Hand holding - Our Father
            QUESTION from Claire on April 17, 2004

Hello Mr. Slavek, I have read several responses from this Catholic Q & A site, all of which agree that holding hands during the Our Father is against the G.I.R.M. and not supposed to be done during Mass. Outside of Mass it's perfectly OK to hold hands while praying the Our Father as a group. I copied about 4 or 5 of the ques. and ans. and gave them to the person I am sponsoring in RCIA, because my Church has the habit of doing this. Not everyone does it or agrees with this "new" practice. Last Wed. evening when our RCIA group was saying the opening prayers, one of the nuns instructed us to hold hands during the Our Father "like we do during Mass", (as she said). When I approached her, and another nun who was there (both of whom I care about dearly) and mentioned that we are not supposed to holds hands, etc., they asked where I got this info. from, and I told them, (and showed them my copies of which they didn't look at) they said that it doesn't apply, that each diocese has their own "rules", and they have never been told about this being wrong to do, so we can do it here. We live in Western Canada, and I was wondering, does this rule only apply to the U.S. R.C. Churches, or does it apply universally in our R.C. Church regardless of location? I thought the Church is supposed to follow what the Pope declares is the appropriate "rules" of the Mass? Where can I find out about this for Canada where I attend Mass? Thank you and God bless you, from Claire