Non-consecrated Hosts

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I saw my priest giving non-consecrated hosts to little kids in the sacrasty after mass. This seemed liked a very bad practice to confuse kids like this. Does this seem like an abuse?
RJ
 
If the priest theaces the kids that those hosts are not consacrated, it is no problem.
 
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rjjmj:
I saw my priest giving non-consecrated hosts to little kids in the sacrasty after mass. This seemed liked a very bad practice to confuse kids like this. Does this seem like an abuse?
RJ
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I don’t know whether it would be an abuse or not. If they were not consecrated, I suppose he could do whatever he wanted to with them. However, it doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do.

I don’t know what his intent would have been. It could certainly be confusing to the children and could be particularly disturbing to others who saw the children with them not knowing that they were unconsecrated and thinking it a sacrilege of the highest order.

Maybe he was just letting them see and taste the unconsecrated host as a prelude to first communion. Who knows?

Like Forrest Gump said, “sometimes folks just do things that don’t make no sense”. :hmmm:
 
Hi, all.

OhioBob said:
Maybe he was just letting them see and taste the unconsecrated host as a prelude to first communion. Who knows?
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We don’t know what the priest have told the children. We shouldn’t suspect abuse without knowing the context. Some years ago when I was working in a long-term care hospital we had wine and hosts/wafers ready for the Lutheran minister when he/she came to have a service in the chapel or sometimes a little service in the living room.

The wafers were packed in little plastic bags. One bag was open and I was curious to how they looked and tasted. (I was back then a semi-practicing Muslim). I took a couple of hosts out and looked at them and tasted them. I wasn’t prepared to the fact that the hosts are very dry. I almost choked :o . Later I was told that the host is to be put on the tongue and melt.

Since I had received religious instruction (Lutheran) in school I knew a bit about communion and knew that these hosts were not consecrated (in the Lutheran way) so I didn’t see any problems of me trying one.

*Sunniva :blessyou: *
 
riimj,

I would give the priets the benefit of the doubt here, and assume that he was being didactic. I personally think it of great benefit to demystify Catholicism’s externals, and the priest’s lesson would have been to show the kids that the host was just bread (very special bread, but bread nonetheless) until Jesus came down during the mass and transformed it into our spiritual food of salvation.
 
I personally don’t like the practice, even when it is done for practice (as in first communion practice). A consecrated host is indistinguishable from a non-consecrated host. It seems to me that there is too much danger of confusion, leading to a lessened belief in the real presence.

JimG
 
I think it is a good idea for the children to taste the bread before receiving communion. Then they know what to expect. We even practiced before our first confession (late 1950’s).
 
This was the only result for a search on the words “unconsecrated hosts” at the Vatican.

[Redemptionis Sacramentum

CONGREGATION FOR DIVINE WORSHIP
AND THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SACRAMENT](http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/c...doc_20040423_redemptionis-sacramentum_en.html)
…
Chapter IV Holy Communion
…
2. The distribution of Holy Communion
…
[96.] The practice is reprobated whereby either unconsecrated hosts or other edible or inedible things are distributed during the celebration of Holy Mass or beforehand after the manner of Communion, contrary to the prescriptions of the liturgical books. For such a practice in no way accords with the tradition of the Roman Rite, and carries with it the danger of causing confusion among Christ’s faithful concerning the Eucharistic doctrine of the Church. Where there exists in certain places by concession a particular custom of blessing bread after Mass for distribution, proper catechesis should very carefully be given concerning this action. In fact, no other similar practices should be introduced, nor should unconsecrated hosts ever be used for this purpose.
…
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This reminds me of our Catholic grade school preparation for Fist Communion: our pastor, a tough old Irishman & a military chaplain to boot, was explaining the difference between the host before & after consecration. He took an unconsecrated host & started kicking it around (he always wore his Army boots too)! He went home to God only a few years ago & he was one of the most loyal orthodox priests that ever set foot in a church, so this was something he did not lightly. but with a very certain purpose in mind. Even if it was a bit unorthodox, it was an effective lesson on respect for the Blessed Sacrament.
 
In order to prepare children to receive First Communion, we use unconsecrated hosts to practice with, and also send one or two home with parents. This is so they can discuss how the Blessed Sacrament, the consecrated Host, the Body of Christ is different from regular bread…it makes that discussion much more tangible for 7 year olds. As long as the unconsecrated hosts are being used for sacramental catechesis and not say, for a child’s tea party, I think we’re “safe” and not in any danger of committing abuse or sending the wrong message.

Peace…
 
In the second grade, we were taught that holy communion was the body and blood, soul and divinity of Jesus Christ, under the appearances of bread and wine. It wasn’t hard to understand. We knew what appearances were: it’s what we can see, touch, feel, and taste. But the substance is changed. We never used unconsecrated hosts to practice for communion, and everybody did just fine.

Of course, we received under one species only, and we received on the tongue, kneeling at the altar rail. I think if we had been given “practice” hosts, it would have been harder to keep this distinction in mind, the distinction between appearance and substance. And perhaps easier to treat the consecrated host a little too familiarly. Looking back, I’m just glad we did it that way.

JimG
 
We had practice hosts too (in 1959). If we hadn’t, nothing could have prepared us for how dry they were. This never caused us then, or in the future, to have disrespect for the Eucharist.

This brings to mind a saying that my sister heard when she was in the convent–“It’s a lot easier to believe the Host is Jesus than to believe it’s bread!”

John
 
Our parish priest hands them out like he is handing out lollies and he calls them “Jesus cookies” myself and the other Altar sever in our Maronite parish we shocked when we went outside and saw one childed chasing her brother with one on her toung and her mouth wide open so now when the kids come to the sacrasty to get the “Jesus cookies” we hurrie them off before father see them.
 
In preparing for my first communion we practiced receiving on the tongue and in the hand using non-consecrated hosts. Perhaps that is what the priest was doing?

I would just have to assume that since he is a priest, he would have explained it to the kids properly and must have had a good reason.
 
Yasouna said:
Our parish priest hands them out like he is handing out lollies and he calls them “Jesus cookies” myself and the other Altar sever in our Maronite parish we shocked when we went outside and saw one childed chasing her brother with one on her toung and her mouth wide open so now when the kids come to the sacrasty to get the “Jesus cookies” we hurrie them off before father see them.
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While I have no problem with a priest giving unconsecrated hosts to children (with the explanation that they are indeed unconsecrated and therefore completely different from the hosts received during the liturgy) for the purpose of training children to receive their first communion, the practice of the priest above strikes me as bizarre and potentially confusing for those children as they learn about the holy eucharist. Calling the wafers “Jesus cookies” does not strike me as funny, though this priest probably thinks it is cute, and I think the parishioners have a greater responsibility than chasing the children away when Father is in one of his playful moods. It seems to me that someone within that parish, and hopefully more than one, should let Father know that they find his behavior bordering on scandal and request that he stop it.
 
Neil_Anthony said:
In preparing for my first communion we practiced receiving on the tongue and in the hand using non-consecrated hosts. Perhaps that is what the priest was doing?

I would just have to assume that since he is a priest, he would have explained it to the kids properly and must have had a good reason.
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As long as he said they were not consecrated I can’t get too upset, considering that you can buy bags of them at the corner store in my neck of the woods.
 
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