Receiving Holy Communion

[AZSVGirl]

There is a new priest at a small parish I attend. He seems to like to make changes to the mass that upset people. For instance, he said he would not give holy communion on the tongue because we’re adults and can feed ourselves. Then he decided he wasn’t even going to give holy communion at all, and would just put the bread and wine on the altar and we could come up and get it ourselves.

Is this allowed? I think several of the people were upset about it and didn’t go up to receive holy communion. If this is not allowed, should I also abstain from receiving holy communion? Also, should I say/do something about it?

 

[Denae]

NO NO NO NO! He is NOT allowed to do these things!

“Then he decided he wasn’t even going to give holy communion at all, and would just put the bread and wine on the altar and we could come up and get it ourselves.”

That is most definately NOT allowed. I would write him a letter, as charitible and kind as you can…and if he refuses to do anything to change, I would write your bishiop. You have a right to recieve proper communion.

 

[1ke]

No, neither of these things is allowed.

He must give on the tongue or in the hand, the person has the right to choose.

He cannot facilitate self-communicating. It violates Church law.

Talk to him first. If he does not cease, write hime a letter. If he still does not cease and do things properly, send a copy of the letter with a cover letter to the Bishop and demand action.

This is ridiculous.

 

[lizaanne]

No, neither of these things is allowed.

He must give on the tongue or in the hand, the person has the right to choose.

He cannot facilitate self-communicating. It violates Church law.

Talk to him first. If he does not cease, write hime a letter. If he still does not cease and do things properly, send a copy of the letter with a cover letter to the Bishop and demand action.

This is ridiculous.

Yes - all this - and do NOT let this slide! This is extremely serious.



~Liza

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Where did this priest come from? What seminary did he attend? Is this his first parish? Is he Catholic? More importantly is there another parish nearby where you all can go for Mass?

Do all the things suggested by the other posters, but remember if the pews and the collection plate are empty you will get his attention.

 

[Lynn-D]

I might wonder then what this priest thinks is the basic premise of the mass if not communion.

Whenever I receive from the priest or deacon I am partaking much in the same way the body and blood in the form of bread and wine as were shared by Christ with the apostles. The priest I have always accepted as being the surrogate celebrating in basically the same manner as did Jesus at the Last Supper.

I might also wonder if this priest wants to change the sacrament of communion from a replication of the Last Supper or does he prefer to treat it as a buffet?

Personally if our priest did this I would change churches and attend mass at another towns church where I could continue to receive on my tongue.

Lynn-D

 

[benedictgal]

From what the OP described, this is a whole-sale violation of Redemptionis Sacramentum. First of all, let’s get the terms right. Once the species has been consecrated, it is the Body and Blood of Our Lord.

Anyhow, here are the particular citations from the document:

94.] [88.] The faithful should normally receive sacramental Communion of the Eucharist during Mass itself, at the moment laid down by the rite of celebration, that is to say, just after the Priest celebrant’s Communion.172 It is the Priest celebrant’s responsibility to minister Communion, perhaps assisted by other Priests or Deacons; and he should not resume the Mass until after the Communion of the faithful is concluded. Only when there is a necessity may extraordinary ministers assist the Priest celebrant in accordance with the norm of law.173.

92.] Although each of the faithful always has the right to receive Holy Communion on the tongue, at his choice,178 if any communicant should wish to receive the Sacrament in the hand, in areas where the Bishops’ Conference with the recognitio of the Apostolic See has given permission, the sacred host is to be administered to him or her. However, special care should be taken to ensure that the host is consumed by the communicant in the presence of the minister, so that no one goes away carrying the Eucharistic species in his hand. If there is a risk of profanation, then Holy Communion should not be given in the hand to thefaithful.179

It is not licit for the faithful “to take … by themselves … and, still less, to hand … from one to another” the sacred host or the sacred chalice.181 Moreover, in this regard, the abuse is to be set aside whereby spouses administer Holy Communion to each other at a Nuptial Mass.

Write a leter to the priest. Do this in charity, but cite the relevent sections of Redemptionis Sacramentum. If the priest fails to respond, then you need to inform the bishop. What the priest is doing is a serious abuse and needs to be cleaned up as soon as possible.

 

[AZSVGirl]

Thank you to the PP who quoted the Redemptionis Sacramentum, I will quote this when I write him a letter. Thanks to all of your for your responses.

 

[japhy]

He seems to like to make changes to the mass that upset people.

That doesn’t sound pastoral.

he would not give holy communion on the tongue because we’re adults and can feed ourselves.

That is outrageous. It is absolutely the right of every Catholic to receive Holy Communion on the tongue!

put the bread and wine on the altar and we could come up and get it ourselves.

Entirely and utterly forbidden. Where on earth did he receive his sacramental training and theological and liturgical formation?

Is this allowed? … If this is not allowed, should I also abstain from receiving holy communion? Also, should I say/do something about it?

It is ABSOLUTELY not allowed.

Now, as for your second question, I will give my answer but I am not a spiritual director, just a layman: I would absolutely avoid receiving Holy Communion when the priest requires you to receive it this way. The priest is being dreadfully disobedient (maybe he’s just ignorant…) and it’s entirely improper to receive Holy Communion the way he’s saying to. You could very well cause scandal by receiving Holy Communion that way, because people might think it is acceptable because people are doing it.

For your third question, please say something to him about this. Be as gentle and polite as possible, but make it clear that you were under the impression that the Church has guidelines for the reception of Holy Communion, and that the Church always allows giving Holy Communion on the tongue. If he is not your pastor, consider talking to the pastor first (and let him deal with the priest). If things do not improve, then if I were you, I would feel obligated to go to the Bishop about this.

 

[Denae]

(maybe he’s just ignorant…)

I know that you’re being charitble, (Certainly more than me) but do you honestly think that a priest could be ignorant of something SO important? It sounds to me like he’s deliberately going against Church teaching…but he COULD be ignorant…

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Apparently he was ‘doing it right’ at first – in that even though he balked at reception on the tongue (he was wrong there though) he did permit reception in the hand. So he was doing that correctly.

Then suddenly he says, “Come and get it?”

Now maybe I am cynical but I would be a bit worried. The OP mentioned that the priest has been ‘making changes to upset people’.

Now if I were of the sneaky and devious sort , I was doing something wrong and while being arrogant enough to assume, “Nobody will stop me”, if, say, one of my congregation starts muttering about, “Maybe I will write the bishop”. . .

It would be a very, very sneaky thing, but if I did something really, really ‘whacky’ and far out’ (like putting the Eucharist on the table and telling people to get it). . .which I KNEW the people would write to the bishop about. . .and I had, say, a ‘contact’ on the bishop’s staff so that I would know when the bishop would be coming out to check, or would send somebody to check. . . I would make sure when I knew the person was coming to offer up a ‘letter perfect Mass’. For that day, and for the next few days (because they would probably send somebody else back, just to be sure the priest had not been ‘warned.’

What would happen? The bishop would be told, “I saw NOTHING wrong” by the observer. The people would be frothing forth to the bishop, “He did do what we said, really!” The PRIEST would be saying, “Ah, the people, God bless them, I guess there are a few who do not like me, I must try harder, I will pray for them”. He looks like a wronged SAINT. Any further ‘letters’ from the people to the bishop will be met with disbelief, "Oh please, you said before he was crazy and he wasn’t. . .you people let this poor man ALONE.’

And then the priest can basically do whatever he likes, without fear of reprisal, and looking like a saint to the bishop. And he can really, really ‘get back’ at the people as well.

It’s horrible, but it could be a plan.

Yeah, I do read too much crime fiction and ‘mystery’ fiction.

 

[Denae]

Wooow…that is a really scary thought.

 

[japhy]

And then the priest can basically do whatever he likes, without fear of reprisal, and looking like a saint to the bishop. And he can really, really ‘get back’ at the people as well.

See, that’s the exact opposite of what it means to be “pastoral”. A real shepherd doesn’t give his lambs rotten pasture and let the wolves run wild. We should all pray for this particular priest.

 

[LilyM]

There’s a reason why people in a lot of places have resorted to carrying video cameras into church to surreptitiously film abuses, so there’s independent evidence of them.

 

[JimArsenault]

This is a **perfect example **of the reason there is a heirchy of rule in the Church to prohibit people from making individualistic changes to the Liturgy. This seems to be an echo of seperation of the Church.

 

[quiet52]

I would stand before the sanctuary, and wait … and wait … and wait … until the priest got the message that I wanted to receive Holy Communion from him, and not self-communicate. The faithful have a right to receive the sacraments properly. He can even yell at me to get it for myself. I would say “Father, I will receive it from you please,” and continue to stand there and wait.

 

[lizaanne]

I would stand before the sanctuary, and wait … and wait … and wait … until the priest got the message that I wanted to receive Holy Communion from him, and not self-communicate. The faithful have a right to receive the sacraments properly. He can even yell at me to get it for myself. I would say “Father, I will receive it from you please,” and continue to stand there and wait.

Perhaps remind him by saying: “Father, I will receive HIM only from you please” - may get another dimension of the issue across as well.

~Liza

 

[YADA]

Does anyone else somethimes have trouble believing the descriptions of what happens?

I have never witnessed anything close to what the OP described … if I did, I would ask the priest about it immediately after Mass … not confront … but a discussion …

Also, I would not have to ask [on a forum like CAF]

Is this allowed? I think several of the people were upset about it and didn’t go up to receive holy communion. If this is not allowed, should I also abstain from receiving holy communion? Also, should I say/do something about it?

This description of communion just seems too wierd to be believable

 

[AZSVGirl]

Does anyone else somethimes have trouble believing the descriptions of what happens?

I have never witnessed anything close to what the OP described … if I did, I would ask the priest about it immediately after Mass … not confront … but a discussion …

Also, I would not have to ask [on a forum like CAF]
This description of communion just seems too wierd to be believable

Well unfortunately this did happen. Sorry I had to ask about it; I’m not confrontational by nature and have a hard time questioning a priest. I’ve never seen a priest do what he did, and didn’t know if this was authorized and done in other parishes, and I just wasn’t aware of it. Before I questioned him about it I wanted to ensure I was correct in my feeling that this wasn’t right. It is a small chapel at a military base, he is new and only recently transferred to our post. He is an Captain, guess the rank structure makes questioning his actions even a little more difficult for me.

 

[Phemie]

Well unfortunately this did happen. Sorry I had to ask about it; I’m not confrontational by nature and have a hard time questioning a priest. I’ve never seen a priest do what he did, and didn’t know if this was authorized and done in other parishes, and I just wasn’t aware of it. Before I questioned him about it I wanted to ensure I was correct in my feeling that this wasn’t right. It is a small chapel at a military base, he is new and only recently transferred to our post. He is an Captain, guess the rank structure makes questioning his actions even a little more difficult for me.

Having worshipped at military chapels for over 2 decades I understand your discomfort at questioning a superior officer. Are you in Canada by any chance? I ask because I heard the “you can feed yourself” rhetoric in a liturgy class a few years ago at a Canadian university.

I’ve known a priest to just place the chalice on the altar and invite those who wanted Communion under both species to go help themselves. When I pointed out that he could easily appoint an EMHC just for the celebration he replied that he preferred having them ‘serve themselves’, He was a youngster and I pointed out that he was wrong per the documents but he didn’t seem interested. A few years later I learned that that wasn’t his only lackadaisical attitude to liturgy and parish life.