Outraged!

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Phemie

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This evening DH and I went out for coffee and drove by the church where there had been a wedding this afternoon. I noticed that the windows were all open so I came home to get my keys and went back to close and lock the windows.

The church was a mess, water bottles, pop cans and coffee cups everywhere, hymnals on the floor, garbage cans overflowing.

Then from the back of the church I spotted it, the ciborium sitting outside the Tabernacle. Hoping against hope I rushed to the front to find a full ciborium sitting there. There was no mistaking the fact that the Blessed Sacrament had just been left out after Communion. I got the key and placed the ciborium in the Tabernacle.

I’m now so angry I don’t know what to do. I can’t believe my pastor would be so careless. First he tells his superior that it’s my responsibility to see that he has the pre-nuptial investigation done right – when the heck did I get ordained? – and now he can’t even be trusted to treat the Blessed Sacrament properly.

He’s our pastor and categorically refuses to attend a wedding reception for anyone from our parish. Today’s wedding was for a couple from the parish for which he’s administrator and guess where he was – yes, the reception. Guess he was so excited about that that he couldn’t wait long enough to replace the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle.

Color me OUTRAGED!
 
Oh…my…gosh…I have NO advice…I’m in shock! And I didn’t even see that! I can’t believe a pastor would leave the church in such a wreck! That’s terrible!!!
 
UN-believable. 😦

Did you have the presence of mind to take photos of the mess? With a camera phone that time/date stamps the pictures.

To send to the Bishop; not to post here, of course!
 
Denae said:
Oh…my…gosh…I have NO advice…I’m in shock! And I didn’t even see that! I can’t believe a pastor would leave the church in such a wreck! That’s terrible!!!
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In my opinion that is such a serious issue that it must be brought to the attention of the Bishop.
 
jmcrae said:
UN-believable. 😦

Did you have the presence of mind to take photos of the mess? With a camera phone that time/date stamps the pictures.

To send to the Bishop; not to post here, of course!
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No, it never occurred to me and DH was with me and was carrying his phone. All I could think of was getting the Blessed Sacrament secured.
 
Phemie said:
No, it never occurred to me and DH was with me and was carrying his phone. All I could think of was getting the Blessed Sacrament secured.
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Well, in any case, make a record of it in your diary, and report it to the Bishop. Your husband can back you up as a witness.
 
jmcrae said:
Well, in any case, make a record of it in your diary, and report it to the Bishop. Your husband can back you up as a witness.
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DH wasn’t with me when I found the Blessed Sacrament, he was busy closing windows in the office part of the building so he can’t bear witness to that.
 
Then from the back of the church I spotted it, the ciborium sitting outside the Tabernacle. Hoping against hope I rushed to the front to find a full ciborium sitting there. There was no mistaking the fact that the Blessed Sacrament had just been left out after Communion. I got the key and placed the ciborium in the Tabernacle.

**How do you know the hosts therein were necessarily consecrated?

And the church could have been profaned with the pastor not knowing it, though with or without his knowledge, what you describe is horrible.**
 
bpbasilphx said:
Then from the back of the church I spotted it, the ciborium sitting outside the Tabernacle. Hoping against hope I rushed to the front to find a full ciborium sitting there. There was no mistaking the fact that the Blessed Sacrament had just been left out after Communion. I got the key and placed the ciborium in the Tabernacle.

**How do you know the hosts therein were necessarily consecrated?

And the church could have been profaned with the pastor not knowing it, though with or without his knowledge, what you describe is horrible.**
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The alarm was set so nobody had been in the church after the pastor left.

The condition of the church itself wasn’t a surprise considering that during the ceremony people were in and out, in and out, and large amounts of alcohol was consumed in the parking lot. Someone called me about it concerned that the people involved had access to my office. Although from what I found tonight it looks as though it was the only place they didn’t go.

I know the ciborium contained consecrated hosts because it was the one he’d set out for Mass and it held the pieces of the concelebration host. I know how it happened too, he went to replace it after Communion and the key wasn’t in the tabernacle door. He set the ciborium down by the tabernacle and forgot to return to it after Mass was over.
 
Please let us know the Pastor’s response after you speak to him.

(And they worry about EHMC purifying chalices)

Lux
 
Lux_et_Tenebrae said:
Please let us know the Pastor’s response after you speak to him.

(And they worry about EHMC purifying chalices)

Lux
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I could have informed him that we’d run out of tea bags.

“Oh yeah, the key wasn’t in the tabernacle” and he shrugged.

That was his response.
 
THurifer2 said:
Because the only thing that goes in a ciborium is consecrated hosts. Unconsecrated hosts are never put into a ciborium.
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Say what?? Hosts are brought up in procession at the offertory in a ciborium.

– Sorry – you’re right according to the GIRM. Hosts are supposed to be presented & consecrated on a paten. I’ve just never seen it. It’s always been a ciborium in any parish where they did the offertory procession. How do you process 300+ hosts on a paten??
 
Poor Phemie! My prayers that the bishop will do something about this priest, and if doesn’t, that God will wake Father up very quickly!:mad:
 
Phemie said:
This evening DH and I went out for coffee and drove by the church where there had been a wedding this afternoon. I noticed that the windows were all open so I came home to get my keys and went back to close and lock the windows.

The church was a mess, water bottles, pop cans and coffee cups everywhere, hymnals on the floor, garbage cans overflowing.

Then from the back of the church I spotted it, the ciborium sitting outside the Tabernacle.
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I understand whole heartily about being stunned over the ciborium being left out. That would shake me as well. But from what you describe it sounds like an oversight on the pastors part and the mess you describe that was left everywhere, it’s no wonder he didn’t make other mistakes. It sounds like it was a zoo not a wedding!

You would think it was a party of a bunch of teenagers watching some movies! Good Lord, I was more shocked by what people would leave in a Church! Coffee cups, water bottles, pop cans :confused: since when do people come to a wedding carrying pop cans and coffee? I’m sorry but that’s the part that got me! :eek:

Where was the wedding coordinator? Parishes usually have strict rules for weddings. I help at baptisms and the priest I help is very strict about what people can and can’t do. He doesn’t allow pictures until after everything is done etc…

Is it that the priest doesn’t back up the lay people when trying to implement rules? That can be very frustrating!
 
Phemie said:
The alarm was set so nobody had been in the church after the pastor left.

The condition of the church itself wasn’t a surprise considering that during the ceremony people were in and out, in and out, and large amounts of alcohol was consumed in the parking lot. Someone called me about it concerned that the people involved had access to my office. Although from what I found tonight it looks as though it was the only place they didn’t go.

I know the ciborium contained consecrated hosts because it was the one he’d set out for Mass and it held the pieces of the concelebration host. I know how it happened too, he went to replace it after Communion and the key wasn’t in the tabernacle door. He set the ciborium down by the tabernacle and forgot to return to it after Mass was over.
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Then I would bring it to his attention and not necessarly the Bishops, depending on his response. Since it seems that it was an error and not intentional, a serious error at that anyway. You said “large amounts of alcohol was consumed” during the time of the wedding ceremony? If the bride or grooms judgment was impaired during the exchange of vows that can call into question the validity.
 
Phemie said:
It’s always been a ciborium in any parish where they did the offertory procession. How do you process 300+ hosts on a paten??
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As I understand it, a ciborium is a chalice-looking vessel for the storing and distributing of consecrated hosts. A paten is a very flat disc-shaped vessel for presenting unconsecrated hosts and catching the particles that fall; it also holds the consecrated host for a short time. Then there are communion “bowls”, although I don’t know what they’re really called. They’re not traditional ciboria, they’re not patens… they’re bowl-like things. In my parish, however, they hold both the unconsecrated hosts brought up during the offertory, and the consecrated hosts in the tabernacle.

So you’d never know just by the vessel holding them whether they’re consecrated or not!
 
Br.Rich_SFO said:
Then I would bring it to his attention and not necessarly the Bishops. since it seems that it was an error and not intentional, a serious error at that anyway. You said “large amounts of alcohol was consumed” during the time of the wedding ceremony? If the bride or grooms judgment was impaired during the exchange of vows that can call into question the validity.
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Not the bride and groom AFAIK but several of the guests.
 
anamchara said:
Where was the wedding coordinator? Parishes usually have strict rules for weddings. I help at baptisms and the priest I help is very strict about what people can and can’t do. He doesn’t allow pictures until after everything is done etc…

Is it that the priest doesn’t back up the lay people when trying to implement rules? That can be very frustrating!
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Wedding coordinator??? No such animal where I come from.

Rules for weddings? None of those either. It’s a free-for-all, anything goes type of parish. You want a Shania Twain CD playing for the Offetory Procession? NO PROBLEM, just provide your own boom box.

Pictures? He set one wedding party facing the congregation, directly in front of the altar. From that vantage point they couldn’t even see the ambo for the readings. He did it “because it makes for better pictures”; my reply, “Yes, because we all know that the sacrament of Marriage is all about the pictures.”
 
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