how bad is this?

[brgregmack]

I hear you - but how would a parish go about doing the notification at a crowded Sunday mass where the deacon and the various EMHC’s plus their families are all arriving at different times - perhaps just a few minutes before mass starts. At my parish the Sunday mass normally uses the Celebrant priest, the assisting deacon, plus 6 EMHC’s
Does the deacon go up and make an announcement - "here I am so which EMHC wants to stay in their pew??

What about when the deacon is traveling on vacation. By rights shouldn’t he tell the parish that he is visiting that he is there so that they can use him instead of one of the EMHC’s?

I’m not saying that it can’t be done, but my suspicion is that, as the parishes reviewed the logistics of using EMHC’s, they simply determined that following the schedule would be the least disruptive…Just my opinion…

Peace
James

Just because it would be the least disruptive doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s o.k. to do, which is what I want to know. If it’s allowed that a deacon not serve, well then I’ll let it go even though I think it should be otherwise. However, if it’s required that they serve at every Mass they attend, then it’s worth bringing it up to our parish priest.

 

[JRKH]

Just because it would be the least disruptive doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s o.k. to do, which is what I want to know. If it’s allowed that a deacon not serve, well then I’ll let it go even though I think it should be otherwise. However, if it’s required that they serve at every Mass they attend, then it’s worth bringing it up to our parish priest.

Well yes this is probably best addressed with your pastor. My understanding in a strict reading is that if there are “ordinary” ministers available (present) that they should serve.

Peace
James

 

[brgregmack]

Since no one else seems to know here in this thread, I also asked Jim Blackburn directly. He just got back to me and said that the holding hands is not a grave abuse and the deacon thing isn’t an issue at all.

While it makes logical sense to me that they should serve since they are ordained ministers, I will let it go since it’s not an issue.:blushing:

 

[scc11]

I havent seen a priest or deacon at my parish holding hands but there is one priest who holds the altra servers hands during the Our Father. Is that allowed?

 

[brgregmack]

I havent seen a priest or deacon at my parish holding hands but there is one priest who holds the altra servers hands during the Our Father. Is that allowed?

If it’s not allowed for the priest to hold hands with the deacon, it’s certainly not allowed to hold hands with the altar servers. Whether it’s more grave than holding hands with the deacon (which isn’t that big of a deal anyway), I don’t know:shrug:. It’s certainly not in the rubrics either way.