Priest at Mass

[coeyannie]

I have a question. This morning at Mass, a priest, who sometimes concelebrates with the celebrant during the week, walked into church dressed in civilian clothes. He attended Mass, received Holy Communion (bread) from the celebrant, and received Holy Communion (wine) from the extra-ordinary minister. I am puzzled about why he didn’t concelebrate, or at least distribute Holy Communion,as long as he was there. It must be OK, because this is a fairly orthodox parish. He is a spiritual director at the seminary in my location. Any ideas, anyone, on this.

Thanks.

 

[space_ghost]

coeyannie:

I have a question. This morning at Mass, a priest, who sometimes concelebrates with the celebrant during the week, walked into church dressed in civilian clothes. He attended Mass, received Holy Communion (bread) from the celebrant, and received Holy Communion (wine) from the extra-ordinary minister. I am puzzled about why he didn’t concelebrate, or at least distribute Holy Communion,as long as he was there. It must be OK, because this is a fairly orthodox parish. He is a spiritual director at the seminary in my location. Any ideas, anyone, on this.

Thanks.

just a guess… maybe he was on his way to a meeting right after mass… again, just a guess… good luck… i’m sure everything is ok!

 

[Mjohn1453]

A priest isn’t obligated to concelebrate Mass. There are a variety of reasons as to why he would choose not to. Perhaps he is celebrating Mass later that day. Perhaps he is feeling sick. Perhaps he arrived late and missed the procession. The list can go on. As it stands I wouldn’t worry about it too much. If your lucky enough to have two priests at your daily Mass you should count yourself blessed.

M

 

[Todd_Easton]

I might be misreading the instruction but paragraph 157 of Redemptionis Sacramentum put out earlier this year from Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments seems to apply.

1. If there is usually present a sufficient number of sacred ministers for the distribution of Holy Communion, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion may not be appointed. Indeed, in such circumstances, those who may have already been appointed to this ministry should not exercise it. The practice of those Priests is reprobated who, even though present at the celebration, abstain from distributing Communion and hand this function over to laypersons.

 

[coeyannie]

That was my thought, Todd. This particular parish always has extraordinary ministers, if there is only one celebrant there are three, one to distribute the Body of Christ, and two to distribute the Blood of Christ. I don’t know why, but Holy Communion is in both forms every day. One day there were four priests concelebrating Mass, and it was glorious. This particular church, although orthodox in it’s liturgy, is a church without the crucifix, statues, or tabernacle. The daily Mass is in the Perpetual Adoration Chapel. Yes, I know, I should be thankful and I am, because they also are the only church for miles where there is a 6:30 am Mass. I belong to the big Basilica, but will not attend there because they are so very liberal. I just wish that people would have a desire to have an altar with a tabernacle. What a concept.

 

[Brain]

are they allowed to pray the conceration (silently, in their heads) if they are not acting as a preist (officially concelebrating) at the moment

 

[Deacon_Ed]

Todd,

The material you cited applies only to priests who are celebrating the Mass while vested. A priest (or a deacon) who is in the congregation is not obligated to assist with communion if he is not vested and serving as a minister of the Mass.

Brain,

While a priest could recite the words of consecration silently, he should refrain from doing so unless he is actually serving at the Mass. A priest who is in the congregation is not celebrating the Mass as a priest, and therefore should not do so.

Deacon Ed

 

[Bobby_Jim]

So is the priest in the congregation obliged to come forward and assist with the distribution of Holy Communion, in place of any Extraordinary Ministers that might otherwise come forward? (Barring some reason like the priest being sick or something like that)

There was once a week where we had another priest joining us in the congregation for daily Mass. The first couple of days the visiting priest remained in his pew while an Extraordinary Minister helped distribute the Precious Blood. Later in the week, the priest came up to distribute the Precious Blood. I wonder if it’s a question of the priest making known his intention to help ahead of time, so as to avoid an awkward situation where an Extraordinary Minister is asked to help, and then the extra priest gets up and the Extraordinary Minister has to sit back down. In the situation I’m thinking of, the visiting priest was always in clerical dress, so it wasn’t a question of people not realizing there was another priest in attendance.

My other question is this… if a priest is in attendance, but not concelebrating, does he receive Communion in the same manner as the lay faithful, or does he self-communicate?

 

[Deacon_Ed]

Bobby Jim:

Technically, a minister entering the sanctuary should always be properly vested. This means that an ordained minister (bishop, priest, deacon) should at least wear choir dress or an alb and stole. If he is going to assist with communion the alb and stole is appropriate.

If a priest or deacon is visiting a parish and wishes to help at Mass, he should present himself to the pastor along with the appropriate letter attesting that he is a cleric in good standing. He would then vest for Mass.

If, on the other hand, he is simply in the congregation he should not go up to assist with communion and would receive communion along with the laity. A priest who is not concelebrating does not self-communicate.

Deacon Ed