Too many EMHC's?!

[PhilotheaZ]

I just returned home after a week-long visit with my parents. I attended weekday Mass at their parish several times. Each day, there were seven — count 'em, seven — Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion distributing Communion, in addition to the priest (four distributing the sacred host, four for the chalices). There were only about 50–75 people attending Mass. Overkill?!! It almost took longer to get all the extra ministers sorted out than it did to distribute Communion to the rest of the congregation.

And the Precious Blood is still being poured from a carafe into chalices after the Consecration (by a lay person!).

And they’re into inclusive language (never using the word “He” in reference to God), changing the words of all the common prayers of the Mass to make them gender-neutral.

And hand-holding at the Our Father. (I didn’t extend my hands, but got grabbed anyway.)

It drives me crazy whenever I go to Mass there, and I have a hard time focusing on the Mass itself.

Should I just suffer in silence, since it’s not my parish?

 

[martinporres]

Condolences. If there’s not an easy substitute, rest easy on the fact that Christ instituted through Holy Orders the ability for his minister to confect the Blessed Sacrament without regard (and sometimes, in spite of) the priest or congregation’s reverence.

Again, if there’s no other option for you, always keep that in mind because you’ll need the spiritual strength to focus on the mystery at hand rather than the irreverence around you. And if your mind is on other things at the time, you’d be committing a different type of irreverence, when you think about it. (At least that’s how I try to look at things when I’m in the situation you’re in.)

In Christ,
mp