Seeing a child walking away from Communion with host

[AAT]

I was an altar boy and one of my duties is to make sure the Eucharist was taken directly after receiving it.

While what you did was appropriate, I think it’s not just the altar boys and altar servers duty to honor the Eucharist, but everyone who is attending the mass. Don’t be afraid to give him a tap on the shoulder or anyone else next time you see someone doing this.

 

[babochka]

A while back, that was my son. We were at a funeral Mass and I wasn’t sitting next to him to give him directions about how to receive in the Latin Rite. He saw other people receiving in the hand, which he had never done before because we’re Byzantine Rite. Once the Host was placed in his hand, he didn’t really know what to do with it so he was carrying it around. It was a rather large host he was just kind of thrown by the whole experience. In retrospect, I should have prepared him better. Anyway, my husband’s cousin stopped him and made him consume the host. Afterwards, she told me about it and I was able to have a talk with him. It was really embarrassing, but I’m so glad she said something to him and to me.

It would be a bit more uncomfortable coming from a stranger, but still the right thing to do. Kindly and compassionately, of course. And even if the mother didn’t react well in the moment, it could have been from embarrassment and I, at least, would be grateful in the long term.

 

[Duesenberg]

On the walk back to my seat after receiving, I noticed a ten year old boy hopping up and down in the pew with an uneaten host in my hand.

I would have looked the child in the eye and said “consume that blessed host right now” in a manner that wouldn’t have raised a ruckus, but would most certainly have resulted in the child consuming the blessed sacrament.

 

[exnihilo]

I’m not a parent myself, but I think that’s want I’d want if it happened with my kid, but still… Did I overstep? What would you do if you saw? How would you feel as a parent if someone told you this about your child?

No you didn’t overstep at all. As for how a parent would feel I think many these days will think it is not your place to intervene. This is different from when I was a kid and all adults were a sort of authority. You hear stories of how parents defend out of control behavior by their kids and you know the world has changed.

So I wouldn’t worry how a parent would feel. I’d do the right thing which may include directly addressing the kid and telling him what his parents won’t.

 

[Duesenberg]

Honestly that’s up to the parents or Priest to decide in my humble opinion, as I personally would not want anyone other than me and my husband to correct my child.

On the walk back to my seat after receiving, I noticed a ten year old boy hopping up and down in the pew with an uneaten host in his hand.

If a ten year old was so poorly catechized that he would actually do this, I think any adult has to duty to ensure that Jesus Christ is not profaned, so long as they do so in a proper way.