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

[Scottgun]

OK, that one I missed. Can you give me a source?

I am reasonably certain that I have read a church document to the effect that the laity have a choice in this regard (I’ll grant “right” is a poor word choice) , but I can’t locate it, so I will retract it for now. I don’t think this damages the concept that a priest deliberately trying to force people is weaksauce.

 

[happymommy]

Yes, I realize what you are saying. I am thankful that there are people who give their time to go to those who cannot receive at Mass. As I said, that’s when I would most appreciate the EMHC’s if it ever came to that for me, which I hope it doesn’t. I also said I realize the host is the body of Christ no matter who gives it. what I am saying is I much prefer to receive from a priest if I am at all able. Yes, EMHC’s “take classes”. But their hands are not anointed; they don’t spend years in study and practice rigid discipline. They are not priests. As long as there are priests giving communion, I will receive from them. As a revert, it is my preference to receive the body of Christ from one who is in persona Christi.

Well, as a convert, I’m just thrilled to receive the body of Christ from anyone. It doesn’t have to be the priest. On a side note, we only have one priest, no deacons. So it’s not like we have a lot of options. The communion line would be out into the parking lot if we could only receive from the priest.

 

[RosalieM]

Well, as a convert, I’m just thrilled to receive the body of Christ from anyone. It doesn’t have to be the priest. On a side note, we only have one priest, no deacons. So it’s not like we have a lot of options. The communion line would be out into the parking lot if we could only receive from the priest.

Believe me, I receive the body of Christ from an EMHC if I have no choice. We have four priests in our parish. Not all of them are present all the time; but last night, for instance, two of them were co-celebrants at evening Mass.

 

[JulianN]

Well, as a convert, I’m just thrilled to receive the body of Christ from anyone. It doesn’t have to be the priest. On a side note, we only have one priest, no deacons. So it’s not like we have a lot of options. The communion line would be out into the parking lot if we could only receive from the priest.

Exactly the case in our parish. We have one priest – no help for him. When people switch lines, it causes a huge backup. He has tried explaining that the Eucharist is the real and true body of Christ regardless of the hands that distribute it. He has asked people to refrain from jumping lines. He switches places every week to avoid the “priest only” lineup. If everyone ignored his polite requests, he’d still be distributing Communion when it was time for the next Mass to start.

 

[Cat]

Perhaps one reason why this thread doesn’t set well with me is the use of the words “creeped out.”

I get “creeped out” when we receive a whole amputated toe for culture in my microbiology lab. I get “creeped out” when I read about the rape of a child. I get “creeped out” when I watch shows that revel in death, even going so far as to show the dead bodies of murder victims, e.g.Cold Case on TV (I don’t watch the whole show, I just turn on *The Unit *on Sunday nights, and almost always have to wait for *Cold Case *to be over because of the football game.)

So to me, that phrase is pretty raw and visceral to use about a woman and her lavendar outfit.

 

[happymommy]

Believe me, I receive the body of Christ from an EMHC if I have no choice. We have four priests in our parish. Not all of them are present all the time; but last night, for instance, two of them were co-celebrants at evening Mass.

How do you think it makes the other people feel? The Church thinks that they are worthy pass out the body of Christ, why can’t you? I could see if you had a problem with their lifestyle or choices made by one of them, then I could understand you not wanting to receive from them. If you felt they were not up right people, but then I would also assume you would talk to you priest about these issues. But to not go to them based only on the fact that they are not a priest, it just doesn’t seem right to me. But you do what you want, as long as you are focused on Christ and not yourself or anyone else.

 

[graceandglory]

Perhaps one reason why this thread doesn’t set well with me is the use of the words “creeped out.”

I get “creeped out” when we receive a whole amputated toe for culture in my microbiology lab.


So to me, that phrase is pretty raw and visceral to use about a woman and her lavendar outfit.

Okay, whatever.

Might be a regional thing. It wasn’t meant to carry so much emotion. Just having fun.

Sorry to offend. It wasn’t intentional. I really thought this would be the place to get some advice. And, so far so good.

 

[Sarabande]

It’s perhaps different for a revert - someone who may have left the Church for a while prior to these changes that someone like me has lived with all their lives or someone like you who is a convert. Just stepping into the OP’s shoes and the other poster who mentioned that she was also a revert, I can see how it could creep them out.

When they were taught and when they practiced their faith, only an annointed person - a priest could touch the Eucharist with his hands, but no one else because it was so sacred. Recieving in the hands wasn’t an option then. You had to receive with your tongue as no other part of your outside body was worthy to touch it. And from what I learned of friends/family who grew up during that time, this practice and belief was stressed greatly.

So, for a revert who has not practiced Catholicism during the last few decades and still has this practice and belief ingrained into their hearts, souls and minds - to see a lay person - whether or not he/she was trained to do this with much reverence - who was not annointed, who, as one poster said, was not “in persona Christi” could potentially really creep out or disturb that revert. It’s almost like seeing something sacriligous subconciously even though they know conciously that the Church has now allowed it.

 

[graceandglory]

Thank you Sarabande, you get it.

While this practice bothers me, my dad, as he attempted to come back to the Church 2 yrs before he died, and as a heart patient with a weakened immune system, got very creeped out by the hand holding thing during the Our Father.

For me, that was not so bad, having been pentecostal and touchy feely for so many years.

It was so bad, my dad was so afraid he would get sick, that he didn’t go back. Certainly his faith could have been bigger, but it wasn’t, and it’s sad that something like that kept him away.

 

[happymommy]

I’m sorry, but I too have to say that the choice to keep using “creeped out” needs to stop. How old are we? Say, it bothers me, I have a problem with, I take offense too, or even, I just don’t like it. This is the body of Christ, it should not “creep” you out to receive it from anyone. Perhaps you should get to know some of these people. Maybe then, it will make it easier for you. Like I said before, do what you want, just keep the focus on God and not on how things use to be. It seems to me, if you are thinking about which line to be in and who you can and can not receive from, then you are not focused on why you are there and what you are about to do. That just my opinion.

 

[Mattapoisett64]

Yes, I realize what you are saying. I am thankful that there are people who give their time to go to those who cannot receive at Mass. As I said, that’s when I would most appreciate the EMHC’s if it ever came to that for me, which I hope it doesn’t. I also said I realize the host is the body of Christ no matter who gives it. what I am saying is I much prefer to receive from a priest if I am at all able. Yes, EMHC’s “take classes”. But their hands are not anointed; they don’t spend years in study and practice rigid discipline. They are not priests. As long as there are priests giving communion, I will receive from them. As a revert, it is my preference to receive the body of Christ from one who is in persona Christi.

Do you have a similar issue with deacons, who are ordained but whose hands are not anointed? Just curious if the issue that those who prefer a priest have, centers more on Holy Orders or the actual anointing of their hands. There are also probably some - and I’m NOT saying that you feel this way - who have a concern that a deacon may have “been with his wife” the night before and who are therefore ritually unclean in some way. (Not making that one up.)

 

[JimR-OCDS]

The celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the oneness of faith, life, and worship that we are united in.

The word, “Communion” derives from the word common or community. We are united in faith and we express this unity, when we come together to celebrate the Holy Mass.

When we refuse to receive Holy Communion from an authorized minister, we are stating that we do not accept this unity.

Extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion, are authorized by the Church to distribute Holy Communion.

Refusing the receive Communion from them, because of your own agenda’s, places you outside of the community, and probably should exclude you from receiving at all. If not that, lack of charity would.

I would suggest speaking with your priest about it.

Jim

 

[happymommy]

The celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the oneness of faith, life, and worship that we are united in.

The word, “Communion” derives from the word common or community. We are united in faith and we express this unity, when we come together to celebrate the Holy Mass.

When we refuse to receive Holy Communion from an authorized minister, we are stating that we do not accept this unity.

Extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion, are authorized by the Church to distribute Holy Communion.

Refusing the receive Communion from them, because of your own agenda’s, places you outside of the community, and probably should exclude you from receiving at all. If not that, lack of charity would.

I would suggest speaking with your priest about it.

Jim

Well said!

 

[Cat]

The celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the oneness of faith, life, and worship that we are united in.

The word, “Communion” derives from the word common or community. We are united in faith and we express this unity, when we come together to celebrate the Holy Mass.

When we refuse to receive Holy Communion from an authorized minister, we are stating that we do not accept this unity.

Extra-ordinary ministers of Holy Communion, are authorized by the Church to distribute Holy Communion.

Refusing the receive Communion from them, because of your own agenda’s, places you outside of the community, and probably should exclude you from receiving at all. If not that, lack of charity would.

I would suggest speaking with your priest about it.

Jim

Thank you for clarifying this.

A few weeks ago, I asked the question about the “doctrine” that only those with “consecrated hands” can touch the Host.

The answer I got was that there is no such doctrine.

Does anyone else care to add to that?

I respectfully suggest that those who think only “consecrated hands” can touch the Host need to study their Catechism. I respectfully suggest that you are “adding” doctrines that aren’t part of Catholicism.

Personal preference is fine, and I can go along with that. It’s a weakness, and that’s OK. Humans are weak. If someone is bothered by something, then they have to find a way to deal with it. Fine. I have personal preferences, too (e.g., I really dislike the “folk song mass” done by the older people, and unless it was a dire emergency, I would avoid it and attend another Mass. Shhh!–no one in my parish knows this because I always try to be nice! Don’t tell them how I really feel about that kind of music! )

But adding a doctrine about “consecrated” or “anointed” hands is going beyond human weakness or preference. We are not supposed to add our own doctrines to the Church’s dogma, right?

If you don’t want to receive from a EMHC, fine. I don’t want to attend folk mass. We’re humans. But don’t try to imply that the Church is making a “mistake” to allow EMHCs, especialy female EMHCs, to exist. And I won’t try to imply that the Church is making a mistake to allow baby boomers like me to play folk music in Mass!

 

[quiet52]

in my parish, EMHCs who bring the Blessed Sacrament to the sick and homebound are also required to serve during Mass (not every week).

No EMHC that I know has any intention of “replacing” the priest or serving as a surrogate priest. It is a humbling privilege and responsibility. As I pray “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, only say the Word and I shall be healed” I also pray “Lord, I am not worthy to serve you, only say the Word to make me more worthy.”

The priest celebrant is the Eucharistic Minister. The lay people are duly commissioned to be extensions of his hands during the distribution of Holy Communion. So whether you receive from the priest, deacon, or lay person, you are still receiving from the priest, the Eucharistic Minister.

 

[Layman]

EMHC’s make the Mass banal. So does the priest facing the congregation, use of vernacular, protestant hymns and female altar servers.

Where is the holiness in it?

Everything that might make a man think of the Divine has slowly been leached out since I was a boy. Christ has gone from being the King of the Universe who deigns to visit us in our candle-lit churches, where we welcome him, in silence, on our knees, with a choir singing Gregorian chant, to a nice chap we mention at a happy meal.

Thank God for the Motu Proprio.

I suppose the current state of the Church is the Holy Spirit’s answer to the Modernist heresy: Here, have the Mass you want, where Man is to the fore, and see where it gets you.

To answer the OP: If I’ve no option but to go to an NO Mass, I sit at the back and watch where he stands. I don’t mind crossing across lines to get to him.

 

[palmas85]

Well, as a convert, I’m just thrilled to receive the body of Christ from anyone. It doesn’t have to be the priest. On a side note, we only have one priest, no deacons. So it’s not like we have a lot of options. The communion line would be out into the parking lot if we could only receive from the priest.

Yeah, it might actually take a little longer. No doubt about that. Heck it might even run past kickoff time or the close of the breakfast buffet.

Couldn’t have that happen now could we?

 

[graceandglory]

I’m sorry, but I too have to say that the choice to keep using “creeped out” needs to stop.

OMgosh, give it a rest. If my original feelings about EMHC were half as strong as your feelings about saying “Creeped out” there might be a problem. It’s just a figure of speech.

I’ve explained myself. Let’s all major on the major things of the faith and not pick people’s words apart. That wasn’t the focus.
Reading skill focus: Look for the main idea.
I teach that in 3rd grade.

It was a headline for goodness’ sake. So people would read my thread and give me suggestions for how to avoid the EMHC and get to the priest. It worked. That’s journalism.

Several folk have offered me suggestions, just like I asked in my OP. Good thing I’m not running for president.

 

[graceandglory]

Personal preference is fine, and I can go along with that. It’s a weakness, and that’s OK.** Humans are weak.
**

Yup. That would be me.
Any suggestions for devotional reading to overcome this would be helpful.

 

[graceandglory]

Yeah, it might actually take a little longer. No doubt about that. Heck it might even run past kickoff time or the close of the breakfast buffet.

Couldn’t have that happen now could we?

Back in the day,…
We used to have two or three Communion hymns.
Couldn’t have that now could we?