Does your parish have "Eucharist Defenders"?

[Cat]

I have an excellent idea to guard the Eucharist. It’s called Communion on the tongue.

Get rid of CITH and EMHC and voila!

I don’t think this is the answer.

I go back and forth between receiving in my hand and on my tongue. The reason why is that certain priests or EMHCs have actually dropped the host or been very clumsy when I receive on my tongue. I don’t think it’s my fault, because most of the time, I receive just fine on my tongue, with no problems. But there are several people, including priests, in our parish who just can’t get the hang of giving Communion on a tongue, and so whenever I am in their line, I receive in my hand to avoid any clumsiness.

I also tend to avoid receiving on my tongue when the priest or EMHC is shorter than me. (Kneeling is out of the question, BTW, due to painful arthritic knees.)

In our parish, we have been instructed to receive and then eat in the presence of the priest or the EMHC. If someone does not do this, the priest or EMHC will stop them and ask them to eat.

I’m sure that evil things still happen, but I think that this “watchful” method, in which the EMHCs and priests are alert for abuses, works to at least stop abuses that are done out of ignorance, or because someone is mentally-ill (often people with this condition look perfectly normal, but they are on various meds that make them easily distractible) or out of forgetfulness (yes, I’m sure that a lot of people are simply so stressed, busy, and distracted, that they simply walk away from the priest or EMHC and forget to the put the Host into their mouths! Sounds bizarre, but I can understand someone doing this–life can be really complex at times.)

 

[pamnbam]

What is “consuming on the spot?”.

Meaning to at least place the host in one’s mouth. When someone takes the host in their hands and starts to walk away, the priest follows them, stops them, and makes sure they place it in their mouths in front of him.

 

[peace2u2]

Do you have fellow parishioners who stand a few feet away from the extraordinary ministers so that no parishioners participating in holy communion leave with the Eucharist in their hand or take back to their pew or leave the parish without consuming??

Not that I know of.

Once though, the person I was at Mass with brought back Jesus to the pew in their hand and broke it up in little pieces and distributed it to the 2 children who had not made their First Holy Communion so in a gentle voice I simply said Do not ever do that again in defiling Jesus Christ or I will say it louder next time so our parish priest hears and the whole church. Thankfully it never happened again.

This person had no idea that they were not suppose to do that. So if you see it happen, say something gently because the person may not know.

Peace

 

[the_phoenix]

Once at an evening Mass that I attended in a small chapel, a man disrupted the Communion line by standing in the middle of the aisle and shouting, “Give me a Host!” You can bet the ushers defended the Eucharist. Fortunately, the calm presence of one of the Eucharist Defenders standing in between the distraught man and the priest while another Eucharist Defender stood quietly nearby was enough that there was no violent confrontation.

…

 

[Nigel7]

Does your parish have “Eucharist Defenders”??

Thankfully, yes.

Cults are out to get the Eucharist. As someone already pointed out - satanic cults want to get their hands on consecrated hosts in order to use them in their rituals and desecrate the body of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There’s actually a black market for consecrated hosts.
There’s also just the random idiot who wants to take it home with them for whatever reason.

It is very good that we have “Eucharist Defenders”. On several occasions I’ve seen them stop people from returning to their pew (or even heading for the exits) with host in hand.

Eucharist is precious and should be protected. “Eucharist Defenders” are put in place for good reason.

 

[nickybr38]

You know what I don’t understand?

If the bread does NOT become His body… why, oh WHY, do Satanists want to desecrate it? Couldn’t they just as easily take a cracker and pretend it’s the real thing? Half the time these people steal the host without ANYONE in the church knowing… They could just as easily use a cracker and no one would be the wiser.

So why does it have to be the Eucharist specifically?

That one really boggles my mind.

 

[Mrs_Sally]

You know what I don’t understand?

If the bread does NOT become His body… why, oh WHY, do Satanists want to desecrate it? Couldn’t they just as easily take a cracker and pretend it’s the real thing? Half the time these people steal the host without ANYONE in the church knowing… They could just as easily use a cracker and no one would be the wiser.

So why does it have to be the Eucharist specifically?

That one really boggles my mind.

Obviously it DOES become His Body (Blood, Soul and Divinity).

I would think that an actual satanist might accept that, because why have satan if there is no God?

The folks who claim not to believe anything (atheists), or to be unsure (agnostics), or who are not Christian at all are the ones who shouldn’t care that they don’t get to receive, and shouldn’t try to receive. Even though we all know they kick up a big fuss.

I can understand other Christians who are used to open communion and who don’t know the difference going up to receive. But I would also expect that they would consume the Host because they supposedly believe that it is at least a sign of Christ.

It is actually the uneducated Catholics who may be the worst offenders in many parishes. They are the ones who will want to give a piece of the Host to a small child, take a Host home for a relative, or want to keep a Host as a relic.

 

[anp1215]

Welcome.

There are four reasons (that I’ve heard):

1. Wanting to bring communion to a relative or friend who is unable to come to Mass (nice intention, but misguided…an EMHC or clergy could be called to do so)
2. Wanting to set up a personal “adoration chapel” at home (again, nice intention, but misguided)
3. A non-Catholic who didn’t want to feel left out (After Mass, we inspect around all the pews to make sure that a #3 did not just throw the host on the floor afterwards. Yes, we find that on an infrequent, but regular basis)
4. A Satanist wanting to use the Body of Christ in one of their rites (yes, believe it or not)

#1 and #2 I have heard with my own ears. #3 I have heard from others who have confronted those who have not consumed – and I have seen hosts on the floor after Mass as the after effect.

#4 – I’m sure you’re going, “yeah, right.” While I don’t have personal You would be shocked at some of the things I have seen at Mass over the years.

Seriously, though, it does happen. For example, in 2008, a University of Minnesota professor decided to make a statement regarding a rejection of all religion (note what the rusty nail is stuck through):

https://imgur.com/bmaPY

Anton Lavey, in his Satanic Bible, has the desecration of a consecrated Host as a central part of his description of a so-called “Black Mass”

Does this kind of thing happen all the time? No. Does it happen? Absolutely.

Uh, because when I’m working on my statement-of-rejection-of-all-religion-project, I make sure to include my copy of “The God Delusion” in there too.