Bread Only & Children's Choir

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Dave_in_Dallas

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I visited a new church this weekend, and it appeared that only bread/hosts were offered for the majority of the congregation. There were several lines for communion… of course they had laity serving in a couple of the lines. I don’t think I’ve been to a mass where only bread was served and not both species?

Also they had a children’s choir that sang a song before the mass which was fine… but then they sang one during the offertory and (to me) it broke the sanctity of the ceremony… they weren’t that good, and you couldn’t hear them… it seemed more like something you’d hear at an elementary school… not in church :eek:

On the other hand they chanted the Sanctus and Agnus Dei.
 
Offering communion under both species is always optional. Neither my own parish nor the one connected with my childrens’ school regularly offer both species. There are many reasons a priest might want to offer both and just as many reasons he might want to offer only the consecrated hosts. It’s entirely up to him.

As for the singing, I am usually happy to hear any choir, especially a children’s choir. 🙂 We don’t get choral Mass singing very much in our area.
 
Dave_in_Dallas said:
… they weren’t that good, and you couldn’t hear them… it seemed more like something you’d hear at an elementary school… not in church :eek:
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So? Can’t children participate in the mass by singing? Does every adult you know who sings sing “well”? And even if they can’t, they are singing for the glory of God, not for YOU!
 
In our Dioceses, fairly large, communion is offered under once species on most occasions, I’d say, 99% of them, on a regular basis. It is VERY rare, Holy Thursday at our parish, to receive under both. (This covers probably hundreds of parishes in the area).

As far as the choir? Who cares, they were children. I’m sure God was not offended in any way. 🙂
 
Whoa… I have nothing against a kids choir (ok it was like 5 kids)… when done well… when it doesn’t distract from the worship, to me this did… I guess I’m being a bit harsh…

I agree kids should be involved… but they should also be taught to bring their best too… if this was their best… then ok… it just sounded like it was not well rehearsed at all… a good kids choir should like angels… this one didn’t…
 
rotlex said:
In our Dioceses, fairly large, communion is offered under once species on most occasions, I’d say, 99% of them, on a regular basis. It is VERY rare, Holy Thursday at our parish, to receive under both. (This covers probably hundreds of parishes in the area).

As far as the choir? Who cares, they were children. I’m sure God was not offended in any way. 🙂
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I don’t think I’ve ever seen in one species only… and I’m in a HUGE diocese… hmmm
 
How are they supposed to get “good” except by practicing? I know they can practice outside of Mass (and I’m sure they do), but there’s something to be said for gaining experience singing for a lot of people, getting over nerves, figuring out the volume/acoustics issues, etc which can’t really be fixed without just biting the bullet and getting them out there. I suppose they could have confined them to just singing before Mass (if it was really bad), but I’m sure they were just trying to do their best, and they’ll get better with time.
 
Catholic90 said:
So? Can’t children participate in the mass by singing? Does every adult you know who sings sing “well”? And even if they can’t, they are singing for the glory of God, not for YOU!
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We are all called with different gifts are we not? Not everyone should be in the choir should they? Not everyone should be a reader should they? For that matternot anyone can be a priest… right?
 
Dave_in_Dallas said:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen in one species only… and I’m in a HUGE diocese… hmmm
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It just depends, really. I’m Diocese of Austin, and there’s a local parish that does only one. My parish always has both.
 
Dave_in_Dallas said:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen in one species only… and I’m in a HUGE diocese… hmmm
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My bishop has asked that communion be offered under two species. Everywhere in my diocese, we have two species. However, outside my diocese, communion is often offered under one species, the way it has been done for centuries and is still a very common practice. One does not get more of Jesus one way or the other.
 
Dave_in_Dallas said:
We are all called with different gifts are we not? Not everyone should be in the choir should they? Not everyone should be a reader should they? For that matternot anyone can be a priest… right?
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My parish’s music director is fond of saying he’d like to have the whole congregation in the choir (he makes an announcement every other week or so trying to get more people to join, since we average about four singers most Masses). 🙂

In all seriousness, though, you’re right–not everyone has the same gifts. But there’s a difference between not having a gift and simply needing to develop it. Which is it in this case?
 
Dave_in_Dallas said:
I don’t think I’ve ever seen in one species only… and I’m in a HUGE diocese… hmmm
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May have something to do with region of the country? Seriously, I’m in the NE, PA, and travel to the New England area quite a bit as well. I have yet to encounter receiving under both species “the norm”. Not that it matters of course, and frankly, I’m not quite sure why people, not saying you are, get so hung up on it.
 
In Rome, Italy, where I currently live, I have been to Mass in many different parishes and non-parochial churches, and I have never seen Communion being given under both species, except on Corpus Domini or rare occasions. Frankly, even when I lived in the States, I only received the Body and then would pass up the Blood, not that I judge receiving both to be wrong: that’s just me! But I had assumed that, in the US, receiving under both species was the norm, so the OP’s comment took me by surprise.

Please allow me one observation: when only the Body is distributed, and not the Blood, there is less of a need for extra lay people to be involved. In my old church, Communion time, even when there wasn’t a large congregation, was always the moment when 6, if not more, people would come forward and prepare to help in the distribution, and this always bothered me as an unnecessary introduction of a small herd of lay people, as if it were important to show that they were participating. They would set up three or more “stations” for distribution, when, on a logistical level, the priest could very well have handled it all himself. THAT always bugged me. Am I wrong to be so nitpicky?

CeciliaS
 
I guess my point was that I’m 40 yrs old, and this might be the first time I’ve only seen one species… ok except for maybe a small weekday mass…

It just seems odd to me, especially with the raising up of both species during the eucharistic prayer…
 
I am starting to think that Mass may just be the family/kids mass… several parents had kids fuss through-out the mass and didn’t take them out… in which case I guess it’s more understandable… hence the kid’s choir…

Sorry if I’ve come across harsh… I love kids… unfortunately I have older teens that are ina rebellious stage and are upsetting me right now, so maybe I’m “projecting”…😉
 
Dave_in_Dallas said:
I guess my point was that I’m 40 yrs old, and this might be the first time I’ve only seen one species… ok except for maybe a small weekday mass…

It just seems odd to me, especially with the raising up of both species during the eucharistic prayer…
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I’m 42. One species has been the majority in the churches I have attended Mass. That includes several churches in Austin (including the University Catholic Center), San Antonio and down here in the Brownsville Diocese (which is a fairly large one).
 
Sounds like a typical mass at my parish. We rarely have both species.

Personally, I love hearing any kind of choir, even if they may not be “concert quality”. I don’t think people have to be perfect singers to join a choir or to share their talents. Most choirs, at least at my church, don’t turn anyone away if they want to join. There aren’t auditions. They’re practically begging for people to join, they have so few members.
 
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