Help! I'm creeped out going to EMHCs for Communion!

[graceandglory]

I long for the Eucharist. I am unable to be a daily communicant so I look forward to the full meal deal on Sundays.

We have one priest and loads of EHMCs. How do I know where to sit, so I can receive on the tongue from the priest, instead of in the hand by a woman wearing lavender polyester stretchy pants?

Is there a general rule for priests to always serve to one side or the other? Any clues to look for when I arrive as to which side the priest will take that day?

Just wondering. As a “revert” I never got used to the EMHCs to begin with, now it seems I have no choice.

Thanks!

 

[fellowChristian]

You could sit in the back and then move into the line that the priest is in. Or watch to see if he has a favorite side?

 

[LilyM]

I long for the Eucharist. I am unable to be a daily communicant so I look forward to the full meal deal on Sundays.

We have one priest and loads of EHMCs. How do I know where to sit, so I can receive on the tongue from the priest, instead of in the hand by a woman wearing lavender polyester stretchy pants?

Is there a general rule for priests to always serve to one side or the other? Any clues to look for when I arrive as to which side the priest will take that day?

Just wondering. As a “revert” I never got used to the EMHCs to begin with, now it seems I have no choice.

Thanks!

Who says you have to receive in the hand from an EMHC? They can certainly distribute on the tongue if that is your wish. And her attire, unless it is immodest in some way (and in this day and age slacks, unless they are particularly tight and revealing, aren’t), is no business of yours.

Put it this way - if Jesus sees fit to entrust Himself into that EMHC’s hands for distribution to you and the other congregants, who are you to refuse to follow His example, and instead insist on receiving only from the priest?

 

[quiet52]

You can humbly offer up to our Lord your distaste for what people wear. You can pray for the people wearing the clothes you dislike – that they continue to find the means to clothe themselves, and that they thank God for it. Thank God for sending people who are willing to respond to the pastor’s call for service.

You can respect that the Pope has allowed lay people to be commissioned to help distribute Holy Communion.

You can receive the Blessed Sacrament on the tongue from either the priest or one of the extraordinary ministers of HC (“extaordinary” meaning “outside the ordained”). After you bow, keep your hands folded in prayer, and receive on the tongue.

You can focus on the Sacrament and thank and praise God for allowing you to encounter Him in this wondrous way, instead of being “creeped out.”

 

[Cat]

I’m sorry, but I find the comment about the woman’s apparel to be beyond rude. It’s cruel.

The poor woman. It frightens me to think that there are people sitting in the congregation who have such mean-spirited thoughts about what she’s wearing. She’s doing a ministry that her bishop has fully approved, and her priest has also approved, and she loves the Lord and respects His Blood and Body, and then someone actually has the raw nerve to say, “Her apparel offends me.” Ugh. Frightening.

There are so many passages in the Holy Scriptures against judging others because of their clothing.

I do the very best I can with the body and the budget I have, as I’m sure most women do. I personally feel insulted because one of my sisters has been insulted.

Frankly, I feel that the OP has no right to receive communion with such a judgmental attitude, but that’s not my call. Lord have mercy on him/her.

 

[peregrinus_sg]

Or you can simply go to the priest for Holy Communion if that would help you to focus better. Although the Church permits extraodinary ministers of Holy Communion due to serious need, there is no compulsion that the laity receive Communion from them.

I am an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion myself, and have no problems when communicants sideline me to go to the Priest for Communion. I’ve always understood that we are servants of Christ and his Church, not dispensers of the mysteries of God. Would that the days when extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion were no longer needed in our parishes, because of an abundance of Priests and Deacons to exercise this ministry!

 

[juliasmith]

Seriously people, I doubt the poster was intending to insult the woman in the stretchy lavendar pants.
You people lay off.
I think maybe the poster is perhaps looking for a more traditional experience of the Eucharist and that entails receiving from a priest in proper vestments. Maybe I am wrong.
Who are you people to suddenly judge him/her as being insulting because he wants a priest instead of some woman with bad taste in clothes (my opinion, don’t care if you agree and will laugh at you when you get your knickers in a bunch because I am being insulting.) ?
Really? He wasn’t trying to be insulting. Get over it.

To the poster, wherever you sit, just line up in the priest’s line. People at my church will go round the back to line up in their preferred line. It is not disrupting at all.

 

[MusicMan]

I kinda found the stretchy pants comment to be an amusingly flippant remark about a generic archetype. Almost any church that has more than two lay people serving as emHC at a Mass is probably going to have a woman distributing in some color of polyester stretchy pant.

Please don’t be creeped out going to a lay person for Communion. The distribution by a lay person doesn’t make the Sacrament any less holy, nor does it reduce the graces you will receive.

Second, and a more important point, if you wish to receive on the tongue and lay people serving as emsHC don’t allow you to, you have a legitimate issue to bring to the attention of the pastor. Please feel free to bring it with all due charity to his attention.

If that’s the reason… it’s a pretty strong reason, and so an issue within the parish needs to be corected.

 

[bilop]

I long for the Eucharist. I am unable to be a daily communicant so I look forward to the full meal deal on Sundays.

We have one priest and loads of EHMCs. How do I know where to sit, so I can receive on the tongue from the priest, instead of in the hand by a woman wearing lavender polyester stretchy pants?

Is there a general rule for priests to always serve to one side or the other? Any clues to look for when I arrive as to which side the priest will take that day?

Just wondering. As a “revert” I never got used to the EMHCs to begin with, now it seems I have no choice.

Thanks!

You just have to watch for the pattern. Almost always the priest will be at the center aisle, either on the right or left side.

Position yourslelf near the back, on the aisle, and then when you see which line the priest is on, casually step into that line.

I, too, make a great effort to receive only from the priest. I don’t believe non-clergy should touch the Body of Christ.

Thankfully at our parish, there are usually 3 or 4 priests giving communion and only 1 or 2 EMHCs. Of course, that raises the question of why there are any EMHCs with 3 or 4 priests.

God Bless

 

[graceandglory]

Who says you have to receive in the hand from an EMHC? They can certainly distribute on the tongue if that is your wish. And her attire, unless it is immodest in some way (and in this day and age slacks, unless they are particularly tight and revealing, aren’t), is no business of yours.

Put it this way -** if Jesus sees fit to entrust Himself into that EMHC’s hands for distribution to you and the other congregants, who are you to refuse to follow His example, and instead insist on receiving only from the priest?**

While I’m open to admonishment, especially when it comes to properly receiving the Sacraments, and when I tend toward being critical; I disagree with you here.

Nowhere in history have women taken the place of the priest to distribute the Eucharist.

Until now. And it’s wrong.
There were no women at the last Supper. Apostolic succession is masculine.

The whole woman as priests thing is really hard to take. Especially when they are dressed weird, or, like a few weeks ago in a mini skirt and go-go boots.

 

[graceandglory]

I’m sorry, but I find the comment about the woman’s apparel to be beyond rude. It’s cruel.
.

I’m sorry it was offensive Cat. I selected that outfit, because I thought it would make light of my question, which to me is quite serious. It could have been any outfit, the point of bringing it up is that I don’t think it’s appropriate for Mass, especially on Sunday, and especially for someone distributing the Sacrament in front of everyone. I would think the same criteria would apply to people distributing as the main congregation, dress your best for Mass.

Actually, this thread was really to ask how I can avoid it, if it is an issue with me. If half the congregation gets to go to the Priest,
how can I figure that out. I don’t often think about it until I get there, as I am focused on the Mass. But when I’m in line, anticipating receiving Jesus, it’s well, sort of a let-down, when I realize that after waiting for a week, I don’t even get to receive Jesus from the Priest.

So, I’m looking for practical problem solving here.

 

[lizaanne]

Seriously people, I doubt the poster was intending to insult the woman in the stretchy lavendar pants.
You people lay off.
I think maybe the poster is perhaps looking for a more traditional experience of the Eucharist and that entails receiving from a priest in proper vestments. Maybe I am wrong.
Who are you people to suddenly judge him/her as being insulting because he wants a priest instead of some woman with bad taste in clothes (my opinion, don’t care if you agree and will laugh at you when you get your knickers in a bunch because I am being insulting.) ?
Really? He wasn’t trying to be insulting. Get over it.

To the poster, wherever you sit, just line up in the priest’s line. People at my church will go round the back to line up in their preferred line. It is not disrupting at all.

I have to agree with this actually. And I feel the same way as the OP, which is why we belong to our parish which is out of the way for us. I got horribly tired of receiving Jesus with the overwhelming taste of perfume in my mouth from someone who didn’t know how to clean their hands properly prior to distributing Holy Communion.

I don’t see a single thing wrong with the post. Perhaps he could have used a different way to express his comments, but no panties in a bunch here, I get what he was trying to say.

~Liza

 

[graceandglory]

I, too, make a great effort to receive only from the priest. I don’t believe non-clergy should touch the Body of Christ.

This really bugs me too. I don’t know those people who are EHMCs, for the most part. There really is no criteria. At least with the priest, you know he is ordained, he acts “in persona Christi” when he is distributing the Body of Christ.

As for touching the Body of Christ, during Mass, the priest washes his hands in front of all of us and prays, “Wash me from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sins.” That goes all the way back to the tradition in OT temple worship, when the Jewish priest would do the exact same thing. I really like that part. Nothing unclean enters the Holy of Holies.

 

[Orogeny]

I guess I just don’t understand the problem. Look at where the priest is distributing and go to that line. It doesn’t matter where you sit.

Peace

Tim

 

[Scottgun]

There is no need to get into a whole EMHC vs. Priest thing here. As others have said, figure out where the priest will be and sit there. Most priests stay in the same place each mass.

 

[graceandglory]

Frankly, I feel that the OP has no right to receive communion with such a judgmental attitude, but that’s not my call. Lord have mercy on him/her.

I agree, if that were the attitude of the OP.
But, what IF, the clothing of an EMHC causes someone who might be offended by inappropriate attire at Mass, to stumble in the biblical sense of the word, fall into the sin of being critical, and lose focus entirely on Communion?

Don’t the scriptures say, “Woe to him through whom the offense comes?”

Just saying. A dress code appropriate to Mass might be a thought for EMHCs. This is Christ’s Body and Blood we’re talking about.

It’s not really the point of my thread, though.

 

[graceandglory]

I kinda found the stretchy pants comment to be an amusingly flippant remark about a generic archetype. Almost any church that has more than two lay people serving as emHC at a Mass is probably going to have a woman distributing in some color of polyester stretchy pant.
.

Thank you MusicMan. It’s true. I can’t think of a particular person, 'cept the gal in the mini skirt and go-go boots I mentioned earlier.

It really was intended to be “an amusingly flippant remark about a generic archetype.”

I see it often. No one in particularly. But for some reason, the male EMHCs are better dressed.

 

[graceandglory]

To the poster, wherever you sit, just line up in the priest’s line. People at my church will go round the back to line up in their preferred line. It is not disrupting at all.

Thanks, juliasmith, that’s what I was hoping for. I have never done that before, cause I hate to bring attention to myself.

I appreciate that you say it’s not disrupting.

I’ve seen some priests minister Communion from the center of both aisles, with an EMHC on either side, so anyone can choose to go to either the priest or EMHC if they don’t mind.

That really would seem to take care of the situation. I wonder why more priests don’t do that.

 

[bilop]

This really bugs me too. I don’t know those people who are EHMCs, for the most part. There really is no criteria. At least with the priest, you know he is ordained, he acts “in persona Christi” when he is distributing the Body of Christ.

As for touching the Body of Christ, during Mass, the priest washes his hands in front of all of us and prays, “Wash me from my iniquity, cleanse me from my sins.” That goes all the way back to the tradition in OT temple worship, when the Jewish priest would do the exact same thing. I really like that part. Nothing unclean enters the Holy of Holies.

Correct, 100%.

If a parish must have laity distributing communion (most could do without if all the priests and deacons helped at each Mass) they should formal institute male acolytes, who should be well trained and vested for Mass.

God Bless

 

[Sarabande]

As others have mentioned, just watch to see where the priest stands for each mass. My husband and I prefer and try to receive from a priest as much as we can as well. We won’t go out of our way and “make a scene” if we happen to be on the wrong side of the church. But if we can do it inconspicuously we do it. Usually, we sit in the middle area of the church or on the ends in the back if we aren’t sure when visiting a church.

This is coming from two people who were once EMHCs. Although I don’t judge anyone who goes to an EMHC or becomes one ,as I know in some parishes they may only have one priest, one deacon or no deacons and have to have them, as we have delved deeper into our faith, for our own spirituality we prefer to receive from a priest whenever possible.

I do have to say, though, at my parish, we have about 5-6 priests and two deacons. Most of the time, the priests and deacons distribute communion, but for certain masses, due to the duties in the city that the other priests have to attend to and also because of the priest who take care of the Spanish masses in another part of the city for our parish, we do have EHMCs. They are always dressed very respectfully and very well. One in particular is the epitomy of very tasteful, beautiful, appropriate and fashionable feminine attire. She and her husband (a deacon) are wonderful people, very active in the parish and had been helpful as a role model for me in terms of dressing appropriately, yet fashionably, for mass as a cantor and even as a congregant.

(That’s one of the nice things of being a cantor or lector at my parish - you always recieve from the priest.)