Lay mininsters may not cleanse Communion vessels, Pope Benedict says

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I just don’t see why we need EMHC at anything approaching every Mass. Once in a great while when a real and substantive need presents itself, not for “pastoral” reasons which generally get translated into “always”.

I think ideally, we should be given Holy Communion at the hands of the priest who offered the Holy Sacrifice. If need be, at the hands of other priests and instituted acolytes. Lastly and only if absolutely necessary, should lay men have anything to do with the distribution of Holy Communion although I can honestly see the good of having people help with bringing Communion to the sick and homebound.
 
Jakub said:
What does fertility and birth control have to do with the purification of Sacred Vessels ?

Did I miss something in the memo from the Vatican ?

james
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Yeah, looks like we got a little off topic. 😃
 
ComradeAndrei said:
I just don’t see why we need EMHC at anything approaching every Mass. Once in a great while when a real and substantive need presents itself, not for “pastoral” reasons which generally get translated into “always”.

I think ideally, we should be given Holy Communion at the hands of the priest who offered the Holy Sacrifice. If need be, at the hands of other priests and instituted acolytes. Lastly and only if absolutely necessary, should lay men have anything to do with the distribution of Holy Communion although I can honestly see the good of having people help with bringing Communion to the sick and homebound.
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The other priests present and the deacons are also ordinary ministers of Holy Communion during the celebration of Mass. The instituted acolytes are extraordinary, as noted.
 
The other priests present and the deacons are also ordinary ministers of Holy Communion during the celebration of Mass. The instituted acolytes are extraordinary, as noted.
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I know, I’m just saying that the most “perfect” sign would be to receive Communion from the priest who actually offered the Sacrifice, though I’m not saying you get any “extra” out of it. Ordinary ministers (such as other priests or deacons) are completely fine. Any extraordinary ministers should be just that-extraordinary but with a proper hierarchy of preference i.e. instituted acolytes being preferable to regular lay people without any ministry proper.
 
ComradeAndrei said:
I know, I’m just saying that the most “perfect” sign would be to receive Communion from the priest who actually offered the Sacrifice, though I’m not saying you get any “extra” out of it. Ordinary ministers (such as other priests or deacons) are completely fine. Any extraordinary ministers should be just that-extraordinary but with a proper hierarchy of preference i.e. instituted acolytes being preferable to regular lay people without any ministry proper.
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Don’t tell me you are going to switch communion lines when the (arch)bishop comes? 😉
 
cheese_sdc said:
This seems relevant to the discussion:
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Great story!
You can send it to Priests for Life as well…
priestsforlife.org/magisterium/94-02-04popehonduras.htm

*“Promoting family values will increase vocations *In the National Pastoral Assembly that you celebrated last November, at which qualified lay people as well as delegates from the priests and religious participated, you analyzed the reality of the family in Honduras and were yet again concerned to note the high percentage of unstable, non-marital unions, which lead to the serious lack of family structures and are at the root of irregular situations and the frequent phenomena of disintegration; in addition to all this there is an increasing number of damaging birth- control campaigns that are in opposition to the requirements of responsible parenthood *(cf. Gaudium et spes, *nn. 50-51), which you have continued valiantly to uphold. Despite this, your people have retained a deep piety, the testimony of their proven faith and love of God, their filial veneration for the Blessed Virgin and their fidelity to the Church. I encourage you in your commitment to implement your national plan for the pastoral care of families, to ensure that your Christian roots retain all their vigour. You prepared it for this Year of the Family and entrusted it to the Virgin of Suyapa, your heavenly patroness, during a solemn ceremony in which the living forces of your country took part.
3. I am persuaded that all you are doing on behalf of the family and the promotion of its values will contribute to an increase in *vocations to the priesthood and the religious life, *essential for a more promising future for the Church in Honduras. In this regard, I am glad to know that the number of diocesan priests is increasing, that the courses held at the National Major Seminary of Our Lady of Suyapa have already been recognized by the State, and that you can already rely on six minor seminaries, for which you have well-founded hopes.”

You see, being open to life involves much more than judging people. Promoting life involves promoting family life as well. All of this increases vocations or at least JPII thought so.
 
Don’t tell me you are going to switch communion lines when the (arch)bishop comes?
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Its not a matter of hierarchial rank, rather of who actually officiated. Regardless, like I said, we don’t get any more or less depending upon from whom we receive Communion. Its just a “fuller sign”, sorta like partaking of the Precious Blood along with the Body-you don’t get any more but one could say it is a “fuller sign”.
 
At our parish 11:00 a.m. Sunday Mass there are no less than 14 “Eucharistic Ministers” helping distribute under both forms. Even at the 8:30 a.m. mass which has a much smaller atendance there are generally eleven helping distribute.

The reason I bring this up is we have two parish priests. Both are generally present at each Mass as they “take turns” giving the homily on alternating weekends. But never have I seen them both distribute communion. Whoever gives the homily, if he is not also celebrating Mass, disappears after the homily.

I have never understood why we couldn’t eliminate one of the Extraordinary Ministers when there is a priest standing back in the foyer. If he’s not doing anything else, maybe he could be cleansing the COmmunion vessels?
 
MICATH said:
I have never understood why we couldn’t eliminate one of the Extraordinary Ministers when there is a priest standing back in the foyer. If he’s not doing anything else, maybe he could be cleansing the COmmunion vessels?
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Exactly!

At our parish, we have a pastor, a foreign priest in residence and a 90 year old retired priest in residence.

At each of our Sunday Masses, all three are out assisting in the distribution of Holy Communion. And we usually have one of our two parish deacons at Sunday Mass.

So we normally have 4 Ordained ministers distributing Communion to about 600 people. The use of EMHC’s at Mass is uncommon, usually when one of the priests is ill or out of town. Communion is offered kneeling and intincted.
 
MICATH said:
I have never understood why we couldn’t eliminate one of the Extraordinary Ministers when there is a priest standing back in the foyer. If he’s not doing anything else, maybe he could be cleansing the COmmunion vessels?
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Or worse yet - as is our case sometimes - the priest saying Mass sits down and lets the EMHCs distribute because it’s good to have lay people ‘helping with the Liturgy’.

As a side note, we never hear the word “Mass” from our priest. Don’t know if that means anything or not, but it seems odd to me he never calls it “Mass” - always “Liturgy”.
 
Elzee said:
As a side note, we never hear the word “Mass” from our priest. Don’t know if that means anything or not, but it seems odd to me he never calls it “Mass” - always “Liturgy”.
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Dollars to donuts he never calls you a parish either.
Faith Community, right?
 
Victorious said:
Not to mention, it’s the Creator, the Redeemer and the Sanctifier, not the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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Believe me, I thank God we haven’t gone that far yet, but I have to admit, I fear it may come to that one day - not from our priest - I don’t think that’s something he would go for - but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was proposed by several others on our staff.
 
Elzee said:
Believe me, I thank God we haven’t gone that far yet, but I have to admit, I fear it may come to that one day - not from our priest - I don’t think that’s something he would go for - but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was proposed by several others on our staff.
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We visited a parish in Western MI that sang,
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the World,
have mercy on us.
Bread of Life you take away the sins of the World,
have mercy on us.
Prince of Peace you take away the sins of the World,
grant us peace.

I kid you not.

This was the parish where I told my family to skip communion because the host were brownish and there were six goblet on the Altar.

We tried saying a rosary before mass started and no one would stop their conversations. I spent the whole mass praying to St. Michael.
 
netmil(name removed by moderator) said:
We visited a parish in Western MI that sang,
Lamb of God you take away the sins of the World,
have mercy on us.
Bread of Life you take away the sins of the World,
have mercy on us.
Prince of Peace you take away the sins of the World,
grant us peace.

I kid you not.
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More donuts on the way…we sing this too.
 
Elzee said:
Believe me, I thank God we haven’t gone that far yet, but I have to admit, I fear it may come to that one day - not from our priest - I don’t think that’s something he would go for - but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was proposed by several others on our staff.
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It’s already happened, in Australia – only the words used were "creator, liberator, sustainer(!). (I know Jimmy Akin wrote about it once, but I can’t find his post on it to save my life.)

Just as a side note, for all those who think it’s stupid to worry about things like whether priests or lay people purify Communion vessels: it’s not just about the seemingly little things, because things like these invalid baptisms – with all their nightmarish consequences – are where the little stuff eventually leads. There is a slippery slope, and a lot of parishes are very far down it – and it all starts with little things. All you have to do is start tolerating little infractions, little innovations, little ad-libs, little omissions – and the next thing you know, you’re coping with huge problems. And it can always get worse, and usually does.
 
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