How does your priest ensure that consecrated hosts do not remain in the ciborium or tabernacle for too long?

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I recall reading somewhere that care is to be taken that consecrated hosts are to be consumed as soon as possible and should not be arbitrarily left in the tabernacle. As an EMHC, I have noticed that our priest does not take any steps or use any methods to prevent this. It is quite possible that some of the hosts may be in the bottoms of the ciboriums for years.

I would like to politely approach Father about this and suggest something… what can be done?
 
Are you sure that Father in fact isn’t doing anything? Is it possible, for example, that for the daily Mass on Monday or Tuesday he, instead of consecrating many new hosts, merely consecrates the large one and then uses the weekend leftovers?

If he truly is doing nothing, then you might want to bring it up to him.
 
Very sure… for example, there was a broken host that floated in the bottom of one of our three ciboriums for over a year. I finally consumed it before returning them to the tabernacle the last time I had that ciborium.
 
Oh.

In that case, bring it up at first opportunity.

I know that its the Body of Christ, but that cannot be sanitary.
 
Online_Knight said:
I recall reading somewhere that care is to be taken that consecrated hosts are to be consumed as soon as possible and should not be arbitrarily left in the tabernacle. As an EMHC, I have noticed that our priest does not take any steps or use any methods to prevent this. It is quite possible that some of the hosts may be in the bottoms of the ciboriums for years.

I would like to politely approach Father about this and suggest something… what can be done?
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At our parish the Hosts from the tabernacle are always used at every Mass (which is not correct). But the newly Consecrated Hosts are placed in the EMHC ciboriums first then the others are placed on top. This way the older Hosts are used first at every Mass.
 
Online_Knight said:
I recall reading somewhere that care is to be taken that consecrated hosts are to be consumed as soon as possible and should not be arbitrarily left in the tabernacle. As an EMHC, I have noticed that our priest does not take any steps or use any methods to prevent this. It is quite possible that some of the hosts may be in the bottoms of the ciboriums for years.

I would like to politely approach Father about this and suggest something… what can be done?
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Well, weekend overflow hosts are used at the weekday masses first. If the tabernacle starts to get close to overflowing, they are often used first the following weekend and taken out and use before communion is distributed.
 
In my parish, Father only consecrates his Host during the daily Mass if he has a lot of Hosts in the tabernacle that are left over from Sunday Masses, so the Hosts are used up in the daily Masses.
 
Confession time…as a 13-year-old altar boy in the early 70’s, I used to pay immense attention to the handling of the consecrated hosts.

On multiple occasions, I would open the tabernacle (no, lightning didn’t strike) and hold an empty over a full one and flip them. Rotating stock, if you will.

I used to spend Saturdays at the Church stuffing bulletins, and served many Masses. Probably did some things I shouldn’t have, but it was of good heart.

We had a large glass jar in the sacristy of unconsecrated hosts to use to set up for Mass. One Sunday morning, to my aghast, the jar was empty ! So, in deperation to “properly” prepare for the next Mass, I took consecrated hosts from the tabernacle and used them for set up. So, those were double-consecrated.

Those were the days…or were they? Does good intention forgive ignorance?
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
At our parish the Hosts from the tabernacle are always used at every Mass (which is not correct). But the newly Consecrated Hosts are placed in the EMHC ciboriums first then the others are placed on top. This way the older Hosts are used first at every Mass.
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What you say makes very good sense. It just shows how screwed-up my parish is due to the influence of our lay “liturgical/eucharistic coordinators.”

In my parish we have super-EMsHC called “captains.” They have little to no function except to refill the ciboria (we use 4 at each Sunday Mass) DURING the distribution of holy communion. The reasoning? That communicants should receive hosts consecrated it that Mass if possible:

“GIRM 85. It is most desirable that the faithful, just as the priest himself is bound to do, receive the Lord’s Body from hosts consecrated at the same Mass…”

The horrible part is that it unintentionally treats those who come-up later in line as second-class citizens and it provides the potential of having the same hosts in the tabernacle for a very long time. ALL to create tasks for the “captains.”

The best way is to be as careful as possible to begin with when setting out the original number of hosts to be consecrated.

I wish those people would retire already!
 
I wish those people would retire already!
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Please don’t assume these issues are within the control of the EMHCs to resolve.

It is the pastor’s responsibility to resolve any liturgical problems, and sometimes they abdicate their responsibility. Sometimes they’re aware of the problems and won’t do anything. Sometimes they think an associate pastor is resolving the issues.
 
quiet52 said:
Please don’t assume these issues are within the control of the EMHCs to resolve.

It is the pastor’s responsibility to resolve any liturgical problems, and sometimes they abdicate their responsibility. Sometimes they’re aware of the problems and won’t do anything. Sometimes they think an associate pastor is resolving the issues.
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The current pastor (a good man) inherited the structure and the people fight like crazy to hold onto their turf/status.

We had a pastoral meeting a while back. Someone questioned the need for these “captains.” The first excuse given for their existence was that our ciboria did not hold enough hosts – that they necessarily needed to be refilled during communion. I pointed out that each one will easily hold 300 hosts – more than enough. Then this matter was brought up.

The desperation and ferocity these “captains” fought with that night to keep their positions of status was numbing to both clerical and laity in attendance.
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
At our parish the Hosts from the tabernacle are always used at every Mass (which is not correct). But the newly Consecrated Hosts are placed in the EMHC ciboriums first then the others are placed on top. This way the older Hosts are used first at every Mass.
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You have somewhat of a point, as in the rubric Paten was kind enough to provide it does say it is “most desirable” that everyone receive from that Mass’s sacrifice, but at the same time, if the pastor thinks circumstances warrant using reserved hosts on a regular basis, there’s nothing preventing him from doing so.
 
Andreas_Hofer said:
You have somewhat of a point, as in the rubric Paten was kind enough to provide it does say it is “most desirable” that everyone receive from that Mass’s sacrifice, but at the same time, if the pastor thinks circumstances warrant using reserved hosts on a regular basis, there’s nothing preventing him from doing so.
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And, in my mind(yes, I know I’m not the Magisterium), it makes more sense to use older ones first. Yes, its preferable to use the ones from the current Mass, but if it gets to the point where you have year-old hosts in the bottom of the ciborium(as the OP mentioned), I think thats rather more disgraceful.

What my priest does is has a basket with hosts and the ciboriums in the back before Mass and requests that everyone put in as many hosts in as they need(so if a family of four communicants comes in, put in 4 hosts), so that ideally you only have exactly what you need. The problem is people either don’t listen or are new and don’t know, so usually we have to dip into reserves in the tabernacle.
 
dandn5000 said:
And, in my mind(yes, I know I’m not the Magisterium), it makes more sense to use older ones first. Yes, its preferable to use the ones from the current Mass, but if it gets to the point where you have year-old hosts in the bottom of the ciborium(as the OP mentioned), I think thats rather more disgraceful.

What my priest does is has a basket with hosts and the ciboriums in the back before Mass and requests that everyone put in as many hosts in as they need(so if a family of four communicants comes in, put in 4 hosts), so that ideally you only have exactly what you need. The problem is people either don’t listen or are new and don’t know, so usually we have to dip into reserves in the tabernacle.
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Am I the only one that thinks that this is wrong. It doesn’t sound very sanitary to me for one thing.
 
Lee_M said:
Am I the only one that thinks that this is wrong. It doesn’t sound very sanitary to me for one thing.
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If that procedure is not sanitary to you. I guess that you do not buy any food from supermarkets either.
 
Cristiano said:
If that procedure is not sanitary to you. I guess that you do not buy any food from supermarkets either.
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When I go to the supermarket, I pick up the food for myself. I don’t throw it in a community basket. If I buy produce, I wash it. It’s kind of hard to wash bread. When someone picks up the hosts and then throws into the ciborium, that is extra hands touching it for no reason. I’m a sacristan and I take extra measures to make sure that my hands are clean and I count out the hosts with as minimum touching as possible. After you’ve been doing it for a while, you can guess pretty close to how many hosts you will need for each service. Weather and special events, etc. will effect how many people show up.
 
At the one parish that I went to the put the hosts out they provided a pair of tongs. No one but the priest would touch the host (small country parish).
 
Our parish, and another nearby parish I attend for weekday mass sometimes, use the procedure of having the unconsecrated hosts at the back of the church, described by other poster. There is a little spoon you use to transfer them into what I guess is the ciborium. So it seems perfectly sanitary to me.

It is certainly more sanitary than everyone dipping their fingers into the holy water. I am still getting used to that.
 
I am very glad to find this thread, because it helps somewhat with a question I have. My understanding is that once a consecrated host begins to deteriorate, that the Real Presence is no longer there (Please correct me if I’m wrong.) Well, in one church I go to for Mass sometimes, the tabernacle key has been missing for over two months and I keep hearing that new keys are on order. My question is whether or not I should still be genuflecting before that tabernacle, and praying as if the Real Presence were still there. So I wondered just how long is it before deterioration? But if some post-ers are seeing intact hosts for a year, I guess I shouldn’t worry? Thanks for any additional (name removed by moderator)ut.
 
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