Emergencies during Mass

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LindaJM

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An incident happened probably a couple of years ago in my church during Mass on Sunday morning that has been bothering me and I’d like to ask what you all think of this. Right in the middle of Mass an elderly man, who I see with his wife every Sunday, appeared to have a heart attack. He was sitting to the right of the alter in the very front so he was quite visible. He was unconscious and was layed down on the pew while someone was performing CPR. Emergency personnel arrived and worked on him and then wheeled him out of the church. Nothing stopped. Mass continued like nothing was happening. At first I thought that maybe the priest and the deacon and everyone else up there somehow did not see this and weren’t aware of what was going on, but there is just no way they couldn’t see it all. It was right in the front pew. I guess I was just a bit surprised that the Mass didn’t stop at all. I fully expected the priest to stop and administer the sacrament of last rites immediately. But everything just went on like the poor guy was invisible.

Does nothing stop the Mass while in progress? Are there no circumstances that would stop the Mass from proceeding? I appreciate any and all comments on this. Perhaps my feelings about this are wrong and I can learn something new about Mass here. I could not concentrate on the Mass, the consecration, receiving the Eucharist. I was completely flustered worrying about him and praying for him that everything else became a blur for me that day.

The man survived that day. I didn’t see him for awhile and didn’t know if he had made it or not, but then I did finally see him in church and for quite some time afterwards, but I have not seen him lately, like for at least 6 months or more 😦
 
nothing should stop the Mass once the Eucharistic prayer has begun. The priest acted properly. The man was being attended to by the proper people to do so.
 
Thank you. I gathered that after not seeing anyone moving, but it’s nice to know for sure that that is how to properly handle a situation like that.
 
As long as the man was being cared for by proper medical personell, I really can’t think of anything better for the priest to do than continue to say Mass.

The grace provided by the Mass would aid the man more than anything else the priest could do.
 
I think this is the discretion of the Priest. I don’t recall where I heard it but always life is more important. If he were to determine that it was in the best interests of the person struck during Mass to clear the worship space and cancel Mass or to ask everyone to just remain seated and pray for the person, he is to do so and give everyone a general dispensation from their Sunday obligation.

Out here in rural America where we have blizzards and Priest’s traveling up to 60 miles on Sunday between parishes, I know that there are directions that if Father doesn’t show on how people he has “deputized” to do the readings, sing some songs, and say a rosary such that all at least spend the hour in prayer and worship. I don’t recall if they then administer the Eucharist or not.

Is there a Priest or Deacon in the house? 🙂
 
Something similar happened at my old parish quite a few years ago. Someone passed out. Two Ushers came over to tend to the woman as well as a Nurse who was in the congregation. Someone called 911. The Mass continued. I think she was overcome by the heat as it was quite warm that day and she was an elderly woman, however she did hit her head. The Rescue came & tended to her and she was taken to the Hospital. She was released after observation. But yes, the Mass went on and being a fairly new Catholic at the time and never being in a circumstance like that, it was unusual to me. I understand now that the Mass must go on and I’m sure all of the congregation was saying prayers for that woman as she was in trouble. 🙂
 
Puzzle Annie

so extreme unction could not take place? Would it be permisible at any point in the Mass?
 
Something things out of kilter to me with this “Mass must go on” mindset. After all, the OP said that CPR was being administered, that is, the person was at the moment of death.

What this seems to be saying is that the inconvenience of stopping the Mass takes precedence over the fact that someone is DYING right in front of the congregation and everything should just proceed for them as if nothing is happening.

I think the priest, as an alter Christi, has the duty to go to a dying person at anytime. They do it on battlefields, at carwrecks. Why not right in Church?

Could you imagine one of the Apostles at the Last Supper dropping dead, and Our Lord just continuing what he was doing?
 
Something similar happened in our parish recently just as we finished the Prayer of the Faithful. A woman towards the front fell and hit her head, receiving a very nasty gash.

In this case the priest did stop and prayed over her. I think he may have even anointed her. Then he led the congregation in an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be. This took place while a doctor in the congregation attended to her. The emergency personnel finally arrived (after what seemed an unusually long time), attended to her, and took her to the hospital.

At some point the choir director was advised to begin the Offeratory song. Even then the priest, deacon, and altar servers took another minute or so before continuing with the presentation of the gifts. (I think the woman who fell was a friend of the priest and he was particularly shaken.)

If you overlook whatever liturgical concerns the actions of the priest took… It was my observation that the Our Father the priest led helped the congregation feel that they were doing something useful. But when the priest did not immediately continue with Mass afterwards, the people in the congregation begain to exhibit an atmosphere of helplessness. This disappeared when Mass eventually continued.

This was the first time I had ever see a priest do anything more during an emergency than pause and ask if there were any medical personal in the congregation.
 
We had a man at a Saturday Vigil that was having what looked like a heart attack at the time. Fortunately it was something less severe. Our priest just kept on going. I remember it was before the gifts were presented because he went down and checked on him during the collection. It was handled with dignity and respect to all. His name was brought up in the part where we say Lord hear our prayers.

It is the little things like this that make the Mass so special. We have such a high reverence for God that we need to continue His Mass with our last breath.
 
I guess I would have felt better about it if the priest had stopped, at least momentarily, to lead us in prayer for the man, and I can’t say I wasn’t surprised that last rites would not have been given at a time like that, especially considering (if I am remembering correctly) there were two priests on the alter at the time. Honestly, I thought he was dead or dying. Another parishioner performed CPR for at least 10-15 minutes before paramedics got there but this man could have just died in the presence of two priests without receiving last rites. It just seemed to me, while I understand the sanctity of the Mass, that this man could have received last rites from one of these priests while the other continued with the Mass. I could be mistaken about the second priest at the time though. We often do have two priests at a time, one of which is not in good health but he sometimes says Mass alongside the other priest.
 
The poster who said that the Mass cannot stop once the Eucharistic Prayer is started is correct. In fact, if the priest collapsed after the Eucharistic Prayer is started then another priest will have to come to finish the Mass.

In one of the posts it was said that when someone was unwell the priest did stop the Mass to pray for the person, but, from the rest of the post it was clear that the Eucharistic Prayer had not been started - after praying, the Mass continued with the Offertory. This is before the Eucharistic Prayer.

In a parish where there is more than one priest, what can happen, and did happen in my parish (there is a parish priest and one or more retired priests, as it is a Dominican Priory), the Mass continues, but someone alerts one of the other priests, who comes and attends to the sick person.

We must remember that the Consecration is the most important moment of Mass and must not be disrupted.
 
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LindaJM:
I guess I would have felt better about it if the priest had stopped, at least momentarily, to lead us in prayer for the man, and I can’t say I wasn’t surprised that last rites would not have been given at a time like that, especially considering (if I am remembering correctly) there were two priests on the alter at the time. Honestly, I thought he was dead or dying. Another parishioner performed CPR for at least 10-15 minutes before paramedics got there but this man could have just died in the presence of two priests without receiving last rites. It just seemed to me, while I understand the sanctity of the Mass, that this man could have received last rites from one of these priests while the other continued with the Mass. I could be mistaken about the second priest at the time though. We often do have two priests at a time, one of which is not in good health but he sometimes says Mass alongside the other priest.
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I can’t answer your question, but I’d like to suggest you talk to the priest about it–as a simple inquiry about situations like this that come up in Mass? 🙂
 
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LindaJM:
I guess I would have felt better about it if the priest had stopped, at least momentarily, to lead us in prayer for the man, and I can’t say I wasn’t surprised that last rites would not have been given at a time like that, especially considering (if I am remembering correctly) there were two priests on the alter at the time. Honestly, I thought he was dead or dying. Another parishioner performed CPR for at least 10-15 minutes before paramedics got there but this man could have just died in the presence of two priests without receiving last rites. It just seemed to me, while I understand the sanctity of the Mass, that this man could have received last rites from one of these priests while the other continued with the Mass. I could be mistaken about the second priest at the time though. We often do have two priests at a time, one of which is not in good health but he sometimes says Mass alongside the other priest.
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I don’t really have an answer for your, but I do think it’s odd that you would want to stop one prayer (The Mass is the universal prayer of the church) where the man could be included in the inentions just to do some other prayer. If he was being attended to by others, I don’t think stopping the Mass would have accomplished anything.

Oh, and this just crossed my mind too. When I was younger I used to DJ at a bar, and the rule was, no matter what happened out on the dance floor (fights, falls, spills etc… the music never stopped) I think it is more a method of crowd control than anything as people have difficulty concentrating nne more than one thing at a time. Now I am not comparing the Mass to a Dance floor at a bar, but perhaps the psychology is the similar when it comes to out of the ordinary circumstances.
 
He should have asked about him, made sure someone was doing what they could do to help him, then carried on with the Mass, and offered it for him.
 
The Sunday that my husband and I began RCIA (several years ago, now) we were attending Mass before the informal meeting with the RCIA director. A woman in the pew in front of us fainted during the Our Father. Not knowing what to do, but feeling I HAD to do something, I went into the narthex and found someone to help her. The eventually got an ambulance there and took her to the hospital (she was pregnant, probably 4 or 5 months). Of course, this was during the Eucharistic Prayer, and nothing was said by the priest until everyone had recieved communion. At that point, he briefly told the congregation about the situation and we prayed for her at that point. I guess I didn’t see it ats odd that the priest didn’t stop, but the parish was very large (4000 families) and it was a well attended Mass . . . I guess I assumed he didn’t know anything was going on until someone came and spoke to him after communion. It troubled my husband; but for a different reason . . . he couldn’t fathom how God could let someone fall ill during such a holy moment. I think he got past that eventually, but I remember him being quite upset and not at all convinced, as I was, that it may have been the best place for her to fall ill (at least people where there to catch her, get her help, and pray for her). I suppose everyone reacts differently.
 
I’ve always thought if anything were to happen to someone at Mass, they’d be in the best place to receive anointing, etc and would be taken care of. The Mass is important and the schedule needs to be attended to, but things do happen (i.e. it could have been the priest having the heart attack). IF we are to believe in the value of the sacrament of anointing, etc, and IF it is time sensitive, it seems as if people in such condition should take precedence. Waiting 5 minutes more for the Eucharist would be okay by most believing Catholics if this man needed last rites to save his soul. Scary…
 
Last Easter an older woman at Mass got light headed and was apparently close to passing out. Someone got her a cup of water, the priest asked for docs or nurses to have a look and continued with Mass. The paramedics came in the side door and before they took her out, the priest asked if she wanted to receive Communion! She did, then the paramedics took her away. I thought it must have been an awesome witness to the paramedics. —KCT
 
During the school mass in the morning for the children…I have seen kids have seizures, bloody noses and pass out. the priest continues on and the teachers tend to the children. This year, I have noticed there is a man who is there and helps.

:heart:Blyss
 
A woman fainted at mass one time, during the homily. While the doctors present tried to help her and while we were waiting for the ambulance Father had us all kneel and pray for her. We stayed like that until she was taken out on a stretcher.

I don’t know what would have happened if she fainted during the Eucharistic portion.
 
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