Key in the Tabernacle - what would you have done?

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HonoraDominum said:
The question then becomes, what am I to learn? Should I take this as a message to pray even harder for the sanctification of clergy and for an increase in vocations? Or to mortify myself with the intention of making reparations for all the neglect and sin shown to Christ and his Sacred Heart in tabernacles throughout the world? Should I try even harder to return Love for Love, so that my love can make up for all the love that is not shown to him? . . . Should I take this as a reminder of the blessing of having holy and orthodox priests in my parish? Or is that taking something bad and making it about me and my feelings instead of about God and His feelings? What does God want me to do, what is His divine will? What can be done that will conform to His wish for me, and for that parish?

Maybe I should simply learn to keep these sorrows in my heart as a cross to bear for love of my Lord and my God.
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Maybe learn that when a Mass is about to begin in 5 minutes, there should be a serene peace which engulfs one rather than terror.
 
Laetus said:
There is absolutely no reason to leave the key in the tabernacle. There is nothing positive about it. Why is it even done? Does anyone ever stop to think why it’s done? It doesn’t facilitate anything. It’s a very bad practice that shouldn’t be continued simply because “we have always done it that way.” That alone should be reason enough for it never to happen. On the negative, it leaves the Eucharist unsecured and it says that no one cares. It also says that either God is not important or that God is not sacramentally present in the Eucharist, take your pick or choose both. Sadly I think projecting that impression is often by design.

The good thing is that if you actually did what you mentioned, the key would never be left in the tabernacle again. First, if you tackled me (you wouldn’t, but let’s say you did) in the county I live in, you’re going to get arrested. I would ensure a copy of the arrest report along with a cover letter was faxed to the chancery before the end of the day. If that didn’t put an end to such a terrible practice I would file suit against you and the diocese in civil court. The plea deal would be for the parish to terminate such a terrible practice.

I don’t think you would tackle me so let’s say you did actually contact the cops. If they actually came (I doubt they would here locally unless you told them something other than the truth) I would be more than happy to get cited because I would follow the same process only this time I would alert the local daily and the two weekly tabloids. Anything local about the Church that is negative makes the front page, above the fold. It would be within the first five pages of the tabloids. The chancery would receive copies of those as well. You can bet it would get picked-up by the 11:00 pm news as well.

Either way the keys would never be left in the tabernacle again so in a sense your theoretical actions are to be applauded.
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I serve God by serving my pastor, and he has given me as one of my duties to make sure the key is in the tabernacle before Mass. If someone who is unauthorized walks in and steals the key and tries to leave with it, the police would respond in my town to my call and I would tell the police the truth. I can assure you I would get the tabernacle key back. Many times our holy, orthodox bishop has sat for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament the hour before Mass with the key in the tabernacle. He tells me that I do an excellent job of being a sacristan. I serve my pastor who has been given his authority by the bipshop. My pastor needs and wants the key placed in the tabernacle before Mass. He has also given me the authority to call the police as needed.
 
The key is left in the Tabernacle during so that if the priest or one of EMHC’s doesn’t have enough hosts during communion, more can be easily retrieved.
 
GwenL said:
Five minutes before Mass, a key was in the tabernacle, and another person was in the pews. I don’t see the problem here. This is certainly not a situation that would generate “horror.”

Do you know where the sacristy is, in relation to the tabernacle? It’s quite possible that people are in the sacristy, preparing for Mass, and watching the tabernacle. It’s also quite possible that the sacristan (or deacon or priest) know that the other person still in the chapel as a trustworthy person. Perhaps you should assume that people at this parish, especially the priest and deacon, actually know what is going on in their parish, and have thought through procedures for protecting the Blessed Sacrament.

I’m a sacristan. I open the church every morning. At about ten minutes prior to Mass, I check the ciboria in the tabernacle to determine how many consecrated hosts are present. I check to see that some of our “regulars” are in the pews, and then leave the key in the tabernacle. The rector has directed that we leave the key in the tabernacle so that the priests may access the tabernacle easily during Mass. I also leave the sacristy door open a few inches so that I can see anyone who goes into the sanctuary.

At our cathedral, if you had come into the sanctuary five minutes before Mass, and taken the key from the tabernacle, I would have called the police. But before I had a chance to do that, you probably would have been stopped by five or six of our parishioners.
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Thanks for sharing this. If there really is that much supervision, then it makes sense.

If the sacristan, deacon or whoever are somewhere where they cannot see what is going on in the sanctuary, then it doesn’t make as much sense.
 
Laetus said:
I don’t think you would tackle me so let’s say you did actually contact the cops. If they actually came (I doubt they would here locally unless you told them something other than the truth) I would be more than happy to get cited because I would follow the same process only this time I would alert the local daily and the two weekly tabloids. Anything local about the Church that is negative makes the front page, above the fold. It would be within the first five pages of the tabloids. The chancery would receive copies of those as well. You can bet it would get picked-up by the 11:00 pm news as well.
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Forgive me for marveling at this sort of mindset.
 
GwenL said:
At our cathedral, if you had come into the sanctuary five minutes before Mass, and taken the key from the tabernacle, I would have called the police. But before I had a chance to do that, you probably would have been stopped by five or six of our parishioners.
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At the cathedral, in our diocese, the exact same thing would happen. That is because the tabernacle is in the sanctuary of the chapel, in its own altar just off the main altar. The layout of the church is very traditional, and the piety of the environment is reflected in both the architecture and the reverence of the parishioners. The tabernacle is very visible to all in the church. They always have multiple people there all hours of the day and night. Had they left the key in that tabernacle (which they never, ever do), I would not have made it past the edge of the sanctuary area before I was tackled by multiple parishioners and a staff member or two.

At the church where I was, the tabernacle is in its own windowless room. There was one lady there, and she was about to leave (and left at the same time I did). There were no people between me and the door and my car. There was no supervision, no sacristan, no staff.

Also?** I didn’t take the key.**
 
GwenL said:
I’m a sacristan. I open the church every morning. At about ten minutes prior to Mass, I check the ciboria in the tabernacle to determine how many consecrated hosts are present. I check to see that some of our “regulars” are in the pews, and then leave the key in the tabernacle. The rector has directed that we leave the key in the tabernacle so that the priests may access the tabernacle easily during Mass. I also leave the sacristy door open a few inches so that I can see anyone who goes into the sanctuary.

At our cathedral, if you had come into the sanctuary five minutes before Mass, and taken the key from the tabernacle, I would have called the police. But before I had a chance to do that, you probably would have been stopped by five or six of our parishioners.
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Thanks for this information. It is helpful. I looked up sacristan and found this. It is a very important responsibility.

ewtn.com/library/liturgy/zlitur184.htm
 
Cathryn said:
I serve God by serving my pastor, and he has given me as one of my duties to make sure the key is in the tabernacle before Mass. If someone who is unauthorized walks in and steals the key and tries to leave with it, the police would respond in my town to my call and I would tell the police the truth. I can assure you I would get the tabernacle key back. Many times our holy, orthodox bishop has sat for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament the hour before Mass with the key in the tabernacle. He tells me that I do an excellent job of being a sacristan. I serve my pastor who has been given his authority by the bipshop. My pastor needs and wants the key placed in the tabernacle before Mass. He has also given me the authority to call the police as needed.
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“My pastor needs (?) and wants the key placed in the tabernacle before Mass.” No, that’s not good enough. As I already posted there is absolutely no legitimate reason to leave the key in the tabernacle. There is no upside to it. It doesn’t facilitate the Mass. What it does do is leave the Most Blessed Sacrament unsecured and it projects a horrible image to those who care. An image of disbelief in the Real Presence, callous disregard when it comes to the Blessed Sacrament or just plain sloth.

I suspect the reason you are fighting so hard here (“I can assure you I would get the tabernacle key back”, etc.) is because you know down deep that you are in error. You haven’t made the effort or summoned the courage to explain to your pastor that it’s a bad practice. You haven’t asked him nicely, away from Mass if he could please formulate a new key control procedure that would keep the Blessed Sacrament secure and not project such a hideous sign value to the faithful. That’s what a good sacristan would do!

There are some things in this world that are absolutes. Easy calls. Keeping the Eucharist secured and not projecting a terrible sign value to the faithful are two of them.
 
Stylites said:
Forgive me for marveling at this sort of mindset.
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I would do whatever it would take to secure the Blessed Sacrament. If it meant getting the horrid habit of leaving the key in the tabernacle on the front page of the local paper, so be it.
 
Laetus said:
I would do whatever it would take to secure the Blessed Sacrament. If it meant getting the horrid habit of leaving the key in the tabernacle on the front page of the local paper, so be it.
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How extraordinary.
 
Laetus said:
“My pastor needs (?) and wants the key placed in the tabernacle before Mass.” No, that’s not good enough. As I already posted there is absolutely no legitimate reason to leave the key in the tabernacle. There is no upside to it. It doesn’t facilitate the Mass. What it does do is leave the Most Blessed Sacrament unsecured and it projects a horrible image to those who care. An image of disbelief in the Real Presence, callous disregard when it comes to the Blessed Sacrament or just plain sloth.

…

There are some things in this world that are absolutes. Easy calls. Keeping the Eucharist secured and not projecting a terrible sign value to the faithful are two of them.
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How unsecured is the Blessed Sacrament without the key? One could easily get into a tabernacle without a key if they wanted to.

Again, keeping the Blessed Sacrament secure is a little but of a subjective idea. If you really want to keep it secure, you’d lock the tabernacle with a security pass code, or you would lock the key away as well in a separate location.

I honestly don’t see the worry of keeping the key in the tabernacle, as long as you don’t live in a town or parish where those actions are likely.
 
Laetus said:
I would do whatever it would take to secure the Blessed Sacrament. If it meant getting the horrid habit of leaving the key in the tabernacle on the front page of the local paper, so be it.
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I don’t see how that would help. It would only further open up the Catholic Church to ridicule.

Good intentions, but misguided, IMHO.
 
Why keep the key in the tabernacle’s lock in the first place? What purpose does it serve? Why would such a terrible and worthless practice begin in the first place? I can understand how something like this would be perpetuated under the “we/I have always done it this way” but not one person has suggested a legitimate reason for keeping the key in the tabernacle’s lock in the first place. “Because we have always done that” or “because father says so” are not legitimate reasons given the cost/risk.

If there was an actual advantage to keeping the key in the tabernacle’s lock it might possibly make more sense. As it is the Blessed Sacrament is being left unsecured and a terrible image of disrespect is being projected to everyone who sees it without any sort of gain in return. That’s just not right.
bmadamsberry said:
How unsecured is the Blessed Sacrament without the key? One could easily get into a tabernacle without a key if they wanted to.

Again, keeping the Blessed Sacrament secure is a little but of a subjective idea. If you really want to keep it secure, you’d lock the tabernacle with a security pass code, or you would lock the key away as well in a separate location.

I honestly don’t see the worry of keeping the key in the tabernacle, as long as you don’t live in a town or parish where those actions are likely.
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Laetus said:
Why keep the key in the tabernacle’s lock in the first place? What purpose does it serve? Why would such a terrible and worthless practice begin in the first place? I can understand how something like this would be perpetuated under the “we/I have always done it this way” but not one person has suggested a legitimate reason for keeping the key in the tabernacle’s lock in the first place. “Because we have always done that” or “because father says so” are not legitimate reasons given the cost/risk.

If there was an actual advantage to keeping the key in the tabernacle’s lock it might possibly make more sense. As it is the Blessed Sacrament is being left unsecured and a terrible image of disrespect is being projected to everyone who sees it without any sort of gain in return. That’s just not right.
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I did think about this today and one parish near us keeps the host in a tabernacle in a side chapel and the door is not very far away, very close indeed and I don’t know all the people there so if I was sitting there and someone came in, opened the tabernacle and took the host I wouldn’t know who they were and what they were doing. Could be an extraordinary minister or not. Hmm. This thread has kind of opened my eyes a little bit.

Also, the parish I do go to was robbed not to long ago, not of the host but of money and people were in the various parts of the church building when it happened.
 
It’s very easy actually. The key goes in the tabernacle before the first of 4 masses in a row. Sometimes the deacon, sometimes the priest counts hosts before the first mass. During the mass, sometimes the priest sometimes the deacon goes to the tabernacle to put the hosts back after communion. After mass, sometimes the priest, sometimes the deacon (or a different upcoming deacon) goes to the tabernacle to count hosts once again (our pastor is adamant about communion count at each mass). Tossing back and forth the key would be ridiculous, unnecessary, and silly. It would cause several unnecessary trips back and forth between the sacristy and sanctuary to find out who has the key to get it— with not a lot of time in between masses and many other tasks to take care of in between. Sometimes the priest runs back to the rectory to get a bite, or 5 minutes by himself, or take a break while the other priest is celebrating mass. How many times a priest would absent mindedly keep it in his pocket, therefore there being a huge problem during mass when the priest needs to put the hosts back in the tabernacle, but can’t because the key isn’t there.

I dont’ understand why this is so hard to understand, or why this long explanation was even necessary.
 
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