Only priest gets communion now?

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hereagain

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I’ve seen it mostly on TLM streams, but even on a couple of the New Mass who are streaming during the pandemic: only the priest receives Communion and nobody else. Not even the servers. Why is this?

It’s not even close to the norm from what I’ve seen, but the exception.

In our same diocese I’ve also seen a priest go up to the allotted 9 people at Mass (lay people, but I assume church leaders) who all receive, most even on the tongue.

What’s going on here?
 
It depends on what the diocese permits, also what the priest wants to do. As Cajun said, the only ones who are required to receive are the priest and any other priests concelebrating the Mass. Nobody else is required to receive, and in some of the streamed Masses, they don’t receive. In other streamed Masses, the priest is giving Holy Communion to everybody else who’s there, including the servers, lectors and musicians.
 
Not to mention that in the past, (even a little over 100 years ago), the laity weren’t even encouraged to receive communion at Mass every Sunday.
 
I asked a couple of the parishes doing this and since I posted this I heard back from one who said the bishop had directed it. However, in my diocese, the bishop has not so I wonder about that parish that does whom I’ve also contacted and I haven’t heard back.

I realize nobody is REQUIRED to receive; I went to a few Masses a few years back where I didn’t (because at the time, I wasn’t sure if I was allowed) and it was horrible. It was like being really hungry in my favorite restaurant and not being allowed to eat!

If this is the case, why does a priest even need anybody else there? Especially servers. There’s plenty of priests (now and normally) who can say the Mass just fine alone.
 
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Coronavirus, you know.

To receive communion from the hands of a priest is to have a contact with him. it can spread the virus.
And to receive on the tongue is worst.

That’s normal that mass attendance is cancealed and people not allowed to take communion. It is to save lifes.
 
Yes I can actually see it that way more than the parishes that have as many people as allowed and on the tongue.
 
I noticed that during the Masses I’ve been watching.

At the ones on the 21st & 28th, the priest, the 2 deacons, and the 2 musicians, all received.

At the April 5th Mass only the priest and the deacons received.

At the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, different parish, only the priest received.

Good Friday the Liturgy of Communion was omitted altogether.

At the Vigil, back in the first parish, again only the priest and the deacons received.
 
This is probably one of the precautionary measure done in the wake of the COVID-19

Actually, in some live streaming masses I watched the priest still give out communion to the people present behind the camera ( Most of them are lectors). So I guess this is on the discretion of the pastor in your respective parish.
 
hereagain said:
However, in my diocese, the bishop has not so I wonder about that parish that does whom I’ve also contacted and I haven’t heard back.

I realize nobody is REQUIRED to receive; I went to a few Masses a few years back where I didn’t (because at the time, I wasn’t sure if I was allowed) and it was horrible. It was like being really hungry in my favorite restaurant and not being allowed to eat!

If this is the case, why does a priest even need anybody else there? Especially servers. There’s plenty of priests (now and normally) who can say the Mass just fine alone.
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With all due respect, you’re not attending these Masses in person and this is not your concern. I can understand why the diocese isn’t rushing to get back to you.

While it’s a hardship for all of us to go without Holy Communion, I think the vast majority of us are able to make the sacrifice with a willing heart, offering it up to the Lord, and not go around feeling “horrible” and calling up the diocese to ask about what the priest is doing, and also not be questioning why the priest needs anybody to help him say the Mass if everybody’s not going to get Holy Communion. This isn’t a birthday party where all the kids are supposed to get a piece of cake. I would also think the people who assist at Mass would be the most cognizant of this, the most willing to sacrifice if the priest or bishop thought it best.

I would presume the priests who are saying Mass on the livestream for the benefit of their parishioners want the Mass to look as much like the normal one that the parishioners are used to seeing as possible. If a normal Sunday Mass includes the priest, the deacon, a server, a lector, and two music ministers (one singing and one playing the organ), then that’s what the priest will probably have on the livestream. Parishioners want to be comforted by seeing their familiar Mass. The priest is also on camera and he needs to concentrate on what he is doing, not be adjusting his routine to say Mass without a server if he’s used to having a server for a Sunday Mass. Sure, most priests can say Mass all by themselves just fine, but it’s likely not their preference; every priest I’ve seen who says Mass in a church has at least one server, unless there’s some major emergency like the server got very sick at the last minute and there was no replacement available.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
Sure, most priests can say Mass all by themselves just fine, but it’s likely not their preference; every priest I’ve seen who says Mass in a church has at least one server, unless there’s some major emergency like the server got very sick at the last minute and there was no replacement available.
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I must say that our Bishop is saying Mass without a server or deacon. But the Mass of the Lord’s Supper did have a reader and a cantor as did the Good Friday liturgy.
 
It depends on diocese regulations. Here too, only priests commune.

One of my parish priests, though, reminded that he was doing so not only in persona Christi but also in persona ecclesiae – in the person of the Church, as representing us all.

I watched the Easter Vigil transmitted from Paris, which was celebrated by its archbishop, Mgr Aupetit. In his homily he invited people to see this as an opportunity to purify their desire for the Eucharist, letting go of frustration and entitlement, and striving for pure love to meet the Pure Love Who offers Himself.
 
I’m thinking some of this has to do with the video camera.

I’m guessing that most parishes are using non-expert volunteers, not professional videographers, to run the camera during the streamed Masses. Some of the big nationally-known parishes may have a professional film crew, but our parish, which is fairly wealthy, uses a volunteer. I believe our bishop’s Easter Mass used the local television station (which advertised it heavily for days before Easter!), but the local parishes are just using volunteers.

The naves are not necessarily illuminated in such a way to produce a really good image for the viewers. This isn’t Hollywood, or even the local TV station, with a professional lighting setup and crew.

In our parish, the camera seems to be stuck front and center on the priest. They show a little bit of the processional to the front, but not much. And if the camera moves at all (e.g., to show the organ), it’s jerky and wobbly!

So in other words, the best plan in many parishes is not to move the camera much, and to keep the “activity” to a minimum so the poor camera operator doesn’t have to guess at the blocking of the Holy Communion reception. Don’t want to make the viewers get motion sick!

Just a thought, and I might be wrong.
 
In Masses from my Parish I have streamed, the Priests Communicate via intinction, and at the end, one person drinks the Chalice.
 
I am so sorry! Obviously, I did not explain myself very well. Please, allow me to hopefully clarify a bit…

I am not trying to grind an axe over this. I am merely curious. I know it has nothing to do with me, and I don’t have a concern about what others are doing. It’s sheer just wondering because there’s quite a variance in the local Masses I’ve watched: 9 lay people receiving communion at one parish, even most on the tongue, while at other parishes nobody receives who is present except the priest. Same diocese. Parishes within 20 miles of each other.

Most importantly, I did NOT contact the diocese! I simply commented on 2 streamed Masses on Facebook. One is not even in this diocese and they got back to me that same evening, and said it was simply their bishop’s directive. Fair enough. I was just asking!

About feeling “horrible”, it was NOT about this. It was years ago when I wasn’t sure about me being allowed to receive only AT THAT TIME when I went to Mass and didn’t go to Communion. That was thankfully a very brief time and without going into any details, I’m happy to say there’s been no reason whatsoever for me to not receive ever since. That was a much different time then, much different to this very unique time we’re in now. There’s no me feeling horrible about anything now.

As far as saying Mass without servers-well-at my usual weekday Masses, they are ALL without servers. To me, being a “private mass” which is precisely what our bishop has mandated, I see no reason for servers to be there. If they are, I would think they could get communion and the vast majority of them do. I’m talking more of the Masses being streamed now with just the priest and a couple servers. Musicians and cantors on Sundays and Holy Days aside. If the priests are that uncomfortable saying Mass without a server and worried about the camera, they don’t have to live stream!

Sorry friends. To me, this is an example of so much variance within our Catholic Church when many of us think we’re all on the same page but we’re not.

Thank you,
HA
 
Peeps said:
I’m thinking some of this has to do with the video camera.

I’m guessing that most parishes are using non-expert volunteers, not professional videographers, to run the camera during the streamed Masses. Some of the big nationally-known parishes may have a professional film crew, but our parish, which is fairly wealthy, uses a volunteer. I believe our bishop’s Easter Mass used the local television station (which advertised it heavily for days before Easter!), but the local parishes are just using volunteers.

The naves are not necessarily illuminated in such a way to produce a really good image for the viewers. This isn’t Hollywood, or even the local TV station, with a professional lighting setup and crew.

In our parish, the camera seems to be stuck front and center on the priest. They show a little bit of the processional to the front, but not much. And if the camera moves at all (e.g., to show the organ), it’s jerky and wobbly!

So in other words, the best plan in many parishes is not to move the camera much, and to keep the “activity” to a minimum so the poor camera operator doesn’t have to guess at the blocking of the Holy Communion reception. Don’t want to make the viewers get motion sick!

Just a thought, and I might be wrong.
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The parish I was following has a fixed camera, and the tech is actually the musician and cantor. He received Communion at the first two Masses I watched but no longer received afterwards. I think perhaps they are doing it in solidarity with the parishioners who can no longer receive. And maybe they are simply cognizant of the fact that giving Communion breaks the 6’ zone - though they seem to have no problem with that happening with the deacons.
 
Our Youth Minister is talking about how he receives when others do not.
Certain laity are special I guess.
 
hereagain said:
To me, this is an example of so much variance within our Catholic Church when many of us think we’re all on the same page but we’re not.
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It’s an important point that you’re becoming aware of. The Catholic Church consists of distinct dioceses, and the ordinary of each diocese (i.e., the diocesan bishop) is the leader of his own diocese.

These days, it’s easy to get the wrong idea of the Church and think of it as a corporation – you know, with the pope as “CEO” and bishops as “divisional vice presidents”? But, that’s not how it really is. The bishops each run their particular diocese. As long as they don’t run afoul of canon law, etc, etc, then the Vatican doesn’t really micromanage them. They act according to the principles of collegiality and subsidiarity. The former means that the pope generally respects the authority of the local bishop to run his own diocese; the latter means that decisions are generally to be made at the most local level possible.

So, yes: one bishop might have one standard vis-a-vis the coronavirus response in his diocese, and another bishop has another in his diocese.
 
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