The Practical Expenses of Too Many EMsHC

[At_Trent]

Are there any spiritual expenses ?

 

[ElToro]

Communion takes less than 5 minutes – about 4.5 minutes at my parish. Slash the number of EMsHC in half and the time would not double because there would be far less congestion and turbulence – call it 7.5 minutes even though it might well be less than that.

Next?

 

[ElToro]

Are there any spiritual expenses ?

Obviously the spritual expenses are far greater. More and more I feel the HURRY-UP aspect of having too many EMsHC is worse than the part about not using more than is necessary that comes from the Church…

 

[ElToro]

Now, If the ‘gang’ of EMHC cost 1 extra hour of ironing, consider that the mass ends 5 minutes earlier. So this 5 minutes times 500 parishoners at the mass comes to 40 hours of extra free time when they could be ‘doing other things’. It seems the 1 hour cost is far exceeded by the 40 hour return.

And I believe EMHC’s come in choirs:angel1: rather than gangs

False economy. Ramming people through the Mass ASAP has a deleterious effect on their spritual lives – even if they would like to begin eating breakfast or teeing-off 5 minutes earlier. Far too often the Mass feels like people are being processed – like they are having their tickets punched for the week. That’s bad form.

 

[ElToro]

Sure thing, can you assign values to the time spent, the actual cost of laundry, water use, electricity, amount of detergent, etc.

And if ironing 30 more purificators will take you 2 hours, you should get fired and they should get one that is more efficient.

Also don’t forget its not only about expenses but also opportunity to take in more income. Longer communion lines may mean parishioners may go to other more efficient parishes. Cutting costs does not mean you actually save money because cost-cutting may also mean your opportunity for revenue is diminished.

The lines wouldn’t be long. I guess you did not read the title: “The Practical Expenses of Too Many EMsHC.” You’re creating instances that simply don’t exist.

In any event I’m trying to think when the last time I heard “Oh, yeah, great Masses at St. Jude’s with Fr. Murphy. Absolutely wonderful. But communion took too long so I changed parishes…” LOL!!

 

[EasterJoy]

Having gone to a funeral where the presider did not elect to have anyone else distribute under the species of bread, another issue is the layout of some churches. If you have the pews laid out broadly and elect to have one central line for receiving Holy Communion, then you have people filing through the center-most pews to the central aisle. This translates int an awful lot of people climbing over anyone who remained in their pew.

You can live through it, it’s not a huge deal, but there would be complaints from those congregations who were used to the use of extraordinary ministers and knew these were still allowed, yet not being used.

 

[ElToro]

Having gone to a funeral where the presider did not elect to have anyone else distribute under the species of bread, another issue is the layout of some churches. If you have the pews laid out broadly and elect to have one central line for receiving Holy Communion, then you have people filing through the center-most pews to the central aisle. This translates int an awful lot of people climbing over anyone who remained in their pew.

You can live through it, it’s not a huge deal, but there would be complaints from those congregations who were used to the use of extraordinary ministers and knew these were still allowed, yet not being used.

Extreme examples prove nothing.

There is a WORLD of difference between 1 person distributing Holy Communion and 10 (or so) as there are in my parish. I would never want to go back to 1 – as it was when I was a kid in the same parish. 4 would be one heckuva lot better than 10 though.

 

[centurionguard]

Having gone to a funeral where the presider did not elect to have anyone else distribute under the species of bread, another issue is the layout of some churches. If you have the pews laid out broadly and elect to have one central line for receiving Holy Communion, then you have people filing through the center-most pews to the central aisle. This translates int an awful lot of people climbing over anyone who remained in their pew.

You can live through it, it’s not a huge deal, but there would be complaints from those congregations who were used to the use of extraordinary ministers and knew these were still allowed, yet not being used.

This translates int an awful lot of people climbing over anyone who remained in their pew.

The worst part I don’t like about this is that the person who stays in their pew and doesn’t go up to receive Holy Communion stands out like a sore thumb because he/she feels the need to go to confession first. (Been there) Confession times is another topic of its own that has irregularities that needs fixing. Well at least in my parish.

Sometimes at Communion time if you look at all the shuffling of parishioners coming forward to the Communion cup it looks like an orchestrated regimental play of expediency. I suppose there’s really no easy way of having the faithful empty their pews in an orderly fashion. And your right it does depend on the Church seating layout and where in particular the EMHC’s are stationed.

 

[ElToro]

The worst part I don’t like about this is that the person who stays in their pew and doesn’t go up to receive Holy Communion stands out like a sore thumb because he/she feels the need to go to confession first. (Been there) Confession times is another topic of its own that has irregularities that needs fixing. Well at least in my parish.

Sometimes at Communion time if you look at all the shuffling of parishioners coming forward to the Communion cup it looks like an orchestrated regimental play of expediency. I suppose there’s really no easy way of having the faithful empty their pews in an orderly fashion. And your right it does depend on the Church seating layout and where in particular the EMHC’s are stationed.

In places like France it’s completely random – people sort of “scramble” to get in line. There are obviously benefits to that as you point out.

Our communion begins with the people from the back coming forward. It’s so clogged though that it takes longer than it should. We need to remove some EMsHC.

 

[centurionguard]

In places like France it’s completely random – people sort of “scramble” to get in line. There are obviously benefits to that as you point out.

Our communion begins with the people from the back coming forward. It’s so clogged though that it takes longer than it should. We need to remove some EMsHC.

In places like France it’s completely random – people sort of “scramble” to get in line.

Strange that you should mention this. I do remember a time when coming up for Holy Communion was a random choice. But to my recollection it wasn’t all so disorderly. There was some orderly structure and common courtesy amongst fellow parishioners waiting in the aisle.

 

[ElToro]

Strange that you should mention this. I do remember a time when coming up for Holy Communion was a random choice. But to my recollection it wasn’t all so disorderly. There was some orderly structure and common courtesy amongst fellow parishioners waiting in the aisle.

I agree 100%

Another HUGE drawback to have too many people distribute communion is that it causes big traffic jams in my parish. The worst part is that people are not focused on receiving Holy Communion – they are focused on avoiding collisions with others…

 

[ElToro]

Parking is another consideration. One reason why Masses are kept short is to allow for multiple Masses to be offered on Saturday evening/Sundays, and this means that cars must clear out of the parking lots and more cars pull in fill the spaces.

Finally, I have to think that we have to consider the physical abilities of the priest. Serving Holy Communion to several thousand people is kind of hard. Even the Pope has helpers, but many priests are the lone priest in their parish.

I just think that we need to respect Father’s decisions and stop undermining him. We don’t know the “whole story.” He does.

That is such a horrible excuse yet we hear it all the time… Take issue with it and we’ll hear stories of parishes with 14 Masses every Sunday (each one fully loaded) – itself a horrid situation. Just think about it – worrying about the length of the Mass or for providing fellowship opportunities because of “parking.” That’s a problem that needs to be fixed!

That’s one area where my current pastor TRULY took away an excuse. With plenty of (name removed by moderator)ut and 6 months of warning he re-arranged the Masses so there is a full hour between each one. 7, 9, 11, 1, 5 and 7:00pm on Sundays. That’s 6 Masses. We have room for 1-2 more. In all reality except for Easter and Christmas (when we have three Masses going at one time in the church, chapel and gym through the day) we need 3. 2 if we only had Masses in English wixh I would not advocate. The 6 is a product of days past when a lot more people attend the Mass. Now people demand the “flexibility.”

Parishes shouldn’t have six Masses to begin with. It’s not a healthy situation but it’s cheaper than building more churches. That’s why the Methodists have more churches in the USA than the Catholic Church does – with only a small portion of our attendance even today.