Should Mass be interrupted for medical emergencies?

[QueenieT77]

Thank you for being here to take this question. Last Sunday, prior to announcements, paramedics arrived for a parishoner whose wife had dialed 911 because her husband was having a stroke in the pew. Thank God it was a mild stroke and he went home from the hospital that night with no physical residuals, just medication adjustment.

A friend is furious at our pastor because he went on with announcements after waving the paramedics to come up to the pew. She believes the pastor should have had the entire congregation stop and pray for him. Further, she believes he should have not been at the back door greeting folks as they left.

I told her several things, a) Mass was not over and paramedics were assisting; b) the community should respond in prayer and not have to wait for the pastor to tell us to pray and c) she doesn’t know folks weren’t praying (she is a Catholic convert from an evangelical back ground - fyi ). She said ritual does not over ride praying over the sick (per James scripture passage) d) the pastor has a relationship with that couple and I know he did follow up with them.

What are the ‘guidelines’ for stopping the Mass when emergency occur? Any insight to help her understand would be helpful.

Thank you,

QueenieT

Thank you for any insight that may calm this person down. We are the church -

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

There are no guidelines for such matters other than common sense. The announcements could hardly be considered part of the ritual and were certainly not more important matters than responding to a person in such need. I would hope that he or another priest would have anointed the man on the spot. I think it would have been most appropriate for the pastor to have led the congregation in prayer for him—and I was never an evangelical.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.