First communion mass today

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slewi

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Did anyone else experience anything like this?

Today was Sunday of course, and we had our 8 children from the parish recieve their first Holy Communion.

At our mass today they actually changed the readings. This confounded me. It was still the fifth Sunday of Easter, and should have had the appropriate readings. I really couldn’t tell what the readings were because they had the children read them, and they didn’t select the best readers of the group.

They had a long ceremony bringing up the gifts, but the kids actually brought up the corporal, purificator, chalice and all, and set up the altar. That was odd methought.

Then they stayed there around the altar during the mass, and during the sign of peace, after shaking hands with the priest and all the people in the sanctuary, they brought flowers down to their mothers, shook all of their families hands, and then sat down.

When they finally went to get communion, only two out of eight received on the tongue.

The children then read together a prepared statement about thanking all of us for coming to see their first communion, and telling their mommies they love them. Then they handed out stepping stones to their families that they had made in class, as a sign to them of their, as the CCD teacher put it, “…first step of many on the road of their lives”, or some such nonsense.

And of course a nice big heaping pile of Haagen/Haas and Schutte to top it all off.

When’s that Motu Proprio again?
 
slewi said:
Did anyone else experience anything like this?

Today was Sunday of course, and we had our 8 children from the parish recieve their first Holy Communion.

At our mass today they actually changed the readings. This confounded me. It was still the fifth Sunday of Easter, and should have had the appropriate readings. I really couldn’t tell what the readings were because they had the children read them, and they didn’t select the best readers of the group.

They had a long ceremony bringing up the gifts, but the kids actually brought up the corporal, purificator, chalice and all, and set up the altar. That was odd methought.

Then they stayed there around the altar during the mass, and during the sign of peace, after shaking hands with the priest and all the people in the sanctuary, they brought flowers down to their mothers, shook all of their families hands, and then sat down.

When they finally went to get communion, only two out of eight received on the tongue.

The children then read together a prepared statement about thanking all of us for coming to see their first communion, and telling their mommies they love them. Then they handed out stepping stones to their families that they had made in class, as a sign to them of their, as the CCD teacher put it, “…first step of many on the road of their lives”, or some such nonsense.

And of course a nice big heaping pile of Haagen/Haas and Schutte to top it all off.

When’s that Motu Proprio again?
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This couldn’t be St. Mary of the Assumption???
 
If you had a similar experience of making today’s mass all about the kiddies receiving their FHC instead of the actual mass, I feel your pain.

EDIT
 
I don’t mind folks making a big deal about First Communion. What I mind is all the messing around.
  1. Kids standing around the altar – oh, come on. The Vatican has said again and again that it’s a no-no. Make 'em all servers for a day if you must, put 'em all in albs and have 'em kneel, but don’t have people rubbernecking around the altar. You can educate the kids better by having the priest do an explanation of the whole Mass and the church building during their pre-Communion classes; you could have the kids up in the sanctuary then.
  2. 80’s music that’s exclusively upbeat, with no encouragement to meditate on the great mystery which the kids are about to receive.
  3. Emphasis on the kids rather than the Sacrament and God.
  4. Emphasis that the kids are kids, rather than that they are Catholics over the age of reason receiving a Sacrament.
  5. Constantly keeping the kids getting up and going up front and going back to their seats and getting up again and coming back and… Sheesh! Let the kids settle in their pews for more than three seconds!
  6. Making the kids entertain the parish, instead of allowing them to assist with Mass.
  7. Assuming that all kids like tambourines, maracas, or rock music better than any other kind of sound.
  8. Being asked to clap for the people who carefully planned and orchestrated this thing.
The First Communicants were all serious and focused on God. I’m just sorry the parish’s liturgy planners couldn’t live up to their example.
 
YES! I forgot! There was much clapping. And don’t forget the parents jokeying for position to get “the” shot with the camera phones!
 
Is it any wonder that our Catholics of today are so poorly catechised? I remember my First Communion and it was a very reverent occasion.
 
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Hi slewi,

My son just celebrated his first Holy Communion. We had many of the same things you mentioned. I’m almost to the point where I try not to let things like that bother me because nothing is going to change while the current DRE and pastor are there.

Last week at the first Holy Communion celebration, before Mass all the people were talking in Church. It sounded like we were at a ball game or out to dinner. The children began processing in and the sound level didn’t change a bit. Interestingly enough that’s where our DRE draws the line. She announced as we were lining up before Mass that she forgot to make announcements last week to quiet everyone down and she was going to do that this week.

Kind of a cute story. My son was pretty nervous and when the pastor gave him his first Holy Communion, instead of cupping his hands, he plucked it out of the priest’s hand. I actually laughed out loud a bit. What made it even more (funny? unbelievable?) was that I was the teacher for his preparation class! :bigyikes:

I spoke to the priest afterwards and I told him I assumed some child was going to do that but I didn’t think it’d be mine! He just chuckled
 
Nobody was allowed up on the altar at our First Communion Mass, excepting the priest and servers of course. The first communicants were reverent, all 36 of them. The “ensemble” (as opposed to the schola) wore very nice clothes, and managed **not **to make this Mass into something resembling the Nairobi Trio bit from the old Ernie Kovacs show of the 50s. Only two people were allowed to accompany the individual first communicants to see them receive (Mom and Dad,godparents, etc.) and NOBODY was allowed to take photos after the entrance procession.

The only aggravating part of the day was the “guests”. Yes, Grandma hadn’t seen little Eustis since he was in diapers, and now he’s making his First Holy Communion. Grandma forgot the rules about God’s House being a quiet place. So did Uncle Charlie, Aunt Betty, the teenage twins, and a lot of other guests.
 
I just LOVE my parish!!! For dd, FHC, they recieved on the TOUNGUE, KNEELING DOWN on a kneeler. Photos were not allowed except by the official photographer. The Friday before, when dd had First Confession and FHC practice, our Priest spoke to all the parents and “reminded” them (especially those who do not attend Mass reg.) that family members should not recieve Communion unless properly disposed, to please dress respectfully (yes, people had to be told that!) and behave respectfully as they were in the presence of our Lord (Yup, they had to be told that too!) Yay!! I love our Priest for not bending to secular society!!! The music was beautifully performed and the children respectfully brought up the bread and wine (no other nonsese “gifts”) and all the children bowed and genuflected at the proper times…ahh yes we love our Priest and Parish!!😃
 
Being that reception of First Communion is part of the Baptism and Confirmation, it may be acceptable that the readings do not follow the readings for Sunday Mass, but rather that which is in line with reception of the Sacrament.

Jim
 
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