Why shouldn't Sunday school teachers be given the Eucharist in the classroom?

[peterforjc]

Hello,

My Parish refuses to have a Eucharistic Minister go to the Sunday School Classrooms and offer Eucharist to the teachers during Mass at Communion time.
We feel that the teachers are sacrificing themselves to teach during Mass and should be given the opportunity to receive Eucharist during communion.
Though the Sunday School teachers could go to a different Mass, in reality 90% of them will not do this, therefore we feel that Eucharist should be offered to them which their classrooms are only a few walking steps away from the Worship Space.
Any advice or guidance would be appreciated.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear Peter,

In reality the 90% of teachers you speak of need to learn what the Mass is before attempting to teach Sunday school. Better to have no Sunday school than to have the blind leading the blind!

We are not Protestants where Sunday School is equal to the main worship service. Mass is like nothing else. Nothing on the face of the earth can equal what happens on the altar. Any sacrifices we make are miniscule compared to the sacrifice of our Lord’s very body and blood. I don’t mean to berate anyone here. But to miss the supreme importance of the Mass is to not understand Catholicism at all.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us (#1341): “The command of Jesus to repeat his actions and words ‘until he comes’ does not only ask us to remember Jesus and what he did. It is directed at the liturgical celebration, by the apostles and their successors, of the MEMORIAL of Christ, of his life, of his death, of his Resurrection, and of his intercession in the presence of the Father”

Further, if the children aren’t pre-schoolers, they should be at Mass as well.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.