Double Consecration

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pecoemla

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Just when you thought that you’d seen it all - Yesterday I was on the road and went to another parish in my diocese. Very little surprises me in our diocese, but yesterday was a new one. At the time of the Eucharistic Prayer the priest was singing the prayer. This was OK except that it was accompanied by piano music which I realize isn’t kosher. This bothered me but was something I’ve routinely seen. I had my head down and was not looking toward the altar. After the memorial acclamation the priest began to repeat the Consecration, except this time he was speaking not singing. At first I was confused … Had I not heard it correctly when he was singing?! After he elevated the Host and Chalice there was no memorial acclamation. Because I had had my head down during the first Consecration I don’t know whether we had a double elevation. After Mass I asked my wife if I was imagining what I thought had taken place. She verified what I thought I had heard. Has anyone ever seen this before? Heck, I don’t even know what to think about it. Sure seems bizarre to me!
 
I can imagine repeating the consecration if there was a mistake that invalidated the first run–the priest realized that the species present were wrong or missing, that kind of thing–but I’ve never heard of repeating it on purpose.
 
pecoemla said:
Just when you thought that you’d seen it all - Yesterday I was on the road and went to another parish in my diocese. Very little surprises me in our diocese, but yesterday was a new one. At the time of the Eucharistic Prayer the priest was singing the prayer. This was OK except that it was accompanied by piano music which I realize isn’t kosher. This bothered me but was something I’ve routinely seen. I had my head down and was not looking toward the altar. After the memorial acclamation the priest began to repeat the Consecration, except this time he was speaking not singing. At first I was confused … Had I not heard it correctly when he was singing?! After he elevated the Host and Chalice there was no memorial acclamation. Because I had had my head down during the first Consecration I don’t know whether we had a double elevation. After Mass I asked my wife if I was imagining what I thought had taken place. She verified what I thought I had heard. Has anyone ever seen this before? Heck, I don’t even know what to think about it. Sure seems bizarre to me!
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He can chant the EP. In fact, there are chant notations in both the current Roman Missal and the newly translated one. However, the chanting of the EP should never be accompanied by music. Please read what Redemptionis Sacramentum states:
53.] While the Priest proclaims the Eucharistic Prayer “there should be no other prayers or singing, and the organ or other musical instruments should be silent”,132 except for the people’s acclamations that have been duly approved, as described below.
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I suspect that he might have used a setting written by Marty Haugen which includes musical accompanyment, which is forbidden. Unfortunately, I experienced this when I went to Mass at the archdiocesan Cathedral.
 
Double? I will ask my Pastor about this but unheard of>>>>
 
Well, technically there was only one consecration. This is because once the host and wine were consecrated, they are consecrated. One can’t re-consecrate the Host. (I get what you mean, however, about saying the Eucharistic Prayer twice).
Anyway, there are two things wrong:
The first you and benedictgal picked up on, the use of music during the chant.
The second is in reference to your question. The priest should not have used the Eucharistic Prayer twice, unless there was some reason that the consecration was invalid. For example, at Christmas Vigil Mass the priest messed up on the Eucharistic Prayer two or three times (he had a little coughing fit). When he was finished he began to continue, but the deacon leaned over and said something to the priest. The priest nodded and began the Eucharistic Prayer again. I asked the deacon what he told the priest later, and the deacon said that he noticed that the priest didn’t say the words “this is my body” and “this is my blood”, as well as accidently skipping a few other words (not the priest’s fault, again he had a coughing fit).
Anyway, the priest in your case should NOT have said the Eucharistic Prayer again.
 
Is it possible that the sung version did not have the actual words of institution? If so, than he was right to speak them, but that then leaves the question of what the song was all about it the first place.

Since this is your diocese, I would simply call up the priest and ask him. “Father I was at your parish last Sunday and was confuse about the song/chant right before the consecration. It sounded like the EP, but I’ve never heard it before. Can you tell me about it?” Then he will explain what he did. If he says, “well, it’s something we tried, but I realize I’m not going to do it again.” then all is well. If he says. “Yeah, wasn’t it great! Next time we are going to have guitars and tubas all around the altar for that part.” you’ll know to call the bishop. :eek:
 
bmadamsberry said:
Yeah, that’s when you write to the Holy See and one of its dicasteries.
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And more than a few bishops have told the Holy See to “go pound some sand.” There’s not always a clear answer to every problem…
 
A neighboring parish to where I used to live had a pastor who was having mental problems because of age. He would really mess up the mass, I was present when he skipped the consecration of one of the elements. May God preserve us from such things. In your case, who knows what happened. I hope it doesn’t happen again. If there’s a problem, I think the bishop should be notified, not to complain but to make him aware of the situation.
 
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