Kneeling family ignored at Communion rail during Mass with Charlotte Bishop Martin: report

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Michael Martin of Charlotte reportedly ignored families who knelt at an altar rail for Communion during a recent Confirmation Mass.

According to a report by AdVaticanum, two or three families who approached the rail were allegedly passed over for Holy Communion during the Mass at Our Lady of Grace parish in Greensboro, North Carolina. Our Lady of Grace previously offered the Traditional Latin Mass before suppression by Martin last October.

One father who attended the Mass with his family told the outlet about Martin: “He was sitting in front of us when we went to the rail and he simply ignored us. All the priests turned their backs on us.”

“Everyone else communicated and we were denied. To be frank, it was very humiliating,” he added.

“Attempts were made to speak to Bishop Martin about incident after the Confirmation Mass, but he did not respond in detail,” AdVaticanum said.

Bishop Martin of Charlotte, NC has banned the use of altar rails and kneelers in his diocese, despite the laity’s canonical right to receive Holy Communion on their knees. pic.twitter.com/1eC2ish0M6

— Sign of the Cross (@CatholicSOTC) April 29, 2026

Martin, who Pope Francis appointed to lead the conservative Diocese of Charlotte in 2024, has become notorious for his crackdown on the Latin Mass, altar rails, and kneelers.

He decreed in December that all parish churches in the diocese must stop using altar rails and remove kneelers for the reception of Holy Communion.

That order has faced widespread backlash, and, in January, 30 priests – around 40 percent of Charlotte’s diocesan priests – submitted a dubia to the Vatican’s Dicastery for Legislative Texts challenging the ban.

Last fall, under Martin’s direction, a high school in Charlotte had already removed the kneeler from its chapel, added projector screens for school Masses – defying the U.S. bishops’ liturgy guidelines – and introduced two student extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.

Martin notably also mandated that the Latin Mass must cease at all four parishes in the Diocese of Charlotte that had continued to offer it, prompting indignation among the faithful. He designated a small, former Protestant chapel 45-60 minutes from Charlotte as the sole location at which the traditional liturgy may be celebrated.

The Franciscan prelate also faced intense criticism for planned liturgical norms that would have banned the use of Latin and celebrating Mass ad orientem even in the Novus Ordo liturgy, birettas and other traditional or ornate vestments, altar candles, standing altar crucifixes, missal stands, veiling among women assisting at Mass in “any official capacity,” the ringing of bells to announce the entrance of clergy for Mass, and more.

Bishops and priests do not have authority to deny Catholics the Blessed Sacrament simply because they wish to receive kneeling, according to Church teaching and canon law.

The document Redemptionis Sacramentum, approved by Pope St. John Paul II, states, “it is not licit to deny Holy Communion to any of Christ’s faithful solely on the grounds, for example, that the person wishes to receive the Eucharist kneeling or standing.”

The Vatican Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments confirmed in February that is reviewing an appeal against Martin over his “apparent refusal” to respond to “requests concerning liturgical matters,” according to a letter that recently circulated on social media.

Traditional liturgical practices, such as reception of the Holy Eucharist kneeling and on the tongue, have grown in popularity among the faithful, especially among young people, in recent years, despite attacks by liberal prelates. In October 2024, the largest survey of Catholics ever conducted in the United States found widespread support for kneeling to receive Holy Communion and reverence in the liturgy in general.

This article has been updated.