Music Ministry and the Eucharist

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Gabbanelli911

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Hi,

My wife and I recently began a church choir at our local parish. The choir has a special location upstairs during mass which makes it impossible to receive holy Eucharist during mass. Our priest said that we could receive the holy Eucharist right after mass was over. Today was only our second week playing.

The first week we played, we received holy communion, but today, even though my wife ran out to let the priest know we wanted to receive the Eucharist, he ignored her and we ended up not receiving the Eucharist. My wife and I felt as if she did not attend mass and I’m wondering, if this continues, should we just quit the choir and just attend mass or does it count that we did not receive holy communion?
 
Gabbanelli911 said:
Hi,

My wife and I recently began a church choir at our local parish. The choir has a special location upstairs during mass which makes it impossible to receive holy Eucharist during mass. Our priest said that we could receive the holy Eucharist right after mass was over. Today was only our second week playing.

The first week we played, we received holy communion, but today, even though my wife ran out to let the priest know we wanted to receive the Eucharist, he ignored her and we ended up not receiving the Eucharist. My wife and I felt as if she did not attend mass and I’m wondering, if this continues, should we just quit the choir and just attend mass or does it count that we did not receive holy communion?
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Mass attendance is a precept of the Church. Receiving the Eucharist is not. It is attendance that counts, so the answer to your last question is yes.
 
Your obligation is to attend Mass, not to receive Holy Communion, so your obligation has been fulfilled.

You should speak with your Choir Director about arranging a reliable way for the choir members to receive Holy Communion, either during or immediately after Mass. In our Basilica an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion is assigned to bring the Eucharist up to the choir loft during Communion. If that doesn’t work in your parish and if Father doesn’t have time after Mass, maybe an EMHC could be assigned to provide Communion after Mass.

If your Choir Director is unwilling to address the issue, bring it up with the pastor.
 
When A director that operated out of a loft, I always had at least 2 Choir Members that were certified Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Before Mass, they would ask for a show of hands among the choir to see how many intended to receive.
Then, they would go to the sacristy and leave a post it with the number of hosts required in a very small ciborium that served for the choir. The priest would then place the required number of consecrated hosts there, and would pass the EMHC the small ciborium when he gave the others to the other EM’s. That person would them come up and give us communion. I would play instrumentally while they received, which was generally after the main communion hymn, and before our meditation.
Bring it up to your liturgy committee and the Music Director to see how the priest wants to handle it. On the rare occasion that one of our people was absent, a EMHC would just come up after the faithful had already rec’d. It shouldn’t pose a huge problem.
 
Okay, I just found this, though I knew it was floating around:
Care should be taken that singers, too, can receive Communion with ease.
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GIRM 86

vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/ccdds/documents/rc_con_ccdds_doc_20030317_ordinamento-messale_en.html#C._The_Liturgy_of_the_Eucharist

This is something that is optional. The priest needs to make this provision for all musicians. What I would recommend is a minister go up there near the end, or the musicians head down early and be first in line. This is one disadvantage to lofts.
 
In my current parish and every church I’ve ever attended, the choir took communion before anyone else, no matter where they were located.
 
Modern_Revert said:
In my current parish and every church I’ve ever attended, the choir took communion before anyone else, no matter where they were located.
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Yes, which disrupts the music. Music should begin when the EM’s are receiving. This calls for the accompanist to receive last, which is just as bad.
The best option is to have a minister assigned to the choir. Those not receiving can carry on the singing while a few drop out.
I’ve never been a fan of them receiving first. It makes a spectacle of the choir, which so many on here disapprove of. Rightly so.
Just my 2 cents.
 
Actually, the singing should begin as the priest is receiving communion, which precludes having the choir receive then. When the choir is in a loft it makes sense for an EM to bring them communion, while if the choir is in the front of the church they can wait until the end or go one at a time during the communion procession.

From the GIRM:
  1. While the Priest is receiving the Sacrament, the Communion Chant is begun, its purpose being to express the spiritual union of the communicants by means of the unity of their voices, to show gladness of heart, and to bring out more clearly the “communitarian” character of the procession to receive the Eucharist. The singing is prolonged for as long as the Sacrament is being administered to the faithful.[73] However, if there is to be a hymn after Communion, the Communion Chant should be ended in a timely manner.
Care should be taken that singers, too, can receive Communion with ease.
 
Of course you are correct, technically, but the priests around here do not like it.
So we wait until they distribute on the altar. 🤷
 
Trust me, I understand. I work with RCIA so often my answers around here are on the order of “ideally this will happen, but check with your parish to see what they do.” In this diocese the archbishop issued a letter that says very specifically that the Easter Vigil is for baptisms only and previously baptized Christians should be received into the Church at another time. I don’t know what happens at every parish in the archdiocese, but in my area (where I know what the different parishes do) they completely ignore it (except for my own). And what are you going to do but go along?
 
See that, we’ve solved a problem, even though addressed in the GRIM, and someone didn’t say, “report the priest to the Bishop”!

Good work guys, you made my day!😃
 
pianistclare said:
Yes, which disrupts the music. Music should begin when the EM’s are receiving. This calls for the accompanist to receive last, which is just as bad.
The best option is to have a minister assigned to the choir. Those not receiving can carry on the singing while a few drop out.
I’ve never been a fan of them receiving first. It makes a spectacle of the choir, which so many on here disapprove of. Rightly so.
Just my 2 cents.
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In our parish, the organist/director has almost always already recieved at a previous Mass. So, he plays an instrumental piece beginging at the point where the priest recieves and the choir goes up to communion with everyone else. (They are usually the first on that side, since we sit in the first four pews.) Once about half the congregation have returned to their seats, the communion hymn begins. That way, there is a better chance that some of the congregation might actually sing it. (I’ve never seen the congregation that sings while standing in the line to recieve.)
 
Allegra said:
In our parish, the organist/director has almost always already recieved at a previous Mass. So, he plays an instrumental piece beginging at the point where the priest recieves and the choir goes up to communion with everyone else. (They are usually the first on that side, since we sit in the first four pews.) Once about half the congregation have returned to their seats, the communion hymn begins. That way, there is a better chance that some of the congregation might actually sing it. (I’ve never seen the congregation that sings while standing in the line to recieve.)
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LOL! ours does. But that’s mainly because the music ministry sings the same tired, praise and worship music at every Mass. They have a very small repertoire. :rolleyes:
Sigh.
 
Arranging for musicians to receive communion is a known “problem”. That’s why that statement is there in the GIRM. It tells parishes that they have to figure it out. Somehow.

Obviously this is going to have to vary from parish to parish due to logistics.

At my parish, if there is a choir singing, the accompanists and cantor start the communion song while the choir receives. (My parish lines up for communion from the back so the choir doesn’t really stand out.) Most choir members sing while in line. The cantor, music director, and accompanists receive communion after all the communion songs have ended.

We usually have around 40-50 choir members and about 10 accompanists so it takes a long time for us to all receive. It works best for us to split up our group between the beginning and ending of communion time.
 
Men sing the communion antiphon while the women go down to receive. Women return to choir loft and begin singing communion hymn while men go down to receive. Problem solved.
 
SMHW said:
Arranging for musicians to receive communion is a known “problem”. That’s why that statement is there in the GIRM. It tells parishes that they have to figure it out. Somehow.
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If there is ever a time for subsidiarity, this is it. Just figure it out. We receive first, but then we are close and few. By the time the intro is complete from the first recipient, the rest is ready to join singing. The only time I have ever missed communion have been a few times when it others must go first, like First Communions. Then, I say it is about fifty-fifty being able to receive.
 
Gabbanelli911 said:
Hi,

My wife and I recently began a church choir at our local parish. The choir has a special location upstairs during mass which makes it impossible to receive holy Eucharist during mass. Our priest said that we could receive the holy Eucharist right after mass was over. Today was only our second week playing.

The first week we played, we received holy communion, but today, even though my wife ran out to let the priest know we wanted to receive the Eucharist, he ignored her and we ended up not receiving the Eucharist. My wife and I felt as if she did not attend mass and I’m wondering, if this continues, should we just quit the choir and just attend mass or does it count that we did not receive holy communion?
Click to expand...
If the priest continues to not allow you to receive communion, ask to have a meeting with him, voice your concern and let him know how important it is that you receive Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

Keep in mind that as a Catholic you are required to go to mass for holy days of obligations and sunday but you only have to receive the Eucharist once a year.
 
pianistclare said:
When A director that operated out of a loft, I always had at least 2 Choir Members that were certified Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Before Mass, they would ask for a show of hands among the choir to see how many intended to receive.
Then, they would go to the sacristy and leave a post it with the number of hosts required in a very small ciborium that served for the choir. The priest would then place the required number of consecrated hosts there, and would pass the EMHC the small ciborium when he gave the others to the other EM’s. That person would them come up and give us communion. I would play instrumentally while they received, which was generally after the main communion hymn, and before our meditation.
Bring it up to your liturgy committee and the Music Director to see how the priest wants to handle it. On the rare occasion that one of our people was absent, a EMHC would just come up after the faithful had already rec’d. It shouldn’t pose a huge problem.
Click to expand...
This is how they did it in my last parish. In my current one, which has a number of priests, one of them goes to the loft.
 
pianistclare said:
When A director that operated out of a loft, I always had at least 2 Choir Members that were certified Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Before Mass, they would ask for a show of hands among the choir to see how many intended to receive.
Then, they would go to the sacristy and leave a post it with the number of hosts required in a very small ciborium that served for the choir. The priest would then place the required number of consecrated hosts there, and would pass the EMHC the small ciborium when he gave the others to the other EM’s. That person would them come up and give us communion. I would play instrumentally while they received, which was generally after the main communion hymn, and before our meditation.
Bring it up to your liturgy committee and the Music Director to see how the priest wants to handle it. On the rare occasion that one of our people was absent, a EMHC would just come up after the faithful had already rec’d. It shouldn’t pose a huge problem.
Click to expand...
👍 When I used to sing in a choir, this is what our music director did. There was always at least two EMHCs in the choir who would distribute communion to the choir while the organist would play… or they would receive after we were done. It worked out beautifully.
 
This may not be the appropriate response but I try to go to a second Mass on the Sundays that I am singing in the choir. I have trouble concentrating on the Mass when I am in the choir.😊 That doesn’t always happen.

In my parish the choir receives towards the end and we all march in a line towards the EMHC while the choir director plays the piano. I don’t know when he receives.
 
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