Is the Priest supposed to say "Body of Christ"?

[Thomas54]

We have one priest for our fairly large parish (around 1,000 families). He is a very nice man who is a native of India as many priest now are.

You stand in line, waiting to receive the Holy Body of Christ, and when it is your turn, he hands you the Body of Christ and says “Nothing, Zero, Zilch, Nada.” He doesn’t even hold the host up for an instant to show that the Body of Christ is sacred. Instead, he just slips it out of the chalice and puts it in your hand.

Just to make sure that I wasn’t mistaken, I stood in his line a half a dozen times, with my wife in front of me and she confirmed the same thing. It’s not an issue of him being soft-spoken as his lips don’t move and no sound comes out of his mouth whatsoever.

So, I spoke to one of our Deacon’s that I’ve known for 30+ years. He confirmed that he has heard the same complaint from several other parishioners. I asked him if there is an instruction in the Order of the Mass that tells the priest to hold the host up and proclaim “The Body of Christ.” His answer was that not being a priest, he would have to do some research, but that he was pretty sure that just handing the host to a parishioner is a no-no.

So, before I talk directly to our priest (before calling the Bishop’s office), I’d like to know what folk’s thoughts are on this issue. Any link to a website which spells out how a priest should conduct Communion would also be appreciated.

Thanks,
Thomas

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

General Instruction of the Roman Missal:

1. If Communion is given only under the species of bread, the priest raises the host slightly and shows it to each, saying, Corpus Christi (The Body of Christ)…

It is, of course, the same if communion is distributed under both kinds.

You should first discuss this with the priest himself. Perhaps there is some local custom (as illicit as it may be) where he is from wherein the priest distributes communion without speaking and he is unaware that it is done differently elsewhere. I would recommend approaching him in a friendly manner and ask out of curiosity why he does not say “The Body of Christ” when distributing communion.