Have thurifers been banned at your parish?

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Hi everyone. I spoke to the sacristan at my parish this morning and decided that I would offer my services as an altar server/thurifer since I don’t play the organ again until next Sunday. I was told that the pastor of the parish has decided that incense is not to be used at any Mass at the parish (this prohibition has been extended to the indult Mass celebrated there which is really funky), and that I am more than welcome to serve Mass- at 6:30 AM on weekdays.

Why would a priest prohibit the use of incense at his parish? I don’t get it. There’s no fire danger if the thurifer knows what he’s doing, and the parish church is large enough to sufficiently dissipate the incense so nobody ends up having their lungs filled with the stuff (sometimes I thought that was going to happen to me at Chant Mass. LOL). I feel that the priest is off his rocker! He’s done so many wonderful things for the parish. Got us a new organ, instituted perpetual Adoration, raised the funds for the new church building… and now he’s raising money for 32 beautiful stained glass windows. He celebrates Mass reverently and preaches orthodox (if sometimes lackluster) homilies… so why forbid the incense?! Is it just too Catholic for a Catholic church now? Maybe he’s allergic to it. I honestly don’t know… CAN people be allergic to incense?!?
 
I would bet your priest prohibits incense because some people are allergic to it.

Though I consider myself a strict traditionalist, I must admit that I’m glad we don’t regularly use incense at Mass. Why?

I’m pretty sure that I’m allergic to it. This Holy Thursday, our priest used a LOT of incense in church, and all the doors were closed. The whole churh filled with this cloud of incense Immediately, I felt the roof of my mouth start to itch. IT was overpowering.

I left feeling a bit wheasy. I have allergic-type asthma. Incense also gives me a sinus-related headache that hurts on-par with migraine.

Funny though … I burn scented candles in my home, and they don’t bother me. I have lots of candles of Our Lady that are rose scented, and they don’t bother me at all.

Thank goodness Holy Thursday happens only once a year. LOL!

Now, Father does use incense during funeral Masses, but he doesn’t use very much. I don’t react to the incense during the funeral Masses because the church is built old-style, with nave, transept, aisle, and very high ceilings. The stuff dissipates well.

That’s probably the reason for his prohibition of it, I’d guess.
 
That’s a reasonable explanation. I won’t mention it to the priest again.
 
My mother was allergig to incense, it would give her a migraine, when she told us what she wanted for her funeral she said no incense. I sometimes have a problem with it, but the symbilism of it is so meaningful that I truly enjoy when it is used.
maggirc
 
Your priest is allegeic to incense? Too bad. They have “non choaking” incense now availble from Monastery Icons,
P.O. Box 1429, West Chester, OH 45071, or email them
customerservice@monsteryicons.com

In the Eastern Churches we use incense all the time!! And not just around the altar. The priest walks around the aisles and incenses everyone! I love it. I use it at home for my private prayers.

So when the priest exposes the Blessed Sacrament for Perpetual Adoration he doesn’t use incense?
 
No, they haven’t been banned. But incense is not used at all the masses.
 
Before they had body deoderant incense helped improve the smell of the crowds in the temples and cathederals. At least that’s what the tour guides at the Washington Nat’l Cathederal tell ya. Buy they’re Episcopalians. 😉
 
I’m considered a member of three parishes… I did RCIA at one and am so registered there; I used to attend one full time but now only do for Confession; I attend another for Mass (it is the most orthodox and reverent).

Parish number one is very modern and uses incense only on occasions like Easter and Christmas and when the Bishop visits.

Parish number two is the same way.

As is Parish number three, but in that case it is more of a fire worry, as the church was a victim of arson several years ago. 😦
 
Like Mike C says, we Easterners pretty much use incense for everything. Yes, some people are genuinely allergic to it, others just think they are. The problem i find in the average RC parish is that cheap incense is used, and the charcoals are not good either (this can be an even worse allergen than the incense). What causes the allergies is not the incense itself, but is usually caused by a substance that coats that prevents caking, and makes for small grains. Good incense makers use a type of beeswax that melts and burns clean. AFAIK, there is only one place in the US that makes good incense that doesnt choke-that is a Russian Orthodox women’s monastery in West Virginia (there moved there a few years ago from Missouri). This is the best to be had in the western hemisphere. Otherwise, one can order good incenses from Greece, but i cannot name flavors or brands right off. If anyone wants to know, i can snoop around and see what is best.

In Christ,
Adam
 
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akemner:
AFAIK, there is only one place in the US that makes good incense that doesnt choke-that is a Russian Orthodox women’s monastery in West Virginia (there moved there a few years ago from Missouri). This is the best to be had in the western hemisphere. In Christ, Adam
Click to expand...
What is the name of the monastery? Do they have a website, e-mail or phone number, or mailing address that can be used to submit an order?

Can you give some advice as to what types of incense to buy and not to buy for personal use (maybe that question doesn’t make any sense)?

For personal use, what’s it best to burn incense in? Since you mentioned charcoals, where can one buy the best charcoals in the Western Hemisphere?

Thanks for your help.

In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary.
 
We regularly use incense but my parish is one of those low ceiling modern ones that look like a hotel lobby. The incense sits about face level and you can hear nothing but coughing. My pastor has tries to get eastern incense it works out much better.

God Bless
 
Gideon's Sword:
Before they had body deoderant incense helped improve the smell of the crowds in the temples and cathederals. At least that’s what the tour guides at the Washington Nat’l Cathederal tell ya. Buy they’re Episcopalians. 😉
Click to expand...
One of my professors of anthropology tried to sell the same bill of goods to a class I was attending. I told him publicly that the reason incense is used in the Catholic Church is because it was used in Judaism. Rosalind Moss of CA describes the CC as a Catholic synagogue, there are so many similarities. The Catholic Church and its rituals grew out of Judaism. Maybe the Jews were smelly too?

😛 JMJ Jay
 
I have been attending many parishes over the past year in my process of conversion and I havn’t gotten the opportunity to see ANY priest offer ANY incense. 😦 Wish I could find a really traditional parish around campus…(not likely)
 
I did a quick Google Search and came up with . . .
monasteryicons.com/

Forgive me if this is wrong. I don’t see anything labeled as Non-Choking, but they do have a good selection of incense.
 
I read on the Byzcath.org website that the folks at “Monastery Icons” are affiliated with some Gnostic sect. Be careful when you order from them. Some of their icons do not follow the traditional rules of iconography (i.e. the Sacred and Immaculate Heart icons do not exist in the Eastern tradition because depicting internal organs is forbidden). And some look too photographic, which is sort of a Western obsession. Nevertheless, they do sell some good stuff… but we need to be careful who we support financially, regardless of the services they may render.
 
We use incense for benediction every Saturday morning. I get to set it up and assist. i love the smell of it, the parish ordered some new incense and not the same.

We use it for some masses but not all the time.
 
My son is the usual altar server for the Wednesday Benediction, and is therefore heavily involved with the thurifer. He has a mild form of asthma, but the incense doen’t bother him. He does complain of tasting it in his mouth afterwards. I wonder if the Eastern style of incense would be better for him. I’m sure our pastor would be alright with it. We use alot of incense in our parish.
I myself love the smell of incense at Mass. I never heard of using it in a private home before. I had thought that it might be sacriligious to use it unless in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament. I would like to know more about this practice, if anyone from the Eastern Catholic tradition would like to elaborate.
My son is also a homeschool student of the Seton Home Study program, and his school books use many Eastern icons and Eastern Catholic Saints in the subject matter. This year’s art book is 50% study of icons. I didn’t know that internal organs were not to be portrayed. Is there a reason that any one knows for this? I am very interested in the Eastern Church.
God bless you all! 🙂 :blessyou:
 
We Eastern Catholics use incense in our homesto help us bring our hearts and minds concentrated on Christ. It can be use at home, not necessarily in the presence of the Bl. Sacrament. You can buy the incense, charcoal, and a hand held censer at religious goods store and on line.

We Eastern Catholics are not “into” the feasts of the Sacred Heart or the Precious Blood because they are recent feasts. We just don’t honor the body parts but the whole Christ. (By the way, we don’t celebrate Corpus Christi or Divine Mercy, or the Infant of Prague). Its not that we don’t believe in those mysteries, but just that they are recent.
 
Problems with incense are almost always due to 1) cheap incense, 2) cheap charcoal, or 3) both. Any good religious goods store can help you choose a non-smoking, non-cloying kind of incense. Remember, they want your return business and are happy to turn you to the more expensive product you need, but when you experience the good stuff you will be happy to pay a little more!
 
I know that lots of people are allergic to incense…But, it is possible to buy a non-allergenic kind. You might mention this to your pastor.
 
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