Bizarre Occurrence at Mass

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TheRealJuliane

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So at the Vigil Mass Saturday evening…During the homily my attention was drawn to a young early 20’s man sitting directly in front of the baptismal font…Almost directly in front of the pulpit…He was alone in his row, although there were people in the pew behind him. I noticed the McDonald’s drink cup on the seat next to him, and was somewhat concerned…He did not stand, kneel or do anything other than sit with his legs extended, and smile in a derisive way, and he had some folded papers that he would fiddle with.

The vibe I got while watching him was more hostile than confused, and I got a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I was afraid he would try to take communion. When I got back to my seat after receiving, I watched in horror as he took the top off his McDonald’s drink cup, picked it up, picked his papers up, and got in line for Father’s distribution of Jesus’ body…:eek: I prayed furiously for Father…

When the young man reached Father, there was obviously a problem, as Father refused him the Host…Father held firm for a few minutes and then, to my chagrin, gave the man a Host. The man then went over to the Cup Minister and tried that. That attempt did not work, so he had to walk away.

As he walked back to his seat, he threw the Host into one of the clay jars that are around the baptismal font. :mad: Fortunately, one of the ushers saw him and she and one other usher managed to get it out of the jar and one of them consumed it. After they had done this, the man got his things together and walked out into the narthex, where 2 male ushers confronted him. Eventually I saw him ride away from the church on a bicycle.

After Mass, I talked to the Cup minister, since I know him. He said the man was obviously unbalanced in some way, as when he said “The Blood of Christ,” the man said, “Thank you.” Then the Minister knew he could not give this man the Blood.

This Mass is the smallest one at that church, we have trouble getting any ushers, or that sort of thing might be dealt with much more effectively. At the other parish I attend, there are signs on the door that say “No food or drink,” as well as greeters at the doors, who would head off such a person before he ever got to the sanctuary. There is no security at this Mass. And the parish is located in an area that is filled with transient hotels, apartments, etc.

I was actually very frightened that this person was dangerous. His attitude was very negative and I was anticipating worse than just desecration of the Host. At least he didn’t get violent. You never know.
 
It is not the first time something like this has happened. Very sad and troubling, but remember the Lord loves him. Sounds like it was handled pretty well overall.
 
Wow! I will pray for this young man. And I admire they way your church handled this distressing matter.
 
I need to pray for him too. You just never know how this kind of thing is going to play out. A priest would be totally vulnerable in that position, there is nothing Father could have done if this man had been out to attack him or hurt him and/or others.

If I see something else like this, I am going to leave the sanctuary immediately and get the attention of the ushers so they can keep a sharp eye out and nip whatever it is in the bud if they can.
 
Let’s pray for this man.

Lord, only You know the true state of this man’s mind and soul. We ask You that, if he is going through any emotional or mental disturbances, that You would completely heal him of any illnesses that are afflicting him. We know that no one ends up in Your house by accident Lord, and we pray that something this man heard or saw that day affected him and he will experience a true conversion of heart and soul. We ask that you please watch over him and keep him safe and help him through any trials he may be experiencing.

Amen!
 
It sounds like he might have been mentally ill…I know at my former parish, which was in the middle of a city, similar things occurred. It’s good, in your situation, that people knew how to handle it.
 
I worked in a psych hospital for a while and have nothing but empathy for him and his family. I’ll pray for this young man. :hug1:
 
opus101 said:
It sounds like he might have been mentally ill…I know at my former parish, which was in the middle of a city, similar things occurred. It’s good, in your situation, that people knew how to handle it.
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I’m not sure they knew exactly how to handle it, as much as no one was prepared so he was allowed to approach Father before anyone recognized the problem. If he really had been dangerous, it could have been really bad. Thankful that he was not as dangerous as I thought he might be.

Since we are the only Church that does not allow just anyone to receive communion, he could have been confused. Even the Episcopalians are all-inclusive and invite any and all up to the communion rail. It’s easy for strangers to think that it’s no big deal to receive, although we do flash a big message on the screen that says “If you are not Catholic or are not prepared to receive, come up and get a blessing.” I know that’s not licit practice but it’s been SOP at this parish for donkey’s years now.
 
The man probably had some kind of mental health issue. Its hard for the priest to make “on the spot” decisions because he’s there holding the ciborium full of hosts. If the man were to accost the priest in any way the most likely outcome is hosts flying everywhere. Its rare for someone to insist on a host and then not consume it. Usually people who fail to consume the host receive it out of confusion or awkwardness and then have no idea what to do after they have it, they usually don’t insist on it and then put it somewhere.

However, I do have to disagree with the EMHC who said he knew something was wrong because the communicant said “thank you.” I get that plenty of times from people who I know are Catholic.
 
I have seen similar interactions with the mentally ill and Mass. I sympathize that they simply do not understand what is going on quite often. Unfortunately, we spend less and less on the mentally ill. They are left all the more in society without help. It will be important that those of us who can to deal with them in charity and not respond with fear. I do not judge those who are afraid of these people,as it does take a lot to get used to them.
 
TheRealJuliane said:
I need to pray for him too. You just never know how this kind of thing is going to play out. A priest would be totally vulnerable in that position, there is nothing Father could have done if this man had been out to attack him or hurt him and/or others.

If I see something else like this, I am going to leave the sanctuary immediately and get the attention of the ushers so they can keep a sharp eye out and nip whatever it is in the bud if they can.
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May I humbly suggest that if you ever fear for the safety of your priest or fellow parishioners that you bypass the ushers and go to the narthex to call the police? It might take them 10 minutes to arrive and that will be long after a fight, stabbing or shooting has occurred. It’s better to have them on the way sooner than later.

The ushers are not security and shouldn’t do anything more than you. Confronting a deranged man can be a deadly task. If your church employs security officers, contact them. Otherwise, if there is any doubt, call the police.

Now is a good time to ask your priest if the church has a policy on this and to communicate it to the ushers. Most will tell the ushers not to confront but to call the police. It’s good to know what the plan is so everyone is on the same page.
 
If I missed this, please direct me to the post that discusses it…but…WHY did the priest give him a host???:confused:
 
CDB1718 said:
May I humbly suggest that if you ever fear for the safety of your priest or fellow parishioners that you bypass the ushers and go to the narthex to call the police? It might take them 10 minutes to arrive and that will be long after a fight, stabbing or shooting has occurred. It’s better to have them on the way sooner than later.

The ushers are not security and shouldn’t do anything more than you. Confronting a deranged man can be a deadly task. If your church employs security officers, contact them. Otherwise, if there is any doubt, call the police.

Now is a good time to ask your priest if the church has a policy on this and to communicate it to the ushers. Most will tell the ushers not to confront but to call the police. It’s good to know what the plan is so everyone is on the same page.
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Exactly.

We had an unstable young man in our church a few weeks ago. He came and sat right next to my husband. He was standing when the congregation sat. He waved his arms at the priest. He was belligerent when the ushers tried to calm him down. And he was frightening the older people behind us. We really didn’t know what he was up to… and did he have a gun?

Thankfully, toward the end of mass, 3 police officers came in and took him out. I’ve never seen that before. And he went peacefully. I later found out that he has been in and out of mental hospitals and is otherwise harmless.
 
TheRealJuliane said:
I’m not sure they knew exactly how to handle it, as much as no one was prepared so he was allowed to approach Father before anyone recognized the problem. If he really had been dangerous, it could have been really bad. Thankful that he was not as dangerous as I thought he might be.
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Sometimes it is the case that the mentally ill are regular parishioners.

I have been at a Mass where a parishioner sitting in the front row had apparently not been taking her medication. She stood up and began asking rather demanding questions of Father during his homily. Father was obviously surprised at first but once he regained his composure he began speaking to the woman and calmed her down until such time as an usher could direct her to the vestibule and presumably turn her over to her family.

Obviously your case was different and compounded by the possibility for desecration of the Eucharist. But it seems that all involved did eventually recognize the problem and handle it.

I agree with those who say we should pray for the mentally ill. (A large percentage of transients and homeless persons are mentally ill.)
 
CDB1718 said:
The ushers are not security and shouldn’t do anything more than you. .
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Depends on who your ushers are–two of ours are policemen 🙂

Why did the priest give him the Host? Yesterday, our priest who is from Africa was telling of his first parish—one in an area very troubled with tribal war. During one Mass, during the Agnus Dei warriors came in and everyone fled…the warriors came up to Father and tried to get him to give them the Eucharist. He refused even when they held him at gun point. He held the Eucharist and continued to refuse, they left finally.
 
CDB1718 said:
May I humbly suggest that if you ever fear for the safety of your priest or fellow parishioners that you bypass the ushers and go to the narthex to call the police? It might take them 10 minutes to arrive and that will be long after a fight, stabbing or shooting has occurred. It’s better to have them on the way sooner than later.

The ushers are not security and shouldn’t do anything more than you. Confronting a deranged man can be a deadly task. If your church employs security officers, contact them. Otherwise, if there is any doubt, call the police.

Now is a good time to ask your priest if the church has a policy on this and to communicate it to the ushers. Most will tell the ushers not to confront but to call the police. It’s good to know what the plan is so everyone is on the same page.
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I understand the intention of the advice, but what exactly is she going to say to the police responder?

“We need the police here. There’s a man with a McDonald’s cup and some papers in his hands.” ???

That alone doesn’t sound like a police matter… being in public in the presence of someone who could, conceivably, theoretically be mentally ill…
 
SMHW said:
Sometimes it is the case that the mentally ill are regular parishioners.
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Indeed. We used to have a regular that would occasionally rise out of her seat during the “announcements” and try to make a pro-life speech from her chair, not authorized by the Pastor. While doing so, she would be fidgeting, speaking fast and all-around bugging out.

She apparently latched on to some Bishop who is, and I’m not meaning to insult the Church leaders but if there are any mentally ill Church leaders, this guy was the one. One thing to be fanatical about pro-life causes (which is probably good) but this man was scary fanatical if you get my drift, and to this day, we think she was taking orders from him to disrupt announcements in this way.

So yeah, I’d say the mentally ill are just as capable of being parish regulars and we should be aware of their existence and accepting insofar as it is possible, but cautious as well…
 
There is no crime in being mentally ill. It always bothers me when people call the police to handle a mentally ill person, equating them with dangerous. That is how our prisons and jails become warehousing for the socially undesirables that we do not want to spend taxes on to help.
 
pnewton said:
There is no crime in being mentally ill. It always bothers me when people call the police to handle a mentally ill person, equating them with dangerous. That is how our prisons and jails become warehousing for the socially undesirables that we do not want to spend taxes on to help.
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Leaving the taxes issue out of this…

Agree, that was pretty much my take on it. You’ve really got to approach it in two ways, a balance of hospitality and caution. It’s a difficult balance to strike but you have to try!
 
HI, TheRealJulianne,

Gracious!

I am so sorry this happened, and understand there were not enough ushers to assist.

I’m thinking of a beloved cathedral in NYC, where they always have such robust, solid men around who would *very quickly *discourage people from distracting others, and would have, in the same situation, let the man know that the take out food, the drink on the pew, the noise/distraction of the papers, would not be tolerated no matter what the man’s mental health status was.

He would certainly never have been allowed to hang around long enough to get into the Communion line with all his impediments! Our Dear Jesus certainly loves everyone, but also calls us to order and respect for Himself in the Mass.

I don’t know what I would have done in your place. Perhaps, at my age,(youngish grandmother that I am) I might have had much less patience and if I was close enough, told him “You can’t have food like that in here my friend,” and/or gone to find a couple of good solid Christian men to convince him of the error of his ways. But of course, that’s in hindsight!

I will pray for this man, as he is obviously in need of mental health care and counseling.

I remember a man at my former Episcopal parish who would slip in, go up to the front near the altar and hold up some kind of large book, just staring at the altar and blocking many people trying to take their places in the choir loft. He left when the organist began playing the introit.

On the man’s second misguided attempt at distracting everyone, four very solid gentlemen ushers took him gently by each arm and dragged him all the way down the aisle and out the front door. The man never returned, or at least he wasn’t up front making a show of himself. He was certainly welcome to come and sit quietly and pray anytime he wanted.

I hope you can find some extra ushers to sign on for that Mass. It must have been very upsetting to experience this.
Best wishes,
Kathryn Ann
 
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