Number of people receiving communion

[Elizium23]

I think it’s from making sins not so serious over the years that people don’t think much about it anymore. Maybe if the church had more confession services during the year instead of just at Easter and Christmas more people would go.

My parish actually discontinued semi-annual “reconciliation services”. Our pastor and parochial vicar encourage frequent confessions, and our pastor felt that the services actually worked against us: that people thought it was OK to only come to those services and not make frequent confessions when they were in a state of sin or once a month or whatever was most beneficial to their souls. So his philosophy is that by offering generous times throughout the week, every week, even on holy days and holidays, and by showing up to hear confessions, people will come. And he is exactly right. People do come. There is always a long line of penitents at my parish, and the priests frequently run out of time to hear them all. What happens when they run out of time? They go to say Mass and then after it is over, they process directly into the confessional and hear more confessions. It is this kind of dedication from the priests that makes all the difference whether people regularly make good confessions, or not. I would still say that there is room for improvement in my parish, but it is clearly vastly better than the parishes of my youth, and my schools, where I was never encouraged or urged or even forced to make a regular confession, and the reception of this sacrament fell by the wayside as I grew up, and I lost my will to practice my faith, and I eventually left the Church. So yes, I believe people need to be encouraged to make frequent confessions, and in the right way. This will go a long way toward worthy and frequent reception of the Eucharist.

 

[roadsend]

I am 77 years old and grew up attending Jesuit Parochial School and Church in downtown Miami Florida. From age 8 until about 15 years of age I was an Altar Boy. This was, of course many years before V II.
The Church was quite large, seating wel over 500 people and Sunday Masses were held on the hour from 7 AM until and including Noon. The 10 AM Mass was always a High Mass said by the Pastor and/or any visiting Priests who were dignataries. This Church served not only residents of Miami, but the huge number pf tpurists to the city.
I distinctly remember that on Saturdays afternoon and evenings, there were at least 3 Priests hearing Confession. And, at each Mass on Sundays, so many people received Communion that “off duty” Priests- at least 2 would come in to assist in giving our Communion. In those days only Priests were allowed to touch the Host.
I also remember that weekly Confession was stressed…something that seems to have gone by the boards nowadays.

Also my recollection. At the parishes I attended (southern Arizona) the 9:00 Mass was the last Mass, since no food or water was allowed after midnight and no air conditioning yet, Communion reception dropped off quite a bit at the 9:00 (always a High Mass) especially in the summer. Weddings and funerals were early morning, 7:00 or 8:00 were not uncommon and there were no vigil Masses. Weddings later in the day were very brief ceremonies without a Mass. At Christmas and Easter, Midnight Mass meant 12:00am, so no fast applied. The earlier the Mass, the higher the number of Communions.
As a side note, I can remember the choir attending the 6:00am Mass so as to receive Communion, then going to breakfast and choir practice before singing at the 9:00am High Mass.

 

[His_helpmeet]

Waaay back in the day it was customary that people did not receive Holy Communion more often than a couple of times a year. As a PP has stated, much of this was due to the Jansenist heresy. Jansenism (which St. Louis de Montfort worked to refute) was a belief that religion was something to be afraid of, that having common prayers and pious practices (such as processions) made Our Lord and our faith “too familiar”, and that Holy Communion was a reward for “good” behaviour, rather than a remedy for sin. In fact, at one point, children were not admitted to Holy Communion until age 14. Blessed Imelda Lambertini (1322-1333) received Our Lord in Holy Communion at the age of 11 - based on His request. She desired Holy Communion very fervently, and had in fact since she was 5. Even at that tender age, she understood the reality of Our Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament. At about age 9 she entered a convent to become a religious (this was a common practice for children at that time). At age 11, Our Lord in the Sacred Host came to rest over her head during her prayer after Mass. She had been very disappointed that she could not receive Holy Communion with the other nuns. When the novice mistress and the prioress found her with the Sacred Host floating over her head, they called the priest who gave her Holy Communion. She died of pure joy moments later and was found dead by the novice mistress. At this time, the Church considered revisiting the practice of delaying Holy Communion until age 14. I am not sure at what time the current practice of administering Holy Communion at age 7 was adopted. I do know that at some point, Church teaching was clarified to the laity so that they understood that Holy Communion is a remedy against sin and a powerful weapon against the enemy, and so consequently frequent reception of Holy Communion (when one is properly disposed) is encouraged. It is actually a precept of the Church that one receive Holy Communion at least during the Easter season, provided one is properly disposed to do so.

 

[oneofmany]

When I was in grade school the nuns would take us over to the church each month for confession. I don’t know if Catholic schools do that now since I have no children in school.

 

[mo7]

A lot of the change had to do with Pope Pius X(1903-1914) who encouraged frequent Holy Communion, which was well before Vatican II.

My Dad, born in 1929, speaks often of how most people did not go to communion as often they do now. So if Pius X encouraged frequent reception, it’s not that it didn’t filter down to ordinary Catholics until VII. The change in the Mass from EF to OF made everything more ‘familiar’ and often less concerned with adherence to the church’s rules.
So I suspect some are not observing the rules about receiving: mortal sin, fasting etc., they not might not even know about them, but then I can only remember one priest several years ago who preached on the real presence and encouraged thoughtful examination before receiving communion.

 

[Boy_Wonder]

I have been reading some older Catholic fiction and nonfiction and most of these books imply that the faithful were not “regulars” at the communion rail before the Second Council. Was that true? Most people, or many, did not receive weekly communion?

At my parish, there are very very few people, mostly elderly people, who do not go up to receive, and this makes me think my perception is true.

What changed? Is this trend true throughout the Church or just in North America?

Many of the Irish, German, and Dutch priests who brought the faith the USA in the colonial era and first 150 years of our country’s existence brought with them the scourge and heresy of Jansenism. Heresy masquerading as extreme piety is a very dangerous and subtle enemy of the faith,.

 

[babochka]

No idea, but since St. Pius X, the Church has been promoting frequent communion among the laity.
.

The Church has always promoted frequent Communion among the laity, even though for centuries popular piety discouraged it. Theologians, including Thomas Aquinas, supported it nearly universally. No papal document speaks against it. In the early centuries of Christianity, frequent Communion was expected. Sacramental absolution was rare in the early church. The urge to frequent communion can be found in the writings of St. John Chrystostom, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and several other Church Fathers.

Interesting reading on the subject can be found here:
newadvent.org/cathen/06278a.htm

 

[babochka]

I got the information from a book entitled, The Story of the Mass by Pierre Loret. Probably one of the more famous cases of this is of St. Augustine’s father who was baptized and received the Eucharist shortly before his death.

I know that many put off baptism until death, but it would have been very unusual for a baptized person to put off Holy Communion, as the sacraments of initiation were given together, in one ceremony. In the case of St. Augustine’s father, I believe that he did not get baptized until shortly before death because his conversion did not occur until that time.

 

[Mike_Dye]

I like so many others answering this post have experienced both the pre Vatican II liturgy as well as the modern. I think far more people receive communion now than before. In my youth as an altar boy it seemed that while most people came forward for communion there was always several that remained in the pews. Now nearly everyone comes forward to receive. I know relaxed fasting rules has something to do with this, I don’t know if this is the case worldwide or not.

 

[Boy_Wonder]

It depends on which era before Vatican 2. In the 1950s and early 60s most people did go to communion. There was always a priest or two doing confessions before Mass in my parish, so people would be able to receive.

In the early 20th Century, Pius X pushed for frequent Communion. In earlier eras people were told not to take it frequently. I think that’s insane.