[ichabod1]

You’re absolutely right! There’s a dip and a crossing upon entering the church, the curtsy comes before entering the pew.

I go to an old school parish, there’s a sign saying a genuflection is expected of all the faithful.

[livius]

Bow to the altar, kneel to the Blessed Sacrament.

Once upon a time, the Blessed Sacrament (the consecrated altar bread, that is, Our Lord, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity) was kept in a box, known as a Tabernacle, at the back of the main altar in the church. After Vatican II, they moved the Blessed Sacrament to a side chapel.

So now Catholics look around when they enter a church. If you see a red lamp burning, that indicates that the Blessed Sacrament is present, and you genuflect (”curtsey”) in that direction. If there’s no lamp and no tabernacle, then you bow to the altar, which is front and center in the church.

[GoLightly]

I remember the holy water & curtsy from when I was a kid, back when Mass was in Latin.

Can’t say I noticed it much after I became an adult, but I don’t think I ever went to a Mass that didn’t include a wedding as an adult & a portion of the congregation at a wedding wouldn’t be Catholic. Funerals include or are a Mass, right? Still, a portion of the congregation wouldn’t be Catholic. Like I said, I got the impression that the curtsy & holy water went the way of the doily on the head.