Why not use patens at Mass

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carmel2013 said:
What say you? Is there a good reason not to use them?
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You can determine yourself whether its a “good reason” or not, but there are reasons.

There may not be sufficient numbers of patens and altar servers available to have one with each priest or EMHC at mass, and the priest may have determined the optics look better for all communion stations to be equipped in the same way.
 
Obviously it is not just about the patens. Kneelers were removed among other issues. So I would keep questioning, dig deeper so to speak, to get the real answer. Then if enough are concerned, time to go to the bishop.
 
yankeesouth said:
Obviously it is not just about the patens. Kneelers were removed among other issues. So I would keep questioning, dig deeper so to speak, to get the real answer. Then if enough are concerned, time to go to the bishop.
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Where does it say the kneelers were removed? It says the use of the kneelers at the reception of Communion. Those are two different things.
 
yankeesouth said:
Kneelers were removed
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That isn’t what the OP said. But if virtually no one is kneeling to receive communion, eliminating clutter and things for people to trip over would be a pretty good reason to warehouse the kneelers.
 
Yes I should have been more specific but she also did not say ‘virtualy no one was using them’. My point is the op stated there are a number of issues at play here, not one specific thing. Yes the the single question of the paten was asked but there is more going on here.
 
I will be honest. I have other things on my mind when I go to Mass than whether patens are being used or not; I haven’t seen particles falling all over the place in the many decades since many though not all churches stopped using patens. Since many churches do not use the patens and haven’t for years, this decision would seem to be an option for the pastor to decide.

As for kneelers (I presume you mean in the pews at Communion and not kneeling at altar rail to receive), if I am up to kneeling and there is no kneeler, I simply kneel on the floor, unless the Mass is wall-to-wall people and I have no room to do this. Lots of people just kneel on the floor. Many Masses I attend are in weekday chapels that may just be rooms with chairs and no kneelers. It’s no big deal to use the floor.
 
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Yes. Things in the church are changing and not everyone is comfortable with it. Instead of sitting down with the pastor and giving him an opportunity to reassure them, they’re complaining and trying to raise support for the argument that he is doing something wrong.
 
Yep. Our parish always uses them.

Around here, the servers catch falling hosts (yes, sometimes the Host is accidentally dropped).
 
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Up to 4 or 5 years ago I did the same… kneel on the floor. Age and pain level have caught up with me a bit.
 
That stiffness doesn’t get better with age sigh.

Kneeling to receive is tough. Very tough. Most Churches in our area I have been to do not use patens. I almost always receive on the tongue.
 
carmel2013 said:
Hello:

Our parish has just changed pastors and is going from a very traditional parish to one that is much more contemporary. Our patens have now gone missing, apparently purposely put away so our altar servers won’t use them.
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@carmel2013 , I was an altar server starting back in 1956 and we never used the paten . It was for the priest’s use only . I am puzzled by your questions .
 

Dictionary : COMMUNION PATEN

COMMUNION PATEN A saucer-shaped plate usually of precious metal similar to the Mass paten but having a projecting handle. It is held under the chin of the communicant to catch any particle of the Sacred Host that may fall. It is not blessed.
www.catholicculture.org www.catholicculture.org

Short handled patens used by Altar Server (I’ve seen some with much longer handles as well):

www.zieglers.com

Communion Paten Style CALART716M

Communion Paten with Wood Handle, Gold Finish. Size 5-3/4" x 9"
www.zieglers.com www.zieglers.com

 
on_the_hill said:
I haven’t seen patens used since the early 1970s. Are churches still using them?
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We are using them. We also have Knights of Columbus (not in full regalia unless there is a special occasion) keeping watch over the blessed sacrament.
 
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Thank you for your responses one and all.
Yes, our parish is in turmoil: In less than three weeks our parish has gone from daily Mass/daily Confession to one weekday Mass and one day of Confessions and it has rocked us hard.
I ask about the patens because they were taken away between one Mass and another without any reason given except the one stated earlier (that today’s Hosts are made so as to not leave particles), which, as stated earlier, an altar server contradicted saying he sees particles falling onto the paten frequently.
I apologize if I was unclear but my question is – if we have patens and we can have altar servers saying they see the need for them – what is the case for not using them? Those particles are the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord and it seems that not using the patens puts those particles of the Holy Eucharist at risk of falling to the ground and being trampled underfoot (the color of our flooring would make any dropped particles difficult to see)… I’m not asking the question to start an argument but to try to understand why we aren’t using something we already have.

Thank you.
 
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