Weekday Communion service

[PhilotheaZ]

This morning I went to church for an 8:15 a.m. weekday Mass (not in my home town; I am visiting relatives). Instead of Mass, there was a Communion service with a lay woman presiding. A couple of questions:

Should a Communion service be offered on a weekday when there is no obligation to attend Mass? Some additional information:

• The absence of a priest was known far enough in advance that the Communion service (actually, three of them this week) was scheduled in the weekly bulletin.
• There was another Mass available in the same church the same day (they usually have morning Mass at 6:25 and 8:15; I didn’t know about the Communion service until I arrived).
• There is at least one other church in the same town that has Mass at a similar time (8:00 a.m., about a ten-minute drive away).

The lay presider self-communicated. Is this correct? There were other extraordinary ministers assisting.

If you found yourself in this situation, would you stay and receive Communion, or try to find another Mass somewhere else?

 

[baltobetsy]

If you found yourself in this situation, would you stay and receive Communion, or try to find another Mass somewhere else?

I’d be on the road to get to Mass. A Communion service is simply not the Sacrifice of Calvary re-presented in an unbloody manner and offered to the Father as perfect worship. It’s good to receive Holy Communion, but better to be at Mass.

In fact, I have done that very thing. At a parish I used to attend, you never knew if Father would be there for 8:15 Mass, or if Sister would show up for a Communion service. It depended on Father, I guess. So, when Sister showed up, I got up and left. More than once. I hope the people who stayed realized the difference, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Betsy

 

[LilyM]

I’d be on the road to get to Mass. A Communion service is simply not the Sacrifice of Calvary re-presented in an unbloody manner and offered to the Father as perfect worship. It’s good to receive Holy Communion, but better to be at Mass.

In fact, I have done that very thing. At a parish I used to attend, you never knew if Father would be there for 8:15 Mass, or if Sister would show up for a Communion service. It depended on Father, I guess. So, when Sister showed up, I got up and left. More than once. I hope the people who stayed realized the difference, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Betsy

If possible, attend Mass, I agree.

For those who might not have the option to do so, it is certainly valid and a wonderful thing to receive the Eucharist in a communion service.

 

[John_Lilburne]

…
The lay presider self-communicated. Is this correct? There were other extraordinary ministers assisting. …

Yes, this is correct. From the official liturgical book “Holy Communion and the Worship of the Eucharist Outside of Mass”, from the “Rite of Distributing Holy Communion Outside Mass”:

“COMMUNION
33. If the minister receives communion, he says quietly:
May the body of Christ bring me to everlasting life.
He reverently consumes the body of Christ.”
(The Rites Volume One, Liturgical Press, 1990, ISBN: 0-8146-6015-0, page 652).

From the Introduction:
“14. The faithful are to be led to the practice of receiving communion during the actual eucharistic celebation.
Priests, however, are not to refuse to give communion to the faithful who for a legitimate reason ask for it even outside Mass. …
THE TIME OF COMMUNION OUTSIDE MASS
16. Communion may be given outside Mass on any day and at any hour. It is proper, however, to schedule the hours for giving communion, with a view to the convenience of the faithful, so that the celebration may take place in a fuller form and with greater spiritual benefit. …”.

It then continues with limitations for Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

A more restrictive approach is taken for Sundays, in the Directory for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest.

So I would not see a problem with the Communion Service on a weekday.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

This morning I went to church for an 8:15 a.m. weekday Mass (not in my home town; I am visiting relatives). Instead of Mass, there was a Communion service with a lay woman presiding. A couple of questions:

Should a Communion service be offered on a weekday when there is no obligation to attend Mass? Some additional information:

• The absence of a priest was known far enough in advance that the Communion service (actually, three of them this week) was scheduled in the weekly bulletin.
• There was another Mass available in the same church the same day (they usually have morning Mass at 6:25 and 8:15; I didn’t know about the Communion service until I arrived).
• There is at least one other church in the same town that has Mass at a similar time (8:00 a.m., about a ten-minute drive away).
  The lay presider self-communicated. Is this correct? There were other extraordinary ministers assisting.

If you found yourself in this situation, would you stay and receive Communion, or try to find another Mass somewhere else?

I would go to Mass when Mass is available at a later time. A Communion service is not intended for weekdays. It is intended fo those situations where no priest is available for Sunday or Holy Day Mass.

 

[jslup5]

We used to have communion service in our Dioceses but when the new bishop came, he wanted all parishes to do away with it because there were violations in the way the service was done. Not on purpose of course, but it just happens. So now the only communion services that are allowed is when a Deacon is leading it.

 

[PaixGioiaAmor]

I would go to Mass when Mass is available at a later time. A Communion service is not intended for weekdays. It is intended fo those situations where no priest is available for Sunday or Holy Day Mass.

You might be interested to know that the Vatican demanded that our diocese CONTINUE the practice of a weekday morning communion service in the Cathedral parish downtown. The rector took it away and people wrote the Vatican. They responded by ordering it reinstated, saying that the people have a right to receive Eucharist.

 

[Br.Rich_SFO]

You might be interested to know that the Vatican demanded that our diocese CONTINUE the practice of a weekday morning communion service in the Cathedral parish downtown. The rector took it away and people wrote the Vatican. They responded by ordering it reinstated, saying that the people have a right to receive Eucharist.

I find it difficult to believe that Rome would not have responded by requiring a daily morning Mass be celebrated.

 

[PaixGioiaAmor]

I find it difficult to believe that Rome would not have responded by requiring a daily morning Mass be celebrated.

It was an interesting situation.

A communion service was held at 6:20 am, with mass at 7:10, 12:00, and 5:10. The rector decided to just have the masses. There was some huge uproar, and a few very loud people carried the issue quite far. The Vatican responded by asking if there was any reason the communion service was impossible. When they were told “no”, they ordered it to continue. They did so without comment and unceremoniously.