Dropped hosts after Mass - what to do?

[clem456]

Priests could drop hosts as well as lay persons.
Our priests cannot begin to see all the sick and elderly in our community. EMHC’s are required to help.
We do the best we can when accidents happen. God knows that we are not perfect, I might as well accept it as well. We try to do the absolute best we can in reverence and care.
I have had nursing home patients spit out the host trying to chew it. Try making that work with a half dissolved host!
The host has been dropped on the floor.
I once gave communion to a woman headed to prison the next morning.
We had a woman who was not Catholic receive by mistake.
All kinds of unusual situations come up at hospitals. I walked into a room once where the woman had ingested drugs in jail and was brain dead, and the family was gathered around grieving. They had asked for a priest and what they got was me with no wise words and no idea who was in good standing and who was not. I was utterly unprepared in every way for the situation God put before me. The priest was busy with a baptism.
Things happen, it’s a messy world.

I have absolute confidence in God that he is in charge of these things and if I will do my best in the procedures the Church gives us, God will make it good.

 

[PhiloMed]

Things happen, it’s a messy world.

I have absolute confidence in God that he is in charge of these things and if I will do my best in the procedures the Church gives us, God will make it good.

I want the first part of this to be my new bumper sticker.

I want the second part of this to be how I live my life.

 

[ccmcmg]

this is exactly why lay persons should not handle the host or take communion to others a priest should do all that the person who dropped the hosts was being very irresponsible by not picking them up immediately Im sorry Im just mortified by hosts blowing in the wind around the neighborhood.
Please go back and look for them before birds eat them or people unknowingly step on them

Things happen.

A priest in a nearby parish spilled the Blood of Christ across the altar a few weeks ago. Not one of us is perfect, and while hundreds, thousands, millions of priests and laypeople may go without a mishap, it’s no guarantee.

 

[Stillsosola]

Priests could drop hosts as well as lay persons.
Our priests cannot begin to see all the sick and elderly in our community. EMHC’s are required to help.
We do the best we can when accidents happen. God knows that we are not perfect, I might as well accept it as well. We try to do the absolute best we can in reverence and care.
I have had nursing home patients spit out the host trying to chew it. Try making that work with a half dissolved host!
The host has been dropped on the floor.
I once gave communion to a woman headed to prison the next morning.
We had a woman who was not Catholic receive by mistake.
All kinds of unusual situations come up at hospitals. I walked into a room once where the woman had ingested drugs in jail and was brain dead, and the family was gathered around grieving. They had asked for a priest and what they got was me with no wise words and no idea who was in good standing and who was not. I was utterly unprepared in every way for the situation God put before me. The priest was busy with a baptism.
Things happen, it’s a messy world.

I have absolute confidence in God that he is in charge of these things and if I will do my best in the procedures the Church gives us, God will make it good.

Yes but as a eucharistic minister would you have left consecrated hosts on the ground if you dropped them? And the OP says that 15 were dropped how could someone not notice they dropped 15 and just not pick them up as fast as they could or go looking for them? And dont eucharistic ministers normally use a pyx?

Im just saying if I were entrusted with the body of christ and I dropped them I would immediately went on a wild search for each and every one of them

 

[Mrs_Sally]

Yes but as a eucharistic minister would you have left consecrated hosts on the ground if you dropped them? And the OP says that 15 were dropped how could someone not notice they dropped 15 and just not pick them up as fast as they could or go looking for them? And dont eucharistic ministers normally use a pyx?

Im just saying if I were entrusted with the body of christ and I dropped them I would immediately went on a wild search for each and every one of them

I agree. I’m confused by the original story because I just don’t see how it could happen with a reasonably well-made pyx. Especially if it was carried in a burse around the EMHC’s neck.

 

[maryjk]

I agree. I’m confused by the original story because I just don’t see how it could happen with a reasonably well-made pyx. Especially if it was carried in a burse around the EMHC’s neck.

None of our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion carry the pyx around their neck. Not one. Nor do our priests or deacons.

Now, they do use a pyx, and I also find it hard to believe that someone would just carry the Host around unprotected. And unless the pyx wasn’t closed properly or was over stuffed, it shouldn’t pop open.

All of that said, if unforeseen circumstances happened, they can happen to anyone. It wouldn’t matter if it was an EMHC or a Eucharistic minister.

 

[clem456]

Yes but as a eucharistic minister would you have left consecrated hosts on the ground if you dropped them? And the OP says that 15 were dropped how could someone not notice they dropped 15 and just not pick them up as fast as they could or go looking for them? And dont eucharistic ministers normally use a pyx?

Im just saying if I were entrusted with the body of christ and I dropped them I would immediately went on a wild search for each and every one of them

I don’t worry about the “what if’s”. I’m not trying to be flippant, I just don’t think God wants us to be anxious about things beyond our control.
Of course I would pick them up if I dropped them. I have dropped the host. I have also picked it up. As for the incident in the OP, none of us were there.

The most you can say is, accidents happen. We do our best according to what God and the Church gives us.

 

[TimothyH]

I agree. I’m confused by the original story because I just don’t see how it could happen with a reasonably well-made pyx. Especially if it was carried in a burse around the EMHC’s neck.

This is what I was thinking.

The Eucharist should have been in a pyx and the pyx should have been in a burse. I wonder how the Eucharist was able to be dropped and scattered.

EMHC’s to the home bound should not be hanging around until “after Mass.” They should have their coat on and be ready to walk straight out, leave right after communion when they receive the Eucharist to bring to the home bound. They should be well on their way to the parking lot by the time the final blessing is being said.

I’m not one to second guess what goes on in parishes but it sounds like the EMHC’s to the home bound need some training at this parish.

-Tim-

 

[maryjk]

This is what I was thinking.

The Eucharist should have been in a pyx and the pyx should have been in a burse. I wonder how the Eucharist was able to be dropped and scattered.

EMHC’s to the home bound should not be hanging around until “after Mass.” They should have their coat on and be ready to walk straight out, leave right after communion when they receive the Eucharist to bring to the home bound. They should be well on their way to the parking lot by the time the final blessing is being said.

I’m not one to second guess what goes on in parishes but it sounds like the EMHC’s to the home bound need some training at this parish.

-Tim-

Our EMHCs don’t receive the Hosts until after Mass. Generally, they are the last ones to leave.

 

[TimothyH]

Our EMHCs don’t receive the Hosts until after Mass. Generally, they are the last ones to leave.

You are right. I have seen this.

Sometimes the priest will leave the pyx on the altar and process out. The sacristan will retrieve the pyx off the altar and give it to the EMHC to the home bound. Our priests and deacons give the pyxes to the EMHC’s right after communion, give them a blessing and send them out.

I guess it is a pastoral decision and at the end of the day it is the pastor at the parish who is responsible for the Eucharist. That is why I don’t like to second guess the practices at any parish.

I just wonder how they could have been dropped. I’ve seen EMHC’s put the pyx in the burse and then drop the burse under their shirt or zip up their coat over it.

-Tim-

 

[Mrs_Sally]

You are right. I have seen this.

Sometimes the priest will leave the pyx on the altar and process out. The sacristan will retrieve the pyx off the altar and give it to the EMHC to the home bound. **Our priests and deacons give the pyxes to the EMHC’s right after communion, give them a blessing and send them out. **
I guess it is a pastoral decision and at the end of the day it is the pastor at the parish who is responsible for the Eucharist. That is why I don’t like to second guess the practices at any parish.

I just wonder how they could have been dropped. I’ve seen EMHC’s put the pyx in the burse and then drop the burse under their shirt or zip up their coat over it.

-Tim-

This is how the EMHCs are trained at my parish also. We are told to leave immediately, not stopping to speak to anyone on the way.

I guess as another poster said, the pyx was not closed properly. But however it happened, I think it is the duty of the EMHC who dropped the hosts to pick them all up, and then to go back to the priest and tell what happened. The priest may decide to give the EMHC uncontaminated hosts to take to the sick.

At the very least, the EMHC would presumably have needed to go back and get more hosts to replace those that he/she couldn’t find - or someone who was expcting a visit would go without. At that point the priest or sacristan could have arranged a “search party” other than just the OP.