Q. During the "Our Father" in Mass, some families hold hands. Should 
we?
A. The 2000 Revision of the 'Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani 
states: Thus greater attention needs to be paid to what is laid down by 
liturgical law and by the traditional practice of the Roman Rite, for the 
sake of the common spiritual good of the people of God rather than to 
personal inclination or arbitrary choice. The uniformity in posture to be 
observed by all taking part is a sign of the unity of the members of 
the Christian community gathered for the sacred Liturgy: it both 
expresses and fosters the spiritual attitude of those assisting. 
So, although you may like to hold hands, the norms ask that there be 
uniformity in the actions of the lay people at Mass. Furthermore, there 
is the matter of obedience. The regulation of the liturgy is the 
responsibility of the Holy See. Only the Holy See can approve the admission of 
new rites into the liturgy, as Vatican II, Canon Law, the General 
Instruction of the Roman Missal all say. 
Holding hands can establish in a parish a principle contrary to the 
common good of the Church and the Catholic understanding of the nature of 
the Church. It is wrong for a parish to arrogate to itself authority it 
does not in fact have. From this perspective, it is not so much the act 
itself as what underlies it. 
The Mass is a complexus of sacred signs which include the words, the 
postures and gestures made, so that they express the faith of the Church 
in an orderly way, especially regarding the mystery of the Eucharist. 
The charism of judging the faith, including the correspondence of the 
liturgy's words, postures and gestures, with the faith, is not ultimately 
the role of experts, theologians, liturgists, individual laity, 
deacons, priests or even individual bishops or bishops conferences. Certainly, 
they can by their knowledge and experience come to a sound and 
ultimately legitimate conclusion. But in the end by the grace of God the Holy 
See decides, so that Christ's promise to Peter, and Peter alone, 
determines the particular case. This way of faith and grace is called 
Catholicism. 
So, while it is indeed a small thing, holding hands is symptomatic of a 
false notion, a de-sacralized notion, of the liturgy common today. It 
therefore illustrates the above point quite well. Someone, some parish 
liturgy committee, or individuals spontaneously, have introduced a 
perfectly fine human and warm gesture of intimate friendship into the Mass, 
no doubt thinking this was a warm expression of the charity which 
should bond Catholics together into the Church. What better place, after 
all, than the OUR Father. However, it ignores the fact that the Mass is 
not simply a human gathering, but a complexus of signs manifesting the 
Catholic faith. When the faith is taken into account, holding hands (as a 
community) at any point in the Mass could never be justified. In the 
orderly development of the signs in the Liturgy, Holy Communion is our 
sign of intimacy. Whatever detracts from this unfolding of the 
sacramentality is anti-liturgical, therefore. 
So, by itself, holding hands is a small thing, and abrupt and 
uncharitable responses to the practice are not called for. However, despite the 
good intentions of those who introduce or permit it, it is symptomatic 
of the general lack of a true liturgical formation among clergy and 
laity alike.
 
The following words are appropriate for reflection: "You might at times 
think that the liturgy is made up of a lot of minor details; posture, 
genuflections, bows, handling the censer, missal, cruets, etc. It is 
then that you must remember the words of Christ in the gospel: 'He that 
is faithful in the smallest things is faithful also in the great.' (Mk 
10:21) Moreover, in the liturgy nothing is little, when we realize the 
greatness of the one to whom it is directed." (Pope Paul VI, Address to 
a pilgrimage of altar servers from various parts of Europe, 30 March 
1967).