Portland Catholics Told to Drop Hands at Our Father
The archdiocese's November 2026 instruction asks parishioners to stop holding or raising hands during the Lord's Prayer.
Updated on Nov. 11, 2026 in Catholicism
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Catholics at Masses in the Archdiocese of Portland are being asked to stop holding hands or raising hands during the Our Father. The archdiocese set out the request in its November 2026 Divine Worship Newsletter.
Why it matters
The request settles a long-running question in local parishes about whether lay faithful should extend their hands during the Lord's Prayer, a posture the archdiocese says belongs to the priest. Parishioners who have practiced the gesture are now being asked to change, and the question of what the Church's norms actually permit is still a matter of how individual parishes interpret them.
The archdiocese anchored the instruction to the 1970 New Roman Missal and three specific Church provisions: GIRM 152, Sacrosanctum Concilium 22.3, and Canon 907. The stub gives no count of affected parishes or Masses, and it does not say whether the archdiocese plans to track compliance.
The players
Archdiocese of Portland
The Catholic archdiocese serving Portland, Oregon, which issued the instruction asking laypeople to stop raising or holding hands during the Our Father.
The details
The Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, asked laypeople to refrain from both holding hands and raising hands during the Our Father at Masses. The request was issued as an official instruction and published in the archdiocese's November 2026 Divine Worship Newsletter. The archdiocese cited Church documents on liturgical norms, including Sacrosanctum Concilium 22.3, which says no one may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority, and Canon 907, which bars deacons and lay persons from actions proper to the celebrating priest. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal does not explicitly forbid lay faithful from using the orans posture during the Our Father, a detail the archdiocese does not dispute.
Timeline
Prior to 1970: only the priest prayed the Lord's Prayer with hands extended.
November 2026: the archdiocese published the instruction in its Divine Worship Newsletter.
Beyond the Bridges
The archdiocese grounds its instruction in Sacrosanctum Concilium 22.3 and Canon 907 of the Code of Canon Law, existing Church rules on who may change the liturgy and perform priestly actions. Unlike the General Instruction, which does not explicitly forbid the orans posture for laypeople, the archdiocese applies the broader norms to this gesture.
If you attend Mass in the Archdiocese of Portland, expect the request to refrain from holding or raising hands during the Our Father to apply at your parish. The instruction asks you to pray the Lord's Prayer without that gesture.
The takeaway
The archdiocese's instruction rests on existing Church norms about who may change the liturgy, so it is worth reading the cited documents if you want the reasoning in full. Watch your own parish's announcements in the coming weeks to see how the request is put into practice.
Further reading
For more on the church's traditions and liturgical life, see Catholicism.
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