During mass the paramedics came

  • Thread starter Thread starter ricofall
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

ricofall

Guest
Something interesting and kind of sad happen. During mass, the paramedics came in and carted an older man away. He seemed OK, just not moving well. The paramedics where in the center isle directly in front of the priest so I know he saw them. The were there for 10 minutes or so checking vitals and such. I will say they kept as quiet as possible though. The priest never stopped mass, it was odd to say the least. Interesting enough, this is the second time my wife and I have seen something like this.

I am just wondering is the priest allowed to stop during the consecration of Eucharist? I understand why he did not stop. We had a packed church and as we left, other people were waiting to get in for the next mass. I did not know if he was allowed to stop mass or if he choose not to because of a time crunch.
 
If he had already started the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest is required to continue.
 
The most the Priest could have done was stopped and said a public prayer for the person being expertly taken care of by the Paramedics. As it is, he could very possibly said a quick prayer to himself for the person.
 
Not only that but let us be honest for a moment. The man was already in the presence of God. Chances are the priest knew of his situation and what was needed and will probably see him at the hospital later. Why would he wish to draw more attention to the man during the Mass. For some people this could cause much embarassment.
 
We had that happen in our Divine Service ( Mass ) during the sermon, the pastor didn’t giving his sermon. He felt that the paramedics were there and it was important to keep the people’s minds focused and let the paramedics do their work.
 
He was probably just continuing with the Mass so as not to draw even more attention to the paramedics and the man in need. I am sure the man was feeling bad enough and he didn’t want to be any more embarassed by the Mass being halted for him. Also, the paramedics would probably prefer to just get in there, do what they need to do, and take him out instead of trying to check vitals with an audience of hundreds of people focused entirely on them.

One time during Mass at a very big cathedral a woman started sobbing during communion. It wasn’t some small cry over something. She was clearly VERY unhappy. Something was weighing very heavily on her. The priest didn’t stop. Instead, a deacon came up from the back of the church and asked if she needed to talk to someone. She nodded her head and he lead her to the back to see what was bothering her. The cathedral is very near to some big hospitals. My guess is that she had gone to Mass after visiting someone or just losing someone.

Of course, my next story isn’t anywhere near as serious, but my sister locked her knees while standing in Mass and fainted. She was an altar server in that Mass so she basically fainted in front of the entire church. I think the priest didn’t know what to do. He was in the middle of a prayer and all the sudden an altar server wiped out a few feet away from him! He looked over and you could tell he was probably trying to remember whether or not anyone covered the topic of unconscious altar servers in seminary. When he saw my mother and another woman run over to my sister and drag her away he looked relieved and kept going with the Mass. Honestly, what good would it do to stop the Mass? Someone else was already taking care of the issue. 🙂

Another time, the church was having its flooring redone and so Mass was being held in the school gym. It was the middle of summer and it was HOT so the doors had been left open for a bit of a breeze. The wide open doors were quite welcoming to a little lizard that decided to walk right into the middle of the altar area during the homily. The priest kept going but it was clear that the lizard scampering back and forth in front of the altar was distracting everyone, including him. During the offering a little elderly man decided to catch the lizard with one of the extra offering baskets. If he didn’t catch it then it was guaranteed that the little lizard would have been stepped on during Communion. Seeing as how it is a church run by Franciscans we can’t have little lizards being killed during Mass without an honest attempt to remove them. 🙂 The little elderly man crept up behind it and slammed the basket down. I think he assumed that everyone was preoccupied with passing the other baskets around so no one would notice his attempt at removing the lizard. The lizard took off and as he tried to go for it again he slipped and fell. Then he tried to stand up and catch it and he fell again. It was much more of a spectacle than he ever thought possible, but he was victorious and the lizard was removed from the Mass all before the gifts were brought up to the altar.

Things happen in Mass. I think the key is to just keep going. Chances are there is an usher or someone that will take care of whatever issues are going on around the priest.
 
Iheartcoffee said:
Another time, the church was having its flooring redone and so Mass was being held in the school gym. It was the middle of summer and it was HOT so the doors had been left open for a bit of a breeze. The wide open doors were quite welcoming to a little lizard that decided to walk right into the middle of the altar area during the homily. The priest kept going but it was clear that the lizard scampering back and forth in front of the altar was distracting everyone, including him. During the offering a little elderly man decided to catch the lizard with one of the extra offering baskets. If he didn’t catch it then it was guaranteed that the little lizard would have been stepped on during Communion. Seeing as how it is a church run by Franciscans we can’t have little lizards being killed during Mass without an honest attempt to remove them. 🙂 The little elderly man crept up behind it and slammed the basket down. I think he assumed that everyone was preoccupied with passing the other baskets around so no one would notice his attempt at removing the lizard. The lizard took off and as he tried to go for it again he slipped and fell. Then he tried to stand up and catch it and he fell again. It was much more of a spectacle than he ever thought possible, but he was victorious and the lizard was removed from the Mass all before the gifts were brought up to the altar.
Click to expand...
Cool story! 🙂
 
We were at Mass once when paramedics came for an older woman. The priest offered the woman Communion before they took her out. I thought that was the best thing he could have done! 👍 (it was not serious enough that stopping to take Communion put her life in jeopardy…)
 
I’ve seen the same - I think the priest just offered a prayer for the person later during the prayers of the faithful. As others have pointed out, why bring extra attention/embarrassment to the patient?

On a funnier note, I was once at a mass when, after seeing a mouse run around the altar, the priest left to go get a cat.
 
bz5 said:
On a funnier note, I was once at a mass when, after seeing a mouse run around the altar, the priest left to go get a cat.
Click to expand...
LOL!

Over the years I’ve seen a number of medical incidents during Mass, some of them requiring paramedics. We occasionally have birds come in through an open door and not know how to get out. And I have seen mice scampering about. (The raised Sanctuary platform has ventilation ducts on the sides and an occasional mouse wanders in and out of them.

But I have never seen a priest leave to find a cat!
 
I wonder what would happen if the priest fainted! D: I’ve never seen something like that happen to a priest, only to congregation members. Would another priest at the parish (If there were one) be called to continue the mass?
 
PrincepsAuguste said:
I wonder what would happen if the priest fainted! D: I’ve never seen something like that happen to a priest, only to congregation members. Would another priest at the parish (If there were one) be called to continue the mass?
Click to expand...
Yes, if it happened during the Eucharistic prayer. If it happened during the Liturgy of the Word or after the consecration was complete, not necessarily.
 
I’m sad to say I have heard of a priest (of my diocese) who actually keeled over and died during the middle of a Mass, and not just an ‘ordinary’ Mass, but a funeral one as well.

I have no idea what happened after the inevitable hiatus/chaos, but I can’t imagine how the grieving family must have felt.
 
I have seen the priest pass out three different times. One was right after he gave the final blessing, so no one else was called. But the other two times involved getting another priest to finish the Mass. Both times I was the one who went to summon another priest.
 
Eons ago, pre Vatican II, when wooly mammoths roamed the earth, and I was a little kid, we belonged to a parish that had a temporary structure for the church. It basically was a prefabricated building. There was heat in the wintertime, but in the summer the heat was stifling. And we had a pastor who was from Boston, and had a very nasal voice, who sung the High Mass. “Sung” is being used loosely here: Caterwauling was more descriptive of the sound coming from the altar. People used to avoid going to the 11 o’clock High Mass just to not have to listen to him. He was a good and holy priest, he just had a terrible voice which did not lend itself to chant. Nevertheless, chant he did, week after week.

One hot July morning, the doors were wide open, and Monsignor was “singing” the Mass, when we heard a clatter on the fake terrazzo floor. A neighborhood dog had wandered in to the church. He walked halfway up the main aisle, sat down, and threw his head back and howled (I think he was a beagle mix.)

An usher chased down the little dog, who ran up the main aisle, sat down and howled some more. Monsignor never lost a beat. This happened several times before the usher was able to corral the dog and lead him out. Of course, by this time, the congregation was laughing hysterically, including two Sisters. I’m sure most of us thought we were going to have at least a thousand years tacked on to our purgatories for laughing in church, but it was irrepressible. Monsignor kept on celebrating the Mass, although I did notice even he was starting to crack a smile at the corners of his mouth.

Once the dog was banished and everyone settled down, Mass went on as reverently as before (even with Monsignor’s bad voice.) But he had kept on chanting all through the disturbance.

The following week, an assistant pastor, with a rich tenor voice, celebrated the High Mass, and Monsignor took over the twelve o’clock Low Mass.

I still think the Holy Spirit sent that little doggy in there with a special message!
 
The stories of animals coming in during Mass are good ones. I’ve never encountered anything like that personally. They are God’s creatures, and maybe they wanted to go to Mass too. I’ve seen service dogs come to Mass with the people they assist too and/or service dogs in training so they are used to various environments.

I went to a Good Friday Service a few years ago, and a man fainted during it. 2 people in the congregation who are in the medical profession came to the man’s aid when one of his family asked for someone who was a doctor or a nurse. The priest went over to the man for a few minutes, and also the paramedics were called. The man was taken outside of the worship space with a few of his family and the 2 women (who happened to be registered nurses) went with them. The priest returned to his seat, and continued with the rest of the service. Paramedics came about 5 minutes later to transport the man to the hospital. I have no idea what happened to him after that.
 
MissRose73 said:
The stories of animals coming in during Mass are good ones. I’ve never encountered anything like that personally. They are God’s creatures, and maybe they wanted to go to Mass too. I’ve seen service dogs come to Mass with the people they assist too and/or service dogs in training so they are used to various environments.
Click to expand...
Our former Pastor had a beatiful Samoyed named ‘Skipper’. Usually, where you saw Fr. Jack you saw Skipper, except at Mass. Now Skip would often come to visit me in the office, do a tour of the place and then go back to lie by Jack’s desk.

The rectory and the church are all one building and Skipper had free rein to come and go as he wanted although he usually stayed in the rectory part. But one Saturday as Fr. Jack was praying the Eucharistic Prayer a thunder storm started. Skipper was terrified of thunder and it wasn’t 2 minutes into the storm that he was at the sacristy door whining and scratching to come into the church. I’d seen the damage he could inflict on doors and mouldings when left unattended and panicked so I went to let him into the church. He walked in, looked around for his master and went to lean against his legs to reassure himself that everything was OK, then he went and lay in front of the tabernacle. He remained there, very quiet, until the recessional when he joined Jack for the procession.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top