Am I In Error?

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deogratias

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I have observed a practice at a parish which I consider not only a liturgical abuse but a disrespectful handling of the Holy Eucharist.

Without identifying the parish or the location and please don’t make this an issue because it is not, this is the scenario.

The priest begins to distribute communion. The pianist is playing the communion hymn. The priest lays the host on little lace napkin on the corner of the piano for the pianist to consume at a later more convenient time.

My first question is (and was to the liturgist who happens to be the pianist too) was that wasn’t this self-communicating. While he answered my inquiry in a long and scathing reply filled with sarcasm and attempts to make me feel guilty for even noticing this, he never did answer if this was “self-communicating”.

I included the appropriate citations from church documents about self-communicating and respect for the Eucharist and the paragraph from Redemptionis Sacramentum to justify my inquiry.

So before I pursue this further, I have to know if this is really a breech of respect for the handling of the Holy Eucharist or not. I thought I was charitable in my inquiry and wish to continue it to be such but my heart still feels this is a disrespectful act in regard to the Body of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
 
Ohhh yes, this is most definitely an abuse. If the pianist is that narcissistic that he can’t even stop playing to adore his Lord when the distribution begins and cannot approach his Lord on bended knee, he should be stripped of his duties. Your bishop needs to be informed that your priest was involved with this and if nothing changes, write to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
 
I think you are in the right. Heaven forbid we might have a moment of silence for the two minutes it might take the musicians or choir to recieve Communion! This is what happens at the parishes I have been in.

I think many people in our day have become uncomfortable with silence. There’s sort of this feel that we have to keep the “energy” going otherwise people might…gasp…become bored. It drives me bonkers when there is a special liturgy and they play music through the Gospel reading or during the Eucharistic prayer.

Pursue it and I hope you are successful in helping your priest come into orthodox practice.
 
Yeah it sounds pretty sloppy to me. I don’t know the rules so I’ll just talk about the practicalities.

I thought there would be some obligation on the priest or the Eucharistic minister to make sure that the person to whom they distribute Communion actually consumes it.

I’ve seen priests chastise communicants who take the Host in their hands and attempt to scurry away with it. While the pianist presumably can be trusted to not nick off with the Host, someone else might grab it before the pianist consumes it, and the priest or Eucharistic minister is risking being partially responsible for this in the circumstances you describe.
 
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CatholicNerd:
Ohhh yes, this is most definitely an abuse. If the pianist is that narcissistic that he can’t even stop playing to adore his Lord when the distribution begins and cannot approach his Lord on bended knee, he should be stripped of his duties. Your bishop needs to be informed that your priest was involved with this and if nothing changes, write to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
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I agree wholeheartedly, with one exception: first, you should contact the priest with your concern. Respectfully request clarification on the subject of self communication.

I cannot imagine setting Jesus aside so I could tickle the ivories awhile longer!

Thank heavens my parents couldn’t afford piano lessons. But, for the grace of God, there go I…!!! Poor, poor prideful pianist :nope:
 
You are NOT in error.

It is not appropriate to leave the King of the Universe lying naked on a rag, waiting for His creature to receive Him.

But remember that He suffered much worse on their behalf and loves them dearly. Pray that the Holy Spirit learn a deeper faith in the Blessed Sacrament. If you happen to pass by the host coming and going, don’t forget to genuflect.

Our Royal King by right inhabits the best room in the building and in precious vessels, usually at least gold plated, like patens and ciboria.

The other danger is that fragments of the Host, with Our Lord fully present in each, may catch in the fabric or fall into the surface underneath it, or even be swept onto the floor.

Another danger of communion on the hand, is that people are not permitted to move, but should remain still, facing the priest, until they consume the host. Some people are in such a hurry that they turn to go, with the host laying on their hand, and it blows off onto the ground!

St. Tarcisius, patron of altar boys, died protecting the Holy Eucharist, on his way to deliver it.

A former lieutenant governor of the province of Quebec died in a fire protecting the Eucharist, reserved in his home chapel. His arms were burned off, but the host was found intact under his body.
Norms from the Vatican web site:
  1. The Communion-plate for the Communion of the faithful should be retained, so as to avoid the danger of the sacred host or some fragment of it falling.[180]
  2. It is not licit for the faithful “to take . . . by themselves . . . and, still less, to hand . . . from one to another” the sacred host or the sacred chalice.[181] Moreover, in this regard, the abuse is to be set aside whereby spouses administer Holy Communion to each other at a Nuptial Mass.
Redemptionis Sacramentum
 
I wrote to the Pastor about this, and never received a response of any kind. All three of the priests in this parish do it this way.
I wrote to the Church liturgist with the question, (turns out he is also the pianist in question - oops)

"When I see the priest put the Body of Christ on a napkin on the corner of the piano to be picked up at a more convenient time, I cringe every time. Isn’t this self-communicating which is forbidden? " I also included the documentation forbidding this (the rules).

He wrote back that I should be paying attention to what I was doing and not watching him. and that

“liturgical law is human law, given to us by the church to help us realize some ideals. This kind of law needs application within a community”

HUH?

He told me that one of the priests had had that small corporal with lace made for him out of respect for the Eucharist.

He said the “law” says we should all sing during the communion song yet he does not cringe or report us when we don’t and that the church laws were meant to bind us and not divide us -

There were many other comments he made to me which were sarcastic and phrases to try to make me feel guilty for even noticing the error let alone inquiring about it.

I also had sent a copy of the letter to the Diocese Liturgist and have received no reply whatsoever from them.

I will try writing the Bishop but it is pretty hard to assure that things get to him, isn’t it? Yet people will tell me there are no abuses of consequence and wonder why I want to go to the TLM - I rest my case.
 
By now you certainly have enough replies to assure yourself of the doctrinal and liturgical validity of your objection. Your diocese sounds like a real winner to me if neither priests nor diocesan liturgist can be bothered to give you an answer.

In my opinion, the Church’s greatest problem throughout the past half century has been the lack of an Inspector General equivalent, charged, like the military’s, with investigating fraud, waste, and abuse, and senior clerical misconduct; which should conduct periodic inspections of all parishes, and should be hierarchically arranged by diocese, archdiocese, nation, and Curia. Our priests, bless them, are certainly “real” priests, but they, like the rest of us, could surely do with a little more accountability. And it wouldn’t hurt the Pope to know just how out of control his clergy are.
 
Yes thank you all and I have now written to the Diocese, received a reply and how to write a formal complaint, etc. which I am doing.

In all fairness to the Diocese - we have a new Bishop of only 7 months and changes are being made albeit slowly in some areas but rapidly in others.

As far as I am concerned, the moderatators can now close this thread.

Thanks again all for your (name removed by moderator)ut.
 
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