Is Desecration of the eucharist a problem?

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WmJackP

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Catholics, I know, say that every so often, eucharistic particles are found scattered around near or in church entrances and exits. Some people may even take delight in openly mutilating them to demonstate their disrespect. Is that a problem that anyone can see?

I am uncertain myself if it is a problem that we should spend time worrying about; although some catholics are angered by it to the point of rage. It always seemed to me that an almighty god could certainly deal with such insults, and, lest believers in the “real presence” fall prey to the same insanity experienced by those practitioners of Islam who felt like they had to vindicate Allah by castigating the Danish cartoonist who had offended them, we probably would all be better off simply by leaving to god what is god’s. Who disagrees and why? There is a eastern precept which holds that “we can worship god, but, by doing so, we don’t enhance god–we can resist the way of god, but, in doing so, it is without avail. We can serve god, but, but our service is of no consequence to the infinite.” That makes sense doesn’t it?

If so, then does a hyper-active reaction to desecration accomplish anything except to make us appear impotent and, like Islamic fanatics, driven by rage.
 
WmJackP said:
?

If so, then does a hyper-active reaction to desecration accomplish anything except to make us appear impotent and, like Islamic fanatics, driven by rage.
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do you think there is a problem with overreacting to deliberate desecration of the Body and Blood of Our Lord and Savior? Have you links to reliable reports of enraged Catholics reacting by commiting acts of violence against those guilty of such blasphemy? What is your definition of hyper-active reaction?
 
I would be very angry if I was this happen,
but the real problem is for the soul of one who would do such a thing.
Even if they did not believe, why the display of anger?

It is a grave sin on their part.
 
My friend who is a Knights of Columbus/Usher tells me he has on occasion had to follow people who put the host in their pocket and get them to comsume it. This shows a total lack of knowledge of the Eucharist. Our pastor constantly instructs on the proper reception of the Eucharist.
 
plato3 said:
My friend who is a Knights of Columbus/Usher tells me he has on occasion had to follow people who put the host in their pocket and get them to comsume it.
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Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not attacking KC, but why is this even necessary? I personally have not seen this happen but I see plenty of opportunity present itself for sacrilege to happen in the way we are distributing communion. We can only give them so much instruction, we can only set so many conditions, but sooner or later we’ll have to change the rules.
 
WmJackP said:
Catholics, I know, say that every so often, eucharistic particles are found scattered around near or in church entrances and exits. Some people may even take delight in openly mutilating them to demonstate their disrespect. Is that a problem that anyone can see?

I am uncertain myself if it is a problem that we should spend time worrying about; although some catholics are angered by it to the point of rage. It always seemed to me that an almighty god could certainly deal with such insults, and, lest believers in the “real presence” fall prey to the same insanity experienced by those practitioners of Islam who felt like they had to vindicate Allah by castigating the Danish cartoonist who had offended them, we probably would all be better off simply by leaving to god what is god’s. Who disagrees and why? There is a eastern precept which holds that “we can worship god, but, by doing so, we don’t enhance god–we can resist the way of god, but, in doing so, it is without avail. We can serve god, but, but our service is of no consequence to the infinite.” That makes sense doesn’t it?

If so, then does a hyper-active reaction to desecration accomplish anything except to make us appear impotent and, like Islamic fanatics, driven by rage.
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Jesus chastised St Peter for cutting off the ear of Malchus (who was with the people arresting Jesus), whilst we may feel angry like St Peter, should we not learn the lesson he learned; that Jesus does not want us to be enraged or violent. We should forgive anyone who does this; through ignorance or spite, and pray for them.

👍
 
Being that the Eucharist is the True Body and Blood of Christ, YES, desecration of the Eucharist is a problem and a big one. Would I kill someone or beat someone for doing something to desecrate the Eucharist? No, but I’d sure give them a piece of my mind, and I’m not one to interfere with others and how they live their lives. I’d make sure the priest knew what the person did too, to try and ensure the don’t get communion without “adult” supervision.

Why would anyone in their right mind desecrate the Eucharist? :confused:
 
WmJackP said:
Catholics, I know, say that every so often, eucharistic particles are found scattered around near or in church entrances and exits. Some people may even take delight in openly mutilating them to demonstate their disrespect. Is that a problem that anyone can see?

I am uncertain myself if it is a problem that we should spend time worrying about; although some catholics are angered by it to the point of rage. It always seemed to me that an almighty god could certainly deal with such insults, and, lest believers in the “real presence” fall prey to the same insanity experienced by those practitioners of Islam who felt like they had to vindicate Allah by castigating the Danish cartoonist who had offended them, we probably would all be better off simply by leaving to god what is god’s. Who disagrees and why? There is a eastern precept which holds that “we can worship god, but, by doing so, we don’t enhance god–we can resist the way of god, but, in doing so, it is without avail. We can serve god, but, but our service is of no consequence to the infinite.” That makes sense doesn’t it?

If so, then does a hyper-active reaction to desecration accomplish anything except to make us appear impotent and, like Islamic fanatics, driven by rage.
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I would be very angered and saddened if someone were to desecrate a consecrated host because it is the True Body of God, you do not understand because you are an athiest so lets say (this is assuming you love your grandmother) someone were to disrespect or hurt your grandmother you would be mad angered or enraged would you not, it is th same principal with the Host, we love God more than anything else, so to see some one disrespecting it is THE worst thing we can see because that Host IS God and we love God above ALL else
 
JohnDamian said:
Jesus chastised St Peter for cutting off the ear of Malchus (who was with the people arresting Jesus), whilst we may feel angry like St Peter, should we not learn the lesson he learned; that Jesus does not want us to be enraged or violent.
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St. Peter might have overdone it but he made his point. I don’t think we should just stand back and let desecration happen.
 
At our introduction and instruction classes to become Eucharistic Ministers, one thing we were taught is that we should “make sure that the consecrated host is consumed” before the communicant departs from the altar area. I’m not certain of just what we would be expected to do if someone did pocket a consecrated host, but thankfully I’ve never had it happen to me as an E.M. However, once a visiting priest was saying Mass, and a high-school age boy approached the priest for communion, took the host in his hand an began walking away to his pew. Father Pete (nobody to physically mess around with) barked at him with a “Consume it NOW!” and the boy promptly consumed the communion.

With regard to WmJackP’s original post, there are some churches where people select an unconsecrated host at a table near the church entrance and put it into a plate to be taken to the altar at the offertory for consecration. Perhaps some of those crumbs and particles are what the original poster has observed at the church entrance. That would be the only way I could fathom finding bits and pieces of the host wafers at the entrance to a church, and those small scrap particles are simply crumbs, not yet having been consecrated. Only those host wafers which are present on the altar at the time of consecration during Mass are consecrated into the Body of Christ. And once consecrated, those host wafers are treated with utmost respect, as the Body of Christ. I can think of no reasonable way that bits and crumbs of a consecrated host wafer would make it to an entrance or exit portico of a church.
 
plato3 said:
My friend who is a Knights of Columbus/Usher tells me he has on occasion had to follow people who put the host in their pocket and get them to comsume it. This shows a total lack of knowledge of the Eucharist. Our pastor constantly instructs on the proper reception of the Eucharist.
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As a non-Catholic, I have no belief in the “real presence.” Nevertheless, I think it would be totally wrong to go into a Church and purposely disrespect the beliefs of the people there by desecrating the Eucharist in any way.

On special occasions at the parish where I attend mass with my wife, the Knights of Columbus sometimes act as ushers. The idea of one of those old men chasing someone out the door because they didn’t consume the host is pretty laughable.
 
i have witnessed one person take the Eucharist in his pocket and start to leave. this was at St. Patrick’s in New York. probably a tourist who wanted a free souvenir who has no understanding what was going on. the priest promptly chased him down and was speaking to him. i don’t know if he was asking him to consume the host right away, or probably asking if he was Catholic first, and probably ask for the host to be returned to him (can they do that? probably if the other person admits to not being a Catholic)

i also know that there are people who “kidnap” the host for use in satanic rituals. there’s still probably a few of them out there today
 
Honestly, these people are immature and are only doing it for the attention. (Look what I did to the Body of Christ. Wheee! http://royaltruth.info/Smileys/default/womby.gif)

If you don’t give them the attention they crave, they will eventually stop and leave Catholics in peace. 👍

Starting threads on this topic, and placing incidents on the written and televised news, only serves to make Catholics angry. :rolleyes:

These people find anger funny and will only do it more if they see Catholics react with anger. Or they’ll get ideas by reading threads like these, watching the news, etc.

The best thing we can do is ignore these people and of course do everything we can to make sure they eat the Eucharist immediately. God I’m sure is not amused (http://royaltruth.info/Smileys/default/unamused.gif) and will deal with these people accordingly at their respective times of death.

Leave them to God and pray for the strength to ignore them and not let your emotions show when you see this happen on the news. :gopray:
 
Yes there is widespread desecration of the eucharist. Simple solution. Bring back communion on the tongue. The only reason we have communion in the hand because disobedient bishops allowed it, and then afterwards gained an indult to legitimise their disobedient diocese. Then when one nation or diocese had the indult then the neighbouring nation or diocese wanted it also. As a result in a very short space of time, what was forbidden quickly became the standard practice. Ever since then there has been widespread sacrilege going on but just as serious has been the loss of belief in the real presence of our Lord in the eucharist.

The fastest growing Catholic population in the world is in Nigeria. They have massive churches filled with 2000 people with hundreds more spilling out onto the street. Then go ten minutes walk down the road and there is another church of equal size. What is interesting however is that the Nigerians as a nation receive communion on the tongue.

Their religion is real to them. It is a part of the fabric of their lives. They don’t have TV and the families in the street gather together to say the rosary.

I can’t tell you how much joy I felt to see this story told on ABC’s Compass show. Here is a link
abc.net.au/compass/default.htm

I don’t think they mention the issue of Communion on the Tongue in the program but I researched this on the Internet and discovered that this is the practice of all Catholics in Nigeria.

I hope that we can follow their example and perhaps then our fellowships will flourish like theirs are.
 
WmJackP said:
Catholics, I know, say that every so often, eucharistic particles are found scattered around near or in church entrances and exits. Some people may even take delight in openly mutilating them to demonstate their disrespect. Is that a problem that anyone can see? Yes, you are incredibly ignorant of Catholic beliefs to even ask this question. This isn’t an insult to you, it’s a simple factual statement.

I am uncertain myself if it is a problem that we should spend time worrying about; although some catholics are angered by it to the point of rage. It always seemed to me that an almighty god could certainly deal with such insults, and, lest believers in the “real presence” fall prey to the same insanity experienced by those practitioners of Islam who felt like they had to vindicate Allah by castigating the Danish cartoonist who had offended them, we probably would all be better off simply by leaving to god what is god’s. Who disagrees and why?I do disagree** because Christians are sealed to Jesus; we are one with Him;we are His and He is ours. We cannot be dispassionate about this.**

There is a eastern precept which holds that “we can worship god, but, by doing so, we don’t enhance god–we can resist the way of god, but, in doing so, it is without avail. We can serve god, but, but our service is of no consequence to the infinite.”
-By worshiping God we acknowledge His power and goodness. This is only just. God doesn’t need our worship but it’s right for us to do so.
-We can resist God but we are only hurting ourselves because He desires what is good for us.
-Our service is meaningful to God because through it He permits us to help bring about the coming of His kingdom on earth and it prepares us for union with Him in heaven.

That makes sense doesn’t it?
Your statement only makes sense if you conceive of God as a being who holds himself apart from his creation. But God actually loves us and involves himself with us to the point of suffering and dying as one of us so that we can possess eternal life with him.

If so, then does a hyper-active reaction to desecration accomplish anything except to make us appear impotent and, like Islamic fanatics, driven by rage.
I agree that a hyper reaction to desecration achieves little or nothing but, more importantly to us, God does not want us to react in this way. And Jesus cannot be physically harmed by damage to the Eucharist. Therefore, I would not kill to protect the Eucharist.

But to avoid the terrible insult to God’s love, I would die to protect the Eucharist. At least, I very much hope I would have the courage to do so and to consider it an honor.
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**You have no real concept of what the Eucharist is and what it means to Catholics or else you’re pretending that you don’t. It is ultimate Holiness and ultimate Love. I imagine how Catholics react to the desecration is a matter of temperament. Some it would anger to the point of rage; some it would sadden to the point of weeping. It would literally be like watching someone spit in the face of the suffering Jesus. But we cannot kill to save It because Jesus did not kill to save Himself and we must follow Him.
**
 
I haven’t seen this problem personally, but a previous District Deputy for the KofC did. He told me they found hosts shoved into the intake vent for the AC system, and smashed on the ground outside and some other desecration I cannot remember. This church was near the college campus and they regularly had to have people in the parking lot to prevent messing with cars. There is a particularly venomous anti-catholic church near this church they have to worry about.

This might not be such an issue if the bishops restricted communion to the tongue. :doh2:

Any abuse of the Eucharist should bring you to action. It may not be intentional so charity should be foremost IF you confront someone. Those who receive on one hand and then toss it in their mouth like a handful of peanuts comes to mind. As Knights, we should stand up and defend when we see abuse or attacks on the Church; however, if you have any doubts, take it to the priest first.
 
Its not just the callous handling of the Eucharist which desecrates the Eucharist. It is also the receiving the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin. For example if a Catholic misses mass one week (without valid excuse) and then goes to mass and receives the Eucharist the next week without first going to confession and being absolved of their mortal sin, then they are desecrating the Eucharist. I wonder how many Catholics of today understand that?

Of course there are a whole array of mortal sins which statistics show us are being practiced at unparalled rates. These include adultery, fornication, divorce, dodgy anullments, birth control, abortion just to name the obvious ones. And yet never in the history of the church have so many Catholics received the Eucharist, (every week almost like automatons). Its like an assembly line.

Whereas how long is the line to the confessional. There is none. In fact I have NEVER seen the confessional used at my local parish. Something is awfully, awfully wrong with our church and it goes much deeper than careless communion in the hand.
 
The majority of the people in the pews commit sacrilege by their reception of the Eucharist anyway, not that that excuses it.
 
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