C
colliric
Guest
Melbourne’s Central Business District.
- Status
O
Ockham
Guest
So you are worried the congregation would get bored if there was only a priest distributing Communion? Maybe they could use that time to pray, prepare themselves for receiving the Lord.
I’ve seen surveys that indicate over half the people receiving Communion don’t believe in Transubstantiation. Could a rush to get through the Communion line from a lay person be strengthening or weakening this fundamental Catholic belief?
I’ve seen surveys that indicate over half the people receiving Communion don’t believe in Transubstantiation. Could a rush to get through the Communion line from a lay person be strengthening or weakening this fundamental Catholic belief?
L
Lux_et_Tenebrae
Guest
That would seem reasonable to me, but it really isn’t up to me or any lay person to make the judgement. This is up to the pastor. and any complaints should be taken up in private, and with charity.
I certainly agree that EMHC are needed in most parishes in my area.
Lux
N
Newbie2
Guest
Yes, that would probably help. I’m shocked at the number of people, and who those people are in my parish that aren’t on board with the concept of true presence.Just for clarification’s sake, I would suggest that we use the correct terminology, Extraordinary Minister of HolyCommunion. You probably mean that, but, the Church does ask us to get the terminology right.
That’s a very nice way of putting it, BDgal.
Thus, even if these folks are on the schedule, if their usage is not warranted, they should not go up to assist.
Perhaps it would be best to check with the Priest before not participating; catching him off guard might make for some irreverant confusion in the Sanctuary.
What is needed, as I see it, is sound catechesis. Perhaps a word within the homily of proper disposition after receiving Holy Communion or even catechesis by way of the parish bulletin could help. How can one be bored, if he believes that he has just received the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Living God? This is a symptom of a greater problem and quite a sad situation.
Good question.
I see arguments on either side, yes and no.
N
Newbie2
Guest
Some large parishes such as ours run Sunday AM masses on a somewhat tight schedule, and I’ll bet we’re not alone. It takes time to clear out the parking lot in time for the next group to get into the parking lot and into the church.
I guess it’s how one looks at it, “speeding up” vs. “slowing down”. In our parish with no EMHCs, it would probably add 20-30 minutes to each mass, which would bottle up traffic.
Then, methinks, you’d get more people leaving before the end of mass just to get out, and coming late to the next mass to avoid traffic.
Not a great excuse, but it’s the reality. We don’t want to trade one problem for another, although granted that the Eucharist is the most important part of the mass.
O
Ockham
Guest
If you truly believe the consecrated host is the body of our Lord, why are unconsecrated hands touching it? To keep traffic flowing?
If you read the prayers of the Tridentine Mass, much more reverence was shown and asked for by the priest from God.
During the Bugnini Mass, the EMHC walk up to the sanctuary during the Agnes Dei (in my church without even a bow of the head) and take their chalice. No prayers, no reverence, nothing. Is it any wonder the majority of Catholics don’t believe in Transubstantiation?
Here’s how the priest approaches the altar in the Tridentine Mass and some of the prayers he says before touching the body of our Lord:
*I will go to the altar of God.
Do me justice, O God, and fight my fight against an unholy people, rescue me from the wicked and deceitful man.
Send forth Thy light and thy truth: for they have led me and brought me to thy holy hill and Thy dwelling place
I shall yet praise Thee upon the harp, O God, my God. Why art thou sad, my soul, and why art thou downcast?
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
I will go to the altar of God.
Our help + is in the Name of the Lord.
Take away from us our iniquities, we implore Thee, Lord, that with pure minds we may worthily enter into the holy of holies: through Christ our Lord. Amen.
We implore You, Lord, by the merits of all Thy Saints, whose relics are here, and of all the Saints, that thou wouldst deign to forgive me all my sins. Amen.
Accept, O Holy Father, Almighty and eternal God, this spotless host, which I, Thine unworthy servant, offer to Thee, my living and true God, to atone for my numberless sins, offenses and negligences; on behalf of all here present and likewise for all faithful Christians living and dead, that it may profit me and them as a means of salvation to life everlasting. Amen.*
I wash my hands among the innocent, and I go around Your altar, O Lord, that I may hear the voice of praise, and tell of all Thy wondrous works. O Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house and the place where Thy glory dwelleth. Take not away my soul, O God with the wicked: nor my life with men of blood. On their hands are crimes, and their right hands are full of bribes. But as for me I have walked in my innocence; redeem me, and have mercy on me. My foot has stood in the right way;s in the churches I will bless Thee, O Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
It was just this year that I attended my first Tridentine Mass. This has been a year of discovery and renewal of my faith. Tears often fill my eyes in the Tridentine Mass as I weep for all of us deprived of its beauty and spirituality.
The Tridentine Mass held us all together for nearly two thousand years. During the age of aquarius, our Mass was gutted and it nearly killed the Church.
Priests. While the number of priests in the United States more than doubled to 58,000, between 1930 and 1965, since then that number has fallen to 45,000. By 2020, there will be only 31,000 priests left, and more than half of these priests will be over 70.
Ordinations. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States. In 2002, the number was 450. In 1965, only 1 percent of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15 percent of all U.S. parishes.
Seminarians. Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700, a decline of over 90 percent. Two-thirds of the 600 seminaries that were operating in 1965 have now closed.
Sisters. In 1965, there were 180,000 Catholic nuns. By 2002, that had fallen to 75,000 and the average age of a Catholic nun is today 68. In 1965, there were 104,000 teaching nuns. Today, there are 8,200, a decline of 94 percent since the end of Vatican II.
Religious Orders. For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven.
The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 to 84 in 2000.
Catholic schools. Almost half of all Catholic high schools in the United States have closed since 1965. The student population has fallen from 700,000 to 386,000. Parochial schools suffered an even greater decline. Some 4,000 have disappeared, and the number of pupils attending has fallen below 2 million – from 4.5 million.
Though the number of U.S. Catholics has risen by 20 million since 1965, Jones’ statistics show that the power of Catholic belief and devotion to the Faith are not nearly what they were.
Catholic Marriage. Catholic marriages have fallen in number by one-third since 1965, while the annual number of annulments has soared from 338 in 1968 to 50,000 in 2002.
Attendance at Mass. A 1958 Gallup Poll reported that three in four Catholics attended church on Sundays. A recent study by the University of Notre Dame found that only one in four now attend.
Only 10 percent of lay religious teachers now accept church teaching on contraception. Fifty-three percent believe a Catholic can have an abortion and remain a good Catholic. Sixty-five percent believe that Catholics may divorce and remarry. Seventy-seven percent believe one can be a good Catholic without going to mass on Sundays. **By one New York Times poll, 70 percent of all Catholics in the age group 18 to 44 believe the Eucharist is merely a “symbolic reminder” of Jesus. **
Source: Index of Leading Catholic Indicators. “The Church since Vatican II” by Kenneth C. Jones
If you read the prayers of the Tridentine Mass, much more reverence was shown and asked for by the priest from God.
During the Bugnini Mass, the EMHC walk up to the sanctuary during the Agnes Dei (in my church without even a bow of the head) and take their chalice. No prayers, no reverence, nothing. Is it any wonder the majority of Catholics don’t believe in Transubstantiation?
Here’s how the priest approaches the altar in the Tridentine Mass and some of the prayers he says before touching the body of our Lord:
*I will go to the altar of God.
Do me justice, O God, and fight my fight against an unholy people, rescue me from the wicked and deceitful man.
Send forth Thy light and thy truth: for they have led me and brought me to thy holy hill and Thy dwelling place
I shall yet praise Thee upon the harp, O God, my God. Why art thou sad, my soul, and why art thou downcast?
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
I will go to the altar of God.
Our help + is in the Name of the Lord.
Take away from us our iniquities, we implore Thee, Lord, that with pure minds we may worthily enter into the holy of holies: through Christ our Lord. Amen.
We implore You, Lord, by the merits of all Thy Saints, whose relics are here, and of all the Saints, that thou wouldst deign to forgive me all my sins. Amen.
Accept, O Holy Father, Almighty and eternal God, this spotless host, which I, Thine unworthy servant, offer to Thee, my living and true God, to atone for my numberless sins, offenses and negligences; on behalf of all here present and likewise for all faithful Christians living and dead, that it may profit me and them as a means of salvation to life everlasting. Amen.*
I wash my hands among the innocent, and I go around Your altar, O Lord, that I may hear the voice of praise, and tell of all Thy wondrous works. O Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house and the place where Thy glory dwelleth. Take not away my soul, O God with the wicked: nor my life with men of blood. On their hands are crimes, and their right hands are full of bribes. But as for me I have walked in my innocence; redeem me, and have mercy on me. My foot has stood in the right way;s in the churches I will bless Thee, O Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
It was just this year that I attended my first Tridentine Mass. This has been a year of discovery and renewal of my faith. Tears often fill my eyes in the Tridentine Mass as I weep for all of us deprived of its beauty and spirituality.
The Tridentine Mass held us all together for nearly two thousand years. During the age of aquarius, our Mass was gutted and it nearly killed the Church.
Priests. While the number of priests in the United States more than doubled to 58,000, between 1930 and 1965, since then that number has fallen to 45,000. By 2020, there will be only 31,000 priests left, and more than half of these priests will be over 70.
Ordinations. In 1965, 1,575 new priests were ordained in the United States. In 2002, the number was 450. In 1965, only 1 percent of U.S. parishes were without a priest. Today, there are 3,000 priestless parishes, 15 percent of all U.S. parishes.
Seminarians. Between 1965 and 2002, the number of seminarians dropped from 49,000 to 4,700, a decline of over 90 percent. Two-thirds of the 600 seminaries that were operating in 1965 have now closed.
Sisters. In 1965, there were 180,000 Catholic nuns. By 2002, that had fallen to 75,000 and the average age of a Catholic nun is today 68. In 1965, there were 104,000 teaching nuns. Today, there are 8,200, a decline of 94 percent since the end of Vatican II.
Religious Orders. For religious orders in America, the end is in sight. In 1965, 3,559 young men were studying to become Jesuit priests. In 2000, the figure was 389. With the Christian Brothers, the situation is even more dire. Their number has shrunk by two-thirds, with the number of seminarians falling 99 percent. In 1965, there were 912 seminarians in the Christian Brothers. In 2000, there were only seven.
The number of young men studying to become Franciscan and Redemptorist priests fell from 3,379 in 1965 to 84 in 2000.
Catholic schools. Almost half of all Catholic high schools in the United States have closed since 1965. The student population has fallen from 700,000 to 386,000. Parochial schools suffered an even greater decline. Some 4,000 have disappeared, and the number of pupils attending has fallen below 2 million – from 4.5 million.
Though the number of U.S. Catholics has risen by 20 million since 1965, Jones’ statistics show that the power of Catholic belief and devotion to the Faith are not nearly what they were.
Catholic Marriage. Catholic marriages have fallen in number by one-third since 1965, while the annual number of annulments has soared from 338 in 1968 to 50,000 in 2002.
Attendance at Mass. A 1958 Gallup Poll reported that three in four Catholics attended church on Sundays. A recent study by the University of Notre Dame found that only one in four now attend.
Only 10 percent of lay religious teachers now accept church teaching on contraception. Fifty-three percent believe a Catholic can have an abortion and remain a good Catholic. Sixty-five percent believe that Catholics may divorce and remarry. Seventy-seven percent believe one can be a good Catholic without going to mass on Sundays. **By one New York Times poll, 70 percent of all Catholics in the age group 18 to 44 believe the Eucharist is merely a “symbolic reminder” of Jesus. **
Source: Index of Leading Catholic Indicators. “The Church since Vatican II” by Kenneth C. Jones
- Status