason find them more convenient or attractive than diocesan parishes?

I don't mean to ask this in order to prompt any sort of optimism. But my regular correspondent made an interesting point in response to a visitor's account of attendance at the Victoria, BC OCSP parish. The visitor said, "The Ordinariate Masses in Victoria normally have about 15-20 people for a daily Mass and two-three times that number on Sundays." My regular correspondent noted, "BlJHN [Victoria] holds its Sunday mass at a parish whose only other Sunday mass is in Portuguese (there is a Saturday vigil mass in English). I am sure there are those nearby who take advantage of the availability of a Sunday morning mass in English even if they have no connection with Anglicanism." Although Victoria, BC is also a special case with regard to English heritage.

I've been hearing comments from visitors to the effect that the number of former Anglicans at Our Lady of the Atonement has been exaggerated, which is a possible reason for disappointing enrollments into the OCSP there -- some number of cradle Catholics attend OCSP masses due to convenience (e.g., English at a good time, close by) or due simply to to a reverent atmosphere (Dan Schutte songs not to be heard), and this could be a factor in attendance not just at OLA but elsewhere.

Our parish uses what appears to be a version of the OCP Glory & Praise hard cover hymnal. Ralph Vaughan Williams, Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and John Mason Neale are all names frequently encountered, but there's no specific effort to seem "Anglican". The parish has many Latino and Filipino members. On the other hand, it isn't obnoxiously Traditionalist. One might say that the Church in the US could learn something from the OCSP, except that Bp Lopes so far has no particular success to point to with his colleagues, and some element of the OCSP's small uptake is almost certainly due to a general preference emerging in the Catholic mainstream for better catechesis and more reverent worship.