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>Okey dokey, here's a related question:  What about the various gestures
>(genuflecting, crossing oneself)?  I was raised Protestant, have a healthy
>respect for Catholicism due to being a medievalist, but do not want to do
>something "wrong."  However, I want to show the proper respect (since, for
>the most part, there's nothing all that alien about the beliefs themselves).

There is no need to make any gesture with which you do not feel comfortable;
and indeed it might be thought hypocritical to make a gesture expressing
some emotion you did not feel.  I assure you that nobody will be offended by
a polite but passive onlooker.

If you actually wish to make the gestures, then it is customary to genuflect
before the Blessed Sacrament.  This is done by placing the left foot forward
and going down briefly onto the right knee.

In the west, it is customary to make the sign of the cross by raising the
right hand to the forehead, lowering it to the navel, touching first the
left and then the right shoulder.

But it really does not matter if you get these things wrong, or do not do
them at all. People will have far more important things on their mind,
notably the worship of God. If anyone really has come to church to spy on
intruding protestants, well, they deserve to be offended.

Oriens.



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