Consecration left out of the Mass, priest unaware

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I am not yet a Catholic but I’m going through RCIA. and I am a Christian and always have been. I understand that there is a big difference between the teachings of the host from different denominations, but I do know that God is bigger than any of our mistakes. I’m sure God understands your intentions and those of the priest. Just rest assured that God loves and cares for everyone at mass that day and he sees that all of your hearts were in the right place. God loves and forgives all of you.
 
I think leaping to the conclusion that it’s a medical condition is premature.
 
Nobody is perfect, this just goes to show the priest isn’t perfect either. Its not like he did it on purpose 🙂

Last year I went to a mass where the priest did the initial “make these gifts holy that they may become the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ” but then completely skipped the “take this all of you and eat/drink…” for both the bread and the wine.

Just two weeks ago the priest said “take this all of you and drink…” as he was holding the host, then paused and said out loud “oh sorry.”

A few years ago I went to the very first mass of a priest (he is now the Vicar of all clergy in my diocese) and he forgot to keep the Blood of Christ in his mind during the consecration so during the Agnus Dei he got on the mic and told the entire congregation (completely packed church) that he was sorry and forgot to keep thinking about the Blood of Christ so it wasn’t consecrated and only the Body will be given out.

Another time at the Cathedral with the Bishop, during the Agnus Dei, the chalice was hit by accident and the blood poured all over the altar and I believe some on the floor.

I have been to quite a few masses where the priest did not put the water into the wine, maybe he forgot maybe he didn’t, I don’t know what he thought.

I have been to countless masses where the priest did not wash his hands because either it was inconvenient, no server to help him, he did not want to, or even claiming that his hands were already clean.

I do not believe this priest invalided mass as you still received from the Tabernacle with already consecrated hosts. It was a mistake, yes a big one but as I have mentioned with scenarios above, this is not uncommon. I do not mention these to judge anyone, not at all. I mention them to show that nobody is perfect 🙂
 
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Sort of sounds like what used to be called a “dry Mass.” Mistakes happen. Sounds like he could be due for a sabbatical or perhaps even retirement.
 
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Perhaps he is suffering from stress? High stress can make people forget and miss all sorts of things.
 
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The priest made a mistake. Could be a medical condition, or any number of other things including stress, grief, or sleep deprivation. He clearly didn’t mean to do it and was “visibly shaken” by his mistake.
If it’s a one-time mistake, I would not worry about it. Yes it’s bothersome but people make mistakes, the Lord knows everybody involved in this had good intentions, pray for him and move on.
If you notice other irregularities in this priest’s Mass procedure, it’s time to call his superior.
 
Just another thought. Probability.

It may have been an entirely random occurrence. It is quite possible for the human mind to make any mistake of “inattention”, even with the best of intentions and all our faculties working. So, every possible “inattention” mistake will happen eventually. That’s the reason we try not to rely on the attention of one human for matters if life and death. So, with so many daily masses being said around the world, it is inevitable that one priest will, somewhere, skip the words of consecration. It finally happened at this Mass, and it’s probably happened before, also randomly and will happen again. Of course, the state of the priest’s health and his mind on the day may contribute to it, but it was mostly just the odds.

Btw. What made me think of this is the sad case of the couple in England who had two children die of SIDS and were convicted of murder with the main evidence against them being how statistically unlikely this was. 1 in x million. They were released on appeal when other statisticians pointed out that they could have been the unlucky 1 in x million.
 
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Edmundus1581 said:
It may have been an entirely random occurrence. It is quite possible for the human mind to make any mistake of “inattention”, even with the best of intentions and all our faculties working. So, every possible “inattention” mistake will happen eventually. That’s the reason we try not to rely on the attention of one human for matters if life and death. So, with so many daily masses being said around the world, it is inevitable that one priest will, somewhere, skip the words of consecration. It finally happened at this Mass, and it’s probably happened before, also randomly and will happen again.
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Yes, this also reminds me of the sad cases of good parents who one day have a slight change in their routine, but their brain is still on the usual routine autopilot, and they end up forgetting their infant or toddler is in the car seat, sometimes with tragic results.

People don’t understand how a parent can forget something so important as their child, and Catholics don’t understand how a priest could forget something as important as the Consecration at Mass, but both things can happen, and it’s not from any bad intent or neglectful behavior, it has to do with how the brain works. The parent thinks the child isn’t in the car seat and that the kid is with the other parent or at his day care etc. The priest thinks he did the Consecration just like he has done it every other day for years.
 
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Not far from here, years ago, a mother was accused of murdering her baby with ethylene glycol. While in prison with a life sentence, she gave birth to another baby who had a disease that mimics ethylene glycol poisoning.
She was finally released, far too late in coming, IMO, and she settled with the lab and authorities out of court.
I wonder how many innocent people are on death row?
 
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Hello anna,
From what you have written, the Mass was indeed invalid. That being said, it was good that the Eucharist was still valid for the faithful.
anna said:
Should father have said Mass again?
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While many people believe that priests must celebrate Mass every day, it is not actually a requirement. For this, alone, he would not need to say Mass again. If there was a Mass intention, however, he is obliged to at the very least to say a private mass for that intention.

Since he seemed to be troubled by what happened, it is very likely he did say a private Mass afterwards.

God bless,
Br. Ben, CRM
 
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