I'm in RCIA, and I go up for a blessing

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TypesAndShadows, I see you are in the UK. like me. Our situation over here is different from that in the States. Westminster positively encourages non-receivers to come forward for a blessing. saying that Communion, of all times, is not the moment in which to cause division , hurt, and a lack of charity.

So anyone in the UK can go forward for a blessing. And this rather refutes the case argued by some, that Rome has come out against it. I’m quite sure Rome knows what Westminster has said, and what is the practice here, yet obviously has not condemned it, otherwise it would not be officially encouraged.
 
Since lay people cannot give blessings the way a priest can, and certainly not extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist in the communion line, it’s true that it’s best to stay in one’s pew. However, I wonder how many people prefer to go up for the “blessing” just to “save face” if they are not able to receive communion.

I think one of the (probably unintended) consequences of the way communion is distributed in most parishes today (outside of the Extraordinary Form and some other parishes that do it the older way, even in the Novus Ordo), is the way that more attention is drawn to (and these people are put on the spot in a more obvious way) those who are not receiving.

Of course, many who are not receiving are either non-Catholic spouses who go with a spouse to mass, or people in RCIA (congrats to them for being in it! 😃 ) or those who forgot to keep the communion fast, or perhaps already received communion twice that day, but… there are also those who are in a state of mortal sin and who are therefore respectfully refraining from communion according to the Church’s teaching.
 
paperwight66 said:
And this rather refutes the case argued by some, that Rome has come out against it. I’m quite sure Rome knows what Westminster has said, and what is the practice here, yet obviously has not condemned it, otherwise it would not be officially encouraged.
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It refutes nothing. They “came out againt it” IN WRITING, which is redundant since it is already prohibited in numerous documents including the GIRM, so it isn’t difficult to see that despite various people “encouraging” it that it is not to be done.
 
Would you mind posting the exact passage from the GIRM. please?
 
Hmmm… quite the food for thought.

To clarify, I believe this is done locally. I would presume since the priest that runs the RCIA program has allowed and encouraged it, the Pastor, therefore the bishop, would know.

The impression I was given was it was universal. I even specifically asked one of our instructors (we have 4) if I were to go to another parish, would that be acceptable. He said to the best of his knowledge, yes.

For what it’s worth, I went to a different parish in a different city. I was a bit hesitant to do so, but got in the Eucharist line with my arms crossed. The EMHC just drew a cross on my forehead with his thumb and asked for God’s blessings upon me. So that kind of influenced my belief (still forming) that it was a universal practice. Now, I’m not so sure.

I’ll contact my priest and head instructor for further clarification. In the meantime, I would like to see that entry from (the?) GIRM.

Peace be with you all and thank you all so much!
 
Leon_Bloy said:
This might be helpful - if it’s not already been posted (sorry, if so):

madisoncatholicherald.org/guestcolumn/2517-matenaer.html
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Well, only to some extent, as it is referring to EMHCs giving blessings by laying on of hands as a priest does. The issue is whether even the priest is allowed to, whether he should invite people to come to receive a blessing in the Communion line, and whether people should be allowed to come forward for one.

I don’t think there’s anyone saying that EMHCs can bless as a priest does, although to avoid someone being made to feel embarrassed, I have said something warm like ‘God bless you’ when a non-receiver comes up to me, as I would to any friend or neighbour. It is only an invocation i.e. MAY God bless you, after all, not a blessing as a priest can give.

As I said in a previous post, if the case is so cut and dried, how can our UK Bishops and Archbishops be quite happy and encouraging with the practice? It’s been the custom for many years. They would have had their wrists slapped by Rome long before now if it were forbidden.
 
Nan_S said:
The one aspect of Communion blessings that always bothered me was this:

Where such blessings are given, small children are being blessed but obviously pregnant women are not. That has always felt wrong.

Our church holds human life in utero so precious, but these soon-to-be-born babies are deemed to not need a blessing? These babies are about to go through the most risky part of their lives, and some of them will die or be permanently injured. Seems to me that if small children are going to be blessed, a special effort should be made to include the unborn babies.
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I’d think that the main reason that in utero babies don’t generally receive a blessing along with other children is that usually the priest makes some sort of physical contact during the blessing, laying their hand on the child’s head or shoulder. Most pregnant women DO NOT like people touching their baby bump so it would make the situation rather awkward. I’ve heard that several places will offer/encourage the anointing the sick for pregnant women, especially if some sort of complication or difficulty is expected. So while there is a time for special consideration for the unborn babies in the church, during communion is generally not it.
 
Nan_S said:
The one aspect of Communion blessings that always bothered me was this:

Where such blessings are given, small children are being blessed but obviously pregnant women are not. That has always felt wrong.

Our church holds human life in utero so precious, but these soon-to-be-born babies are deemed to not need a blessing? These babies are about to go through the most risky part of their lives, and some of them will die or be permanently injured. Seems to me that if small children are going to be blessed, a special effort should be made to include the unborn babies.
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My priest gives blessings to in-utero babies when he sees a woman is pregnant. Maybe your priest just doesn’t really pay attention?
 
No physical contact should be made to anyone in the line for Holy Communion. There are two reasons for this: (1) The laying on of hands has a specific sacramental significance and is not called for in this context. (2) The priest and ministers are handling the Holy Eucharist and their hands, particularly their fingers, may retain particles of the host. Before a minister touches anything else, he must purify his hands in water. The logistics of this make it improbable that the minister will be able to purify his hands more than once at the end of distribution. Needless to say, it is also unsanitary to handle food with the bare hands and also to be touching someone else with the same hand. Priests and EMHCs are always supposed to wash their hands before they distribute Holy Communion. The priest does this ritually before vesting and during the lavabo; our sacristy provides hand sanitizer for EMHCs to use when they check in before Mass.
 
1ke said:
The communion line is for those receiving communion. You are not receiving communion, therefore the correct thing to do is remain in your pew. The communion line is not for blessings. We receive the blessing at the end of Mass from the priest as a community.

I am sorry if you have been told by someone it is OK ot go up for a “blessing” with arms crossed. This simply is not so.

So of course the extraordinary minister was confused-- you were not there to receive communion and the extraoridnary minister is not there to give a blessing, in fact CANNOT give a blessing.

See this sticky:
forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=543513
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Thank you very much, 1ke. I’m in total agreement.

Question: What does one do though, if their priest is allowing this, and encouraging RCIA people and others to line up for a blessing in the Communion line? (Everyone present is blessed by the Priest near the end of Mass anyway, so why is this going on in some parishes?) Should the Bishop be told or should a parishioner just stay silent?

I have a friend whom I sponsored all through RCIA and I told her the same thing that you have written above. She was very grateful to have the information and it made Holy Saturday, and her First Communion all the sweeter. But this blessing in the Communion line still goes on. Your wisdom/reply would be very appreciated.
 
TxBSonnier said:
I’d think that the main reason that in utero babies don’t generally receive a blessing along with other children is that usually the priest makes some sort of physical contact during the blessing, laying their hand on the child’s head or shoulder. Most pregnant women DO NOT like people touching their baby bump so it would make the situation rather awkward. I’ve heard that several places will offer/encourage the anointing the sick for pregnant women, especially if some sort of complication or difficulty is expected. So while there is a time for special consideration for the unborn babies in the church, during communion is generally not it.
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If the mother is receiving communion though, the unborn child is also receiving, as everything the mom eats and drinks goes to the child as well. I am pregnant, and I think of this every time I receive the precious body and blood.

If I am not in a state to receive, I don’t go up for a blessing. I was encouraged to in RCIA, but I feel if I am not in a state of grace, why should I request/expect special blessings?
 
misspriss said:
If the mother is receiving communion though, the unborn child is also receiving, as everything the mom eats and drinks goes to the child as well. I am pregnant, and I think of this every time I receive the precious body and blood.
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This is not true. Once the sacred species cease to have the appearance of bread or wine, they are no longer the Eucharist but simply the constituent substances of the former species. A host that is spoiled and inedible can be dissolved in the water of an ablution cup and poured down a sacrarium for this reason. When a pregnant mother eats something, it is broken down into sugars and nutrients and absorbed into her bloodstream, and the fetus enjoys the nutrition through exchange of blood with the mother, not directly through the digestive tract of either one. So by the time it reaches your baby, it is no longer the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This is just as well, because your baby could not validly receive the Eucharist, being unbaptized.
 
Elizium23 said:
This is not true. Once the sacred species cease to have the appearance of bread or wine, they are no longer the Eucharist but simply the constituent substances of the former species. A host that is spoiled and inedible can be dissolved in the water of an ablution cup and poured down a sacrarium for this reason. When a pregnant mother eats something, it is broken down into sugars and nutrients and absorbed into her bloodstream, and the fetus enjoys the nutrition through exchange of blood with the mother, not directly through the digestive tract of either one. So by the time it reaches your baby, it is no longer the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This is just as well, because your baby could not validly receive the Eucharist, being unbaptized.
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Well I’m sorry I am mistaken, being new and everything. I guess I just thought my unborn child was receiving some graces from me attending mass and participating, but I guess not.
 
I wouldn’t say that an unborn child receives no graces when you piously attend Mass, I am just saying that s/he is not sacramentally receiving the Eucharist. God bestows grace on us as a free gift and I have no doubt that He bestows them on the unborn just as freely.
 
1ke, could you let us have any protocol or identity number of the CDW document you frequently quote re not receiving a blessing? Also, the date it was written?

I am in correspondence with the head Liturgy man in Westminster, and he says he has no knowledge of it, so it would be helpful if I could point him in the right direction for finding it.
 
paperwight66 said:
1ke, could you let us have any protocol or identity number of the CDW document you frequently quote re not receiving a blessing? Also, the date it was written?

I am in correspondence with the head Liturgy man in Westminster, and he says he has no knowledge of it, so it would be helpful if I could point him in the right direction for finding it.
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While we wait for that, this reply to my letter to the Liturgy Office at Westminster might be of interest. It is posted with Fr. Allen’s permission.

Dear XXXXX,

I am not aware that CDW has anywhere said that it is not allowed.

However the question is debated as to its appropriateness.

In England and Wales the practice was encouraged following an ecumenical meeting at Swanwick, I think in the 80s.

In Celebrating the Mass liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/GIRM/Documents/CTM.pdf you will find:

Blessings and Spiritual Communion

212 Even though some in the assembly may not receive

‘sacramental’ Communion, all are united in some way by the

Holy Spirit. The traditional idea of ‘spiritual’ Communion is

an important one to remember and reaffirm. The invitation

often given at Mass to those who may not receive

sacramental Communion – for example, children before

their First Communion and adults who are not Catholics – to

receive a ‘blessing’ at the moment of Communion

emphasises that a deep spiritual communion is possible

even when we do not share together the Sacrament of the

Body and Blood of Christ.311

’Blessing’ is in inverted commas because some suggest that rather than a blessing which duplicates the blessing all receive at the end of Mass, it should be a prayer for this person – e.g. ‘May the love of God be in your heart.’

Beyond that I am not aware of any more recent formal guidance from our Bishops Conference or the Holy See.

All the best,

Fr Allen Morris: Secretary to the Diocesan Liturgy Commission
54 Lodge Road, London, NW8 8LA
Tel: 020 7432 1358
Website: www.rcdow.org.uk/liturgy

Westminster Roman Catholic Diocese Trust: Registered Charity No. 233699

So there you have it. A claim by a poster that a CDW prohibition exists, and a statement by the person in charge of Liturgy for the nation’s Cardinal Archbishop that he doesn’t know of any such document, or of any guidance from the Holy See.

Hmmm…
 
SuscipeMeDomine said:
The numbers you need are cited in the sticky at the top of this forum: forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=543513
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Thanks for your help, SMD.

That Q & A t makes it clear that the CDW letter is not legally binding, if I have understood the comments. And it certainly doesn’t seem to have been official enough to be distributed widely among the clergy, so it can be discounted, as well as mostly referring to laying-on of hands and other priestly gestures which nobody is saying EMHCs can do.

The more serious claim made by a poster is that going for a ‘blessing’/prayer is actually ‘forbidden by the GIRM’, but as you see, quite the opposite is claimed by Westminster.

Does anyone have a quote from the GIRM? Actually forbidding the practice, as has been claimed, rather than not saying it is permitted?
 
paperwight66 said:
Does anyone have a quote from the GIRM? Actually forbidding the practice, as has been claimed, rather than not saying it is permitted?
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How many practices does the GIRM have to condemn in order for it to be clear that adding things to the liturgy is not allowed? The GIRM does not forbid a lot of things that we have seen added to the liturgy. What the GIRM does forbid is the very act of adding things. This is construed by many of us to imply that the only thing licit in the Distribution of Holy Communion is the dialogue: “The Body of Christ. Amen” “The Blood of Christ. Amen.” Why does the GIRM have to be specific about abuses that are made up out of thin air and added to the rite? It does not. That burden lies with documents such as Redemptionis Sacramentum and this letter from the CDW with a protocol number. In reality, the only thing that all these documents do is to reiterate liturgical decrees that existed before. For example, the GIRM draws heavily on Sacrosanctum Concilium. You are more than welcome to cite Church documents which support blessings being given in the line for Communion, but I think you will find that there are not any in existence. The time-honored custom of the liturgy is that the Communion queue is for receiving the Eucharist. For almost 2,000 years, people not receiving Communion stayed in their place and did not approach the altar for something that was not being given. It is rather plain to see that this is an innovation.
 
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