Baking Bread

[smndtupidisaftr]

So I won’t name names, but a certain trend I’ve noticed around the university churches is to bake the bread that will be used in the Mass. Since I know someone who is involved with these liturgies, I asked her about this practice. The only thing I wanted to know is if they used yeast. She said they did not, but looking at what they use you would not be able to tell. It looks like bread, though very flat and thick. So I guess it is unleavened and so technically there is nothing wrong with it, except that it needs to be broken apart to be distributed, and this process produces a horrifying amount of crumbs. I shudder to think of what falls to the floor and what is left on hands inadvertently. It seems so completely unnecessary. Has anyone else experienced anything like this and would you have any advice about writing a charitable letter to end this unnecessary practice?

 

[CB_Catholic]

So I won’t name names, but a certain trend I’ve noticed around the university churches is to bake the bread that will be used in the Mass. Since I know someone who is involved with these liturgies, I asked her about this practice. The only thing I wanted to know is if they used yeast. She said they did not, but looking at what they use you would not be able to tell. It looks like bread, though very flat and thick. So I guess it is unleavened and so technically there is nothing wrong with it, except that it needs to be broken apart to be distributed, and this process produces a horrifying amount of crumbs. I shudder to think of what falls to the floor and what is left on hands inadvertently. It seems so completely unnecessary. Has anyone else experienced anything like this and would you have any advice about writing a charitable letter to end this unnecessary practice?

I fail to see the problem here. Those little white hosts we are used to are a fairly recent invention. Homemade bread has been in use for 2000 years in the Church. Whenever I have been to a liturgy that use homemade bread, the bread was cut neatly into squares and placed into the receptacle before it was consecrated, and there were not a lot of crumbs. There is no reason to end this practice, or write a letter about it. It is an ancient and venerable one, and most of the Eastern churches use homemade bread in their liturgies.

 

[smndtupidisaftr]

What you describe sounds fine. However, in this case, it is fractioned after consecration, and that is why the crumbs are a problem in this case.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Then perhaps give them advice that the breaking of the bread should be done before Mass. They can leave one big piece for the Fraction Rite.

 

[Jamietw]

At our Parish Liturgy Group meeting our Priest was telling us that knew a Priest who uses Homemade Bread on Holy Thursday for the Evening Mass, this is fine and in some way I find rather symbolic but the issue lies with crumbs that get left behind or dropped. Therefore to do it requires real practical considerations.

 

[smndtupidisaftr]

Then perhaps give them advice that the breaking of the bread should be done before Mass. They can leave one big piece for the Fraction Rite.

This is an interesting solution, though I had forgotten about the Fraction Rite. Basically, after it is consecrated, the priest and EMHC’s come up to the altar and all help in fractioning (yes, EMHC’s come to the altar before the priest has consumed). So with this solution the crumbs are minimized and the EMHC’s don’t have to approach early.

Thanks.