Ok, so here’s the letter I have so far (I used a lot of what you already wrote, Mark. Thanks
)
**Your Excellency Cardinal Roger Mahony:
Greetings in Christ. I am a student at the University of ______ in your diocese, and a frequent mass attendee at the daily Mass celebrated at our University Catholic Center. As a lifelong Catholic, I am very thankful that these facilities and these Masses are available to strengthen and enrich my faith. However, I am disturbed at the method by which communion is given at these daily Masses: the attendees stand around the altar, and the chalice and the ciborium are passed around the room, from communicant to communicant, with each person expected to self-communicate and then hand the sacred vessels along to another.
Please direct this practice to be ended. It always struck me as unusual and problematic, so I looked into the matter and found confirmation: Paragraph 160 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal expressly provides, “The faithful are not permitted to take the consecrated bread or the sacred chalice by themselves and, still less, to hand them from one to another.” The recent instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum, given in 2004 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, amplifies that the practice is not to be tolerated:
- It is not licit for the faithful “to take . . . by themselves . . . and, still less, to hand . . . from one to another” the sacred host or the sacred chalice.
Most troubling to me is the determination, in Paragraph 173 of Redemptionis Sacramentum, that a violation in this respect “puts at risk the validity and dignity of the Most Holy Eucharist” and is “objectively to be considered among grave matters.” My experience may be limited, but I feel confident that the practice of passing Holy Communion around the room cannot be left to the individual discretion of a celebrant, and that it should be ended wherever it exists.
As you may know, Father______ and Father _______, both Paulist priests, usually celebrate the daily Mass at our University Catholic Center, and are responsible for continuing the practice I have described, which happens at every weekday Mass I have seen them celebrate there – at least 20 as of this date. Accordingly, I spoke more plainly about these concerns to Father _______ on May 19, showing him the portion of Redemptionis Sacramentum above. He explained that he believes that it is not out of line, that it is a “tradition” for daily masses to be celebrated in this way at the Catholic Center, and that neither he (nor Father ______) would stop distributing Holy Communion by passing the sacred vessels around the altar to allow each person to self-communicate.
Having evaluated the situation to the best of my ability, and having prayed about it, I hope I am not out of line to ask you to use your authority as Ordinary of our diocese to end this “grave matter” which “puts at risk the validity and dignity of the Most Holy Eucharist.” If I can provide further information, please contact me at my address above, by email at _______, or by telephone at ________. I have also shown this letter to the staff at the University Catholic Center before sending it and given them a copy. Your Excellency, I have the honor to be
Sincerely yours,
________**
Anything else I should include? Pointers? Any advice is appreciated.
Should I include the litany of other abuses that are (apparently) occurring here? Breaking of the bread by EMHC… standing around the altar?
What if I find out other stuff they are doing wrong? What I am supposed to do then? Just keep bugging the Bishop about every thing I see going on here? At what point does it not become my responsibility anymore? Because this is really aggravating my scruples and pissing me off. I don’t want to be a priest’s babysitter, on the lookout for whenever they are about to do something wrong…
