Sanctuary Candle and candles in general?

[Brendan_64]

I’d be very surprised if ALL your parishes didn’t do this, and you just are not aware of it.

My parish does not do this, nor do any that I have ever been in, and I haven’t heard of any others doing it. Maybe its an American thing?

 

[MonkMoses]

My parish does not do this, nor do any that I have ever been in, and I haven’t heard of any others doing it. Maybe its an American thing?

I’m told it is done in Ireland, Germany, Mexico and the Philippines as well.

 

[Carmelite1]

ALL our parishes do not do this - pay some money and the Sanctuary Candle will be lit in their memory. That is an objectionable practice.

I also have been “around the block” and never ever knew of this practice - and I do make myself aware of what is going on in my Church.

Just buy a box of candles and give them to your parish church and forget the “in memory of” business when it involves the Sanctuary Candle.

Have a Mass said for your deceased loved one.

 

[Carmelite1]

Brendan, take my word for it - it is definitely not a “common” American thing.

 

[Brendan_64]

I’m told it is done in Ireland, Germany, Mexico and the Philippines as well.

It wasn’t done in the parish I grew up in in Ireland.

 

[MonkMoses]

ALL our parishes do not do this - pay some money and the Sanctuary Candle will be lit in their memory. That is an objectionable practice.

I also have been “around the block” and never ever knew of this practice - and I do make myself aware of what is going on in my Church.

Just buy a box of candles and give them to your parish church and forget the “in memory of” business when it involves the Sanctuary Candle.

Have a Mass said for your deceased loved one.

Why is this so objectionable? I don’t get it.

The lamp is there to let people know the Blessed Sacrament is present, who ever makes the donation for the candle has it burn in memory of a loved one…it takes nothing away from Jesus.

I guess I’ll just go back to the East where I belong.

 

[jmcrae]

I’d be very surprised if ALL your parishes didn’t do this, and you just are not aware of it. I just looked at 5 local church bulletins and they all listed who the sanctuary lamp was burning in memory of for the next week. Ask your priest or parish secretary.

I have worked in two Parish offices (I work as a Coordinator of Ministries for Youth and Children) and no one has ever come into the parish office asking for anything like that.

Masses - all the time. But never the Sanctuary Lamp.

 

[malphono]

Why is this so objectionable? I don’t get it.

The lamp is there to let people know the Blessed Sacrament is present, who ever makes the donation for the candle has it burn in memory of a loved one…it takes nothing away from Jesus.

I guess I’ll just go back to the East where I belong.

It’s not the candle itself, or a donation for same, that’s objectionable, at least not to me, but the “get out of jail free” card is a killer. That goes well beyond even the idea behind a memorial Mass, (I mean really, the graces from Mass (or DL) are infinitely more than “lighting a candle” but I digress), and it’s just plain wrong. If that’s the way the donation for a Presence Lamp is touted, then yes, IMO, it’s more than objectionable.

But I think you’re right: maybe we should just stay in the East (or Orient, as the case may be).

 

[Gorgias]

Why is this so objectionable? I don’t get it.

Probably because of the way that it’s being misunderstood. Making a donation to the parish in memory of a loved one is one thing; phrasing it as “the sanctuary lamp is lit this week in honor of Aunt Millie” is probably a bad way of putting it, since it makes people think that there’s something pseudo-liturgical or something affiliated with prayer that’s going on. It’s not. What’s happening is purely that a donation has been made in someone’s memory.

What’s getting peoples’ dander up is the understanding that polishprincess is talking about: saying “the lamp is lit in honor of” is making her think that the donation has the kind of effect that prayer or Mass has. It doesn’t.

So, polishprincess: making a donation to “keep the candle lit” is simply a donation in memory of a loved one.

Everyone else: donating funds to the Church doesn’t get anyone out of Purgatory or into heaven.

Can we move along, now?

 

[polishprincess]

Now I’m completely confused. The original question made it seem like you could have the Sanctuary Lamp lit for $15 to have your loved one released from Purgatory.

So - are people making a donation “in memory of”? And they know that the candle isn’t actually being lit for their loved one? In the way that one buys a stained glass window or a pew in memory of a loved one? (With no expectation of prayers being said for them.)

Or do people think they are donating to have the candle lit and prayers said for their loved one, to release him or her from Purgatory?

I’m totally confused myself and I’m the one who asked the question. I wanted to know if the sanctuary candle that was going to be lit this week would benefit my dear friends soul ,who could possibly still be in purgatory after being 5 weeks deceased.

 

[polishprincess]

Why is this so objectionable? I don’t get it.

The lamp is there to let people know the Blessed Sacrament is present, who ever makes the donation for the candle has it burn in memory of a loved one…it takes nothing away from Jesus.

I guess I’ll just go back to the East where I belong.

But if you have it burned in memory of a loved one if that would benefit their soul if they are in purgatory! That was my question!

 

[polishprincess]

Probably because of the way that it’s being misunderstood. Making a donation to the parish in memory of a loved one is one thing; phrasing it as “the sanctuary lamp is lit this week in honor of Aunt Millie” is probably a bad way of putting it, since it makes people think that there’s something pseudo-liturgical or something affiliated with prayer that’s going on. It’s not. What’s happening is purely that a donation has been made in someone’s memory.

What’s getting peoples’ dander up is the understanding that polishprincess is talking about: saying “the lamp is lit in honor of” is making her think that the donation has the kind of effect that prayer or Mass has. It doesn’t.

So, polishprincess: making a donation to “keep the candle lit” is simply a donation in memory of a loved one.

Everyone else: donating funds to the Church doesn’t get anyone out of Purgatory or into heaven.

Can we move along, now?

Look you! you know how when you have a mass said for someone who we loved??? And you know how when we pray for a soul in purgatory it lessens the time in purgatory they would have had. my question was, if the candle lit was beneficial in some way to HELP THE SOUL GET OUT OF PURGATORY! HOW HARD IS THIS TO UNDERSTAND??? IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE QUESTIONS PLEASE DONT HESITATE TO CONTACT ME.

 

[jmcrae]

I’m totally confused myself and I’m the one who asked the question. I wanted to know if the sanctuary candle that was going to be lit this week would benefit my dear friends soul ,who could possibly still be in purgatory after being 5 weeks deceased.

I don’t think so, It is the Sanctuary Lamp, for starters, so it has a completely different purpose than getting souls out of Purgatory.

And it seems as if in the parishes that do this, it isn’t thought that it does anything like that; it’s only just a donation to the Sacristan’s supplies fund, to buy candles for the Sanctuary Lamp.

Far better to have a Mass said for her, and to light a candle for her at the votive candles.

 

[polishprincess]

I don’t think so, It is the Sanctuary Lamp, for starters, so it has a completely different purpose than getting souls out of Purgatory.

And it seems as if in the parishes that do this, it isn’t thought that it does anything like that; it’s only just a donation to the Sacristan’s supplies fund, to buy candles for the Sanctuary Lamp.

Far better to have a Mass said for her, and to light a candle for her at the votive candles.

ok! Thank you so much! God bless you!

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

It’s not the candle itself, or a donation for same, that’s objectionable, at least not to me, but the “get out of jail free” card is a killer. That goes well beyond even the idea behind a memorial Mass, (I mean really, the graces from Mass (or DL) are infinitely more than “lighting a candle” but I digress), and it’s just plain wrong. If that’s the way the donation for a Presence Lamp is touted, then yes, IMO, it’s more than objectionable.

But I think you’re right: maybe we should just stay in the East (or Orient, as the case may be).

Who in this thread ever positioned or defended this practice as a “get out of jail free” type of thing? I certainly didn’t. I don’t see where anyone said that.

 

[Tarpeian_Rock]

Actually, there is a double-booking - with Jesus.

If the candle has to be lit for Jesus anyway, how does it make any sense to say that it is being lit for some other reason?

If the parish is short of funds, they should just say so, instead of making something up like this.

This line of thinking would seem to imply that it is equally wrong in your view to donate sacred vessels, vestments, a new station, a window, in the memory of a loved one. After all, those things have to be used in church anyway. The candle isn’t being lit “for some OTHER reason.” It is being lit for the purpose intended by the Chuch, to signal the Real Presence, with the physical item itself, in effect, donated in memory of a person. I just don’t see how that differs from all of the other sacred items donated to a parish in memory of someone.

 

[CB_Catholic]

Now I’m completely confused. The original question made it seem like you could have the Sanctuary Lamp lit for $15 to have your loved one released from Purgatory.

So - are people making a donation “in memory of”? And they know that the candle isn’t actually being lit for their loved one? In the way that one buys a stained glass window or a pew in memory of a loved one? (With no expectation of prayers being said for them.)

Or do people think they are donating to have the candle lit and prayers said for their loved one, to release him or her from Purgatory?

They are making a donation “in memory of”, much as when people donate money for Christmas or Easter flowers to decorate the church in memory of their relatives or friends. Nobody is paying to have prayers said to release people from purgatory. This is completely different from votive candles

This is extremely common, and my guess is more churches do this than people realize, and they just haven’t noticed. There is no competition with Jesus here. I don’t know why people are getting upset over a very common practice that’s been around for years. People have been buying items for their parishes for years in memory of their loved ones. Whole churches are often built by people making donations in memory of someone when they make their pledges.

 

[jmcrae]

This line of thinking would seem to imply that it is equally wrong in your view to donate sacred vessels, vestments, a new station, a window, in the memory of a loved one. After all, those things have to be used in church anyway. The candle isn’t being lit “for some OTHER reason.” It is being lit for the purpose intended by the Chuch, to signal the Real Presence, with the physical item itself, in effect, donated in memory of a person. I just don’t see how that differs from all of the other sacred items donated to a parish in memory of someone.

Okay. That makes way more sense than the way it was being presented at the beginning of the thread.

At first, it really seemed as if people were treating it as if it were one of the votive candles, and that people could light it to pray for a loved one in Purgatory.

Even so, I have never seen it done out west here. I’ve been from Vancouver to Winnipeg, and haven’t ever seen it happen in any parish I’ve been to. Out here, people make special donations “in memory of” for big-ticket items like organs and stained glass windows, rather than for small, everyday purchases.

 

[CB_Catholic]

This line of thinking would seem to imply that it is equally wrong in your view to donate sacred vessels, vestments, a new station, a window, in the memory of a loved one. After all, those things have to be used in church anyway. The candle isn’t being lit “for some OTHER reason.” It is being lit for the purpose intended by the Chuch, to signal the Real Presence, with the physical item itself, in effect, donated in memory of a person. I just don’t see how that differs from all of the other sacred items donated to a parish in memory of someone.

Including the tabernacle itself. They don’t come out of thin air.

 

[jmcrae]

Including the tabernacle itself. They don’t come out of thin air.

Shouldn’t that, at least, come from the building fund? I don’t see it as one of the “optionals” that a church could do without if no donor comes forward.