For reference, you can read the first part of the interview with Bishop Schneider at the following link: [link]
Henryk Piec and Anna Wysocka talk to His Excellency Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of Astana.
Your Excellency, the faithful do not feel they are doing anything wrong by receiving Holy Communion standing and in the hand. At some point, someone must have said that this form is permissible and that there is nothing wrong with it…
Well, it is the bishops and priests who are responsible for guiding souls — that’s why we refer to priests as pastors. If the faithful today believe that receiving Holy Communion while standing is acceptable, it’s because the clergy have allowed it or even actively encouraged people to it! Morally and spiritually — in my opinion — priests are leading people astray by diminishing the reverence due to Our Lord Jesus. Kneeling is an objective and universal gesture of deep respect. When the clergy introduce the standing posture instead of kneeling, they are limiting the external signs of reverence and honor. That is obvious! In every culture in the world, people bow or kneel to show respect — especially in religious contexts. I have been to Thailand, a predominantly Buddhist country, and I visited a Catholic school there run by religious sisters. Imagine this: the students are required to kneel when speaking to a teacher seated at a desk. In this way, they show respect. They know they cannot stand and speak to their teacher as an equal. At the royal court in Thailand, ministers, when addressing their king, have to kneel before him. They are not permitted to stand at the same level! So if priests forbid people from kneeling to receive Jesus Christ — who is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings — and insist that the faithful receive Holy Communion standing and in the hand, then they are clearly acting against the natural instinct of reverence. This reflects a modernist, ideological effort to diminish honor toward Our Lord. At the root of such an attitude lies a lack of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. To be perfectly honest, this is a Protestant way of thinking.
One of our acquaintances said: “When I receive Communion, I don’t want to wonder whether the way I am kneeling is proper or not — I just want to focus on Jesus.” Some claim that receiving Holy Communion standing is faster and more practical.
This argument is completely misguided. If you are truly focused on Jesus, then you must kneel. A humble posture, the bending of the knees, is a full acknowledgment of the One you are receiving. Saying that gestures don’t matter shows a lack of full faith and awareness of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. If you truly recognize Jesus, then you are receiving the King of Kings, your Lord — kneeling! Just as the Apostle Thomas knelt before the Risen Lord and said, “My Lord and my God,” every believer should do exactly the same! On Easter morning, when Jesus appeared to the women at the tomb, they fell down and kissed His feet. This is a universal human gesture — in all cultures — to kneel or bow before someone who is far, far greater than we are.
It seems as if the modern world is pushing the Church up against a wall, forcing it into a corner, delivering a harsh ultimatum: either the Church becomes like the world, or it will cease to exist.
During the Fifth Lateran Council at the beginning of the 16th century, just before the Protestant Reformation, there was a very wise cardinal who said: “It is not holy things that should be changed by man, but man who should be changed by holy things.” And that is the heart of the matter. The fact is that times do change, and our age is marked by a loss of faith and reverence—but for this very reason, the Church must once again affirm and defend what is sacred and inviolable. We must not weaken our position; we must not conform to the world but be a light for the world! Jesus Christ—the same yesterday, today, and forever! And so is the faith, which should deepen over time. Never the other way around—simply because the world demands it.
The Catholic faith used to be very strong in Europe. Today, it seems that the center of our faith has shifted toward Africa. Is that where the future of the Church lies?
I know Africa quite well; I feel almost at home there. Of course, African countries also have their own problems. Globalism is spreading, and modernism and liberalism have begun to infiltrate the Catholic Church there as well. Nevertheless, the simple people still possess a very strong faith—a deeply rooted faith. I was once in a rural area of Tanzania. The residents were simple farmers, and I celebrated the traditional Latin Mass with them. To my astonishment, they all sang Missa de Angelis from memory—with perfect Latin. Many of them regularly attend traditional Masses and they are very familiar with the liturgy. What moved me the most was their musicality, their deep reverence, and joyful participation in the Latin liturgy. As a bishop, it gave me great joy to be among them—to hear the ancient language of the Church sung with such love and devotion. It was truly moving. I must say—some of these simple African farmers knew Latin better than many of today’s priests in Europe.
During the meeting in Trnava, His Excellency described certain contemporary practices of distributing Holy Communion as a very serious blow to the Church. On another occasion, HE said such practices trivialize the Body of Christ, distributing Him—as His Excellency put it—“like candy.” In one of the lectures, His Excellency warned about an enemy who never sleeps, who subtly changes language. HE warned against a false sense of security promoted by false prophets—those who call good evil and evil good. Does Your Excellency believe that the faithful of the Church realize that this battle is happening before our very eyes—here and now?
Not everyone sees the gravity of the moment we are in—the battle between truth and falsehood, good and evil. In my opinion, only a minority of Catholics (including priests)—those who truly live the faith and take it seriously—are fully aware of what is happening. The majority are going with the flow, succumbing to the spirit of this world, which has penetrated the very interior of the Church. The spirit of this world places temporal matters above the supernatural. It puts aman at the center and pushes God to the side. Today, we are witnessing a shift in focus—from eternity to fleeting issues, from the soul to climate change, ecology, migration, and social concerns…
But isn’t it a good thing that the Church is addressing the problems troubling the modern world?
It is very good, because these topics in themselves are not bad. But the problem is that they are being treated as more important than the eternal truths of the faith. This is a kind of spiritual virus—a darkening, even an eclipse, of the supernatural vision of life. This virus has affected many people within the Church, including bishops and cardinals. And this is precisely why they fail to see the real danger: metaphorically speaking, the Church is on fire before our very eyes. We are facing a serious spiritual crisis. Even when the collapse of faith is clearly visible, when evil grows stronger and confusion spreads—many bishops and cardinals, unfortunately even in the Vatican, say: “Everything is just fine.” They are living, sadly, in a state of false peace and optimism. It reminds me of how people talk to children about death today. When a grandmother or grandfather dies, parents often tell their children, “Grandma went somewhere,” instead of helping them understand life, death, and eternity. Parents often choose entertainment, distracting their children instead of confronting them with deeper realities. This attitude reflects immersion in naturalism—an avoidance of confrontation with what is eternal.
Would you say that modern Catholics have been wrongly formed and are not equipped to face the world effectively?
Yes, in many cases they never had a deep faith, because they were never properly formed in it. And this also applies to many priests, bishops, and cardinals. They were not educated in the fullness of the Catholic faith! That’s why, when they are confronted with external pressures, they simply conform to the world. And sadly, for decades, priests and bishops of weak spirit have been promoted to high offices in the Church. Many of these priests were already known for their extreme views. Some openly promoted the LGBT ideology, supported the blessing of same-sex unions, and even advocated for the ordination of women. Yet, they were promoted—some even elevated to the rank of cardinal. For many faithful Catholics, this must be a shocking experience. But the mechanism is not hard to understand: if the enemies of the Church want to destabilize it, the most effective method is to promote people who enjoy seeing themselves in the mirror of the modern world—they weaken the Church from within. And unfortunately, such priests today hold influential positions—even in the Vatican.
