I know that he is a server in another parish but the Master of Ceremonies from the parish where this happened ,who is also an EMHC, was present on the altar. So should the MC have assisted with purification.
Yes that is what he was doing.
I’ve never seen this priest Purify the vessels before. Do priests frequently do this?
Which Archdiocese are you in? Does it have an Indult?
Is “this priest” your pastor or a substitue priest? Some of our elderly priests who substitute for us are sometimes forgetful or for whatever reason do not always do things they way they are supposed to. They also assist in other parishes so for the most part they do try to do things the way we do them in our parish. However, sometimes it can be very difficult and uncomfortable when trying to be respectful of the celebrant when he is not doing things properly. It is not always the fault of the EMHC or the altar server who is engaging in an abuse.
Thank You for this. I am in England.
The Priest is the pastor, but I have never seen him assist the Deacon in Purification.
It isn’t necessary for the priest to assist the deacon at the purification. When the Church says that the deacon may do the purification, that’s not the same thing as saying the priest must do it along with the deacon. It’s perfectly acceptable for the deacon to do the purification “alone” (assisted by others who might hand him the water, etc.).
However, such an indult has probably expired. Pope John Paul II had granted the US an indult to allow EMHCs to purify; however, one of the first things that Pope Benedict XVI did was to rescind the indult. Thus, if one were to have existed, it probablly met the same fate as the one in the US, which is not a bad thing.
A letter to Rome should probably be in order, along with a print-out from the diocesan web-page where this statement appears. The CDWDS sees things quite differently, according to Redemptionis Sacramentum.About 2 years ago, in a meeting of all EMCH and the priest in charge of them, I advised all that the indult had expired. I even had the paperwork from the USCCB & our bishop that indeed it did expire. The priest shot me down saying, we should respect our bishop above all. I could never understand that this priest said this but could not see what the bishop was stating on the diocese website. No one, NOT ONE EMHC wanted to see the letters!
The lay are still purifying the vessels. And last Sunday we had a visiting priest, who after communion just sit down and a server who is also a MC reposed the Eucharist to the Tabernacle and purified the vessels upon the altar.
After a while all I could do was just shut up & I left.
OH! Just remembered, a few days later the the statement on the diocese website had an addtion to the bishops letter that I did take very personally…“There should be no liturgy police from the laity”
Yes BG, I know that, but I am now the outcast because of other things I have said concerning other abuses. I know that another priest (now gone) accused me of criticizing him in a confessional. It’s a bit of a long story. Anyway, I was confessing that I lost my temper in another Mass by a visiting priest and had left that Mass in anger over a VERY serious abuse. The priest I confessed to, upon leaving the parish had a large going away party and that is when he publicly said I criticized him. The bishop was also there and I felt there was something wrong because of the way the bishop had treated me upon greeting him early on.
I’m sorry BG, but I’m not in a position to do so at this time.