Changing the name from the Mass to the Eucharist

[georgewithfaith]

I went online and read the bulletin at the Church I grew up at. Reading the “Worship Schedule” I noticed that they no longer use the word “Mass” to describe the Mass. Instead it is now called the “Eucharist.”

I am confused. Are the terms Mass and Eucharist interchangeable? Is it just fine to describe the Mass as the Eucharist?

 

[jpjd]

The Mass and the Eucharist are two different things.

It would be helpful if you could quote from the bulletin, because to fully answer your question, we need to see the phrasing and context of how the words are used.

 

[georgewithfaith]

Here is the link to the home page and the schedule reads Eucharist rather than Mass. If you click on the bulletin the schedule is written the same but in other parts of the bulletin it refers to it as a Mass e.g. “…a collection will be taken at the 10:30 a.m. Mass.”

olpmn.org/

 

[Matthew_Holford]

I am prepared to accept that jpjd knows more about these things than me but I was under the impression that the Mass and Eucharist are the same.

I would however find it strange to see it listed as anything other than Mass.

Two other interesting things I note is it lists under “Sunday Worship” that there is a Saturday Eucharist at 5.00 p.m. If it’s want I think it intends to advertise then it is in fact Sunday Mass, i.e. the Ordinary of the Mass will be as for a Sunday: Gloria, two readings before the Gospel, mandatory homily, Credo, etc. and that the Sunday propers and readings will be used; it will fulfil the Sunday obligation.

The other one is Scripture and Communion Service on Monday. I presume they mean a Liturgy of the Word with Communion distributed from the reserved sacrament. I thought this type of service was reserved for Sundays when there is no priest available to celebrate Mass.

 

[ConstantineTG]

They’re not interchangeable but they are co-dependent. You cannot have the Mass without the Eucharist and you cannot consecrate the Eucharist outside of Mass (technically you can but Canon Law absolutely forbids it without exceptions).

 

[georgewithfaith]

They’re not interchangeable but they are co-dependent. You cannot have the Mass without the Eucharist and you cannot consecrate the Eucharist outside of Mass (technically you can but Canon Law absolutely forbids it without exceptions).

That makes sense to me. So because the Eucharist, albeit THE MOST IMPORTANT part of Mass, is part of the Mass, we cannot just call it the Eucharist because the Mass includes the Liturgy of the Word as well. Thus, to be correct we have to always call it the Mass and my old parish is wrong and should be calling it the Mass.

 

[SMHW]

I went online and read the bulletin at the Church I grew up at. Reading the “Worship Schedule” I noticed that they no longer use the word “Mass” to describe the Mass. Instead it is now called the “Eucharist.”

I am confused. Are the terms Mass and Eucharist interchangeable? Is it just fine to describe the Mass as the Eucharist?

While the Eucharist is not actually the same thing as the Mass it is the key element that sets it apart from other liturgies. And it is very much “in fashion” in many places to speak of, “gathering to for our Sunday celebration of the Eucharist” or, “We gather for Eucharist.” (Essentially that’s like saying, “We gather for Thanksgiving.”) The usual implication would be that this includes the consecration of the Eucharist but it does leave open the possibility of communion outside of Mass.

In general I’d say that such usage is emphasizing the communal meal aspect of the Mass over the sacrificial aspect.

 

[Vince1022]

I went online and read the bulletin at the Church I grew up at. Reading the “Worship Schedule” I noticed that they no longer use the word “Mass” to describe the Mass. Instead it is now called the “Eucharist.”

I am confused. Are the terms Mass and Eucharist interchangeable? Is it just fine to describe the Mass as the Eucharist?

Not interchangeable, because nothing is equivalent to Eucharist.

 

[Digitonomy]

In general I’d say that such usage is emphasizing the communal meal aspect of the Mass over the sacrificial aspect.

While that may be generally true, the more direct explanation in this parish appears to be to make clear the difference with the Scripture and Communion Service. I could imagine a parish doing the same thing to avoid misleading visitors or more casual members of the parish regarding non-mass services on Sunday. Such people might otherwise show up for say Vespers or Orthos with the expectation that they will fulfill their Sunday obligation.

While it isn’t wrong to state that the Eucharist is scheduled for those hours, it is much more accurate to simply call it a mass.

 

[japhy]

Calling the Divine Liturgy or the Eucharistic Liturgy the “Mass” or the “Eucharist” is an example of a synecdoche. This is a figure of speech, and of its uses is to refer to the whole by mentioning only a part. For example, when you say “Get your butt over here!” you mean for the whole person to come, not just their rear end.

The long-standing Latin tradition (stretching back, it would seem, to the time of St. Ambrose) of referring to the Divine Liturgy as the “Mass” (missa) is an example of this. The word missa comes from some of the last words spoken by the priest at the Mass! Ite, missa est. “Go, it is the dismissal.” But the word “Mass” doesn’t simply mean “dismissal”, or else the phrase “The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass” wouldn’t make much sense at all! “The Holy Sacrifice of the Dismissal”?

The problem, as I see it, with using the word “Eucharist” to refer to the whole Mass is that we no longer thing of the Mass as being anything other than the whole Mass; we don’t call the Dismissal the “Mass”. But we do call the sacrament the Eucharist.

It’s less confusing to say “Eucharistic liturgy” or “Eucharistic celebration”, but even those can be taken the wrong way, treating the word “Eucharistic” as a mere adjective meaning “of thanksgiving”, instead of “of the Eucharist”.

Some people don’t like the word “Mass” to refer to the Divine Liturgy as celebrated in the Roman Rite. Why? I don’t know for sure. I have my suspicions. Maybe they associate “Mass” with “Sacrifice of the Mass”, and they don’t think of the Eucharist as a sacrifice. Maybe they think, “in the old days, a priest would ‘say Mass’ and the people would ‘hear Mass’, while today we all ‘celebrate Eucharist.’”

Just guesses.

I’d try to retain use of the traditional language: the Mass, the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Nothing against the Eucharist, of course! It’s the Most Blessed Sacrament!

 

[BernadetteM]

It sounds pretty much like the Episcopalians/Anglicans describe their worship services.

Is the parish one that has many innovations added to the Mass? It seems that there are several priests who just want to make the Church more protestant and using Eucharist instead of Mass is another way of projecting this.

Of course I don’t know the priest or his beliefs, but attending some parishes I feel they are more in line with protestant churches. Talking and going up and down the aisle, even the Pastor before Mass and talking, instead of preparing for receiving our Lords Body and Blood.

In some parishes the priest just sits and lets the ladies do most of the job of the priest. This has happened recently and since my parish is very traditional I found it most distracting.

From what I have read Pope Benedict is trying to bring back the beautiful traditions of the Church, i.e. reverence, liturgical music and a better understanding of what the Mass means, that Jesus is truely there and not just a symbol.

Yours in the Hearts of Jesus and Mary

Bernadette

 

[Vince1022]

I
Is the parish one that has many innovations added to the Mass? It seems that there are several priests who just want to make the Church more protestant and using Eucharist instead of Mass is another way of projecting this.

Using “Eucharist” is not more Protestant. It’s actually more authentically and ecumenically Christian, as it’s from the Greek which of course preceded Latin in Christian worship. The “Mass” is derived solely from the Latin (and so of course is not used by all Catholics).

 

[Spirithound]

In general I’d say that such usage is emphasizing the communal meal aspect of the Mass over the sacrificial aspect.

I would have to disagree with this. “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”; in no way would I ordinarily associate that word with a meal. Only in the context of Jesus doing what He did at His last supper before giving Himself on the cross could thanksgiving be associated with a meal.

From the other side, “Mass”, or “missa” means “sent”, (“Ite, missa est” = “Go, you are sent”), and in no way would I ordinarily associate being sent somewhere with a sacrifice.

Buuuut…it doesn’t really work the other way around either…