Would you prefer your parish use incense more often?

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ProVobis said:
But you’re also burning charcoal. Burning just that inside a building can be quite harmful, I would think. Not to mention as a server you might even blow on the charcoal to get it hot. That’s a lot of smoke that can reach the lungs between blows.
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I smoked two packs of Marlboro Lights a day for 19 years. 🤷

Still, I swing the thurible back and forth to heat up the coals - same deal as blowing on it. I’ve seen deacons’ swinging it like Roger Daltrey with a microphone.

Anyone ever see the Thurible at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella?

youtube.com/watch?v=XpvHaH36anA&feature=related

Now that could kill you. :eek:

-Tim-
 
TimothyH said:
I smoked two packs of Marlboro Lights a day for 19 years. 🤷
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I smoked too. And then I had to sweat a bit when they needed to CT-scan my lungs every 6 months for 3 years. I since donated my swinging brass censor to a Lutheran church.
 
ProVobis said:
But you’re also burning charcoal. Burning just that inside a building can be quite harmful, I would think. Not to mention as a server you might even blow on the charcoal to get it hot. That’s a lot of smoke that can reach the lungs between blows.
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The charcoal in a thurible doesn’t smoke. The charcoal in a BBQ doesn’t smoke either unless you get some fat or liquid on it.
 
ProVobis said:
But you’re also burning charcoal. Burning just that inside a building can be quite harmful, I would think. Not to mention as a server you might even blow on the charcoal to get it hot. That’s a lot of smoke that can reach the lungs between blows.
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You’re absolutely right. Charcoal not coal. In other words wood that has been burned in a low oxygen environment. I don’t use the quick-start charcoal that uses gunpowder as an accelerant. I also don’t use BBQ briquettes with goodness knows what in them. I use actual charcoal.

The key is to use a propane torch to light the charcoal on fire. Do it outside of the thurible – a terracotta flowerpot saucer works well. Turn it over with a set of tongs as you “roast” the charcoal on it’s entire surface. Then use the tongs to transfer the beautifully glowing embers into the thurible. Anyone swinging a thurible to “get it going” is a neophyte.

There is a wold of difference between joss sticks made in a Chinese factory and 100% natural incense and charcoal.
 
I was thinking about the worst experience I ever had with regard to incense during a Mass. They had forgotten to burn the leftover chrism oil at the Easter vigil Mass the night before so some genius got the idea to charge the thurible with chrism.

I remember watching as the thurible flared up horribly when they started pouring chrism into it. Then it started smoking like crazy. The first swing thew lit chrism onto the altar cloth starting a fire.

I got the heck out of there before I burst into laughter.
 
Jegudiel said:
I read a story somewhere where a priest filled a thurible with dry ice and water and “incensed” his parish before Mass began. The complainers still had coughing fits even though the lush, white carbon dioxide plume would in no way cause people to cough who weren’t looking to cough. So much of what we feel is psychosomatic.
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if life was so easy to blame it all on psychsomatic…

Last week the priest was coughing before I was in the vestry (he was in humour) , 😛
being determined not to be a complainer…

I like the smell and love the effect. I am the first one to light a garden bonfire etc and love the smell of cigar smoke etc. I am not complaining about it affecting my chest etc. Just stating that it does. Very Big difference.

I didn’t admitt to it affecting my chest because I still wanted to Serve. I am young enough and it mild enough that I recover by next day but someone more severely asthmatic…
And as a Server I don’t blow onto the charcoal very often because I am not the one lighting it very often. It is very rare I light the charcoal and blow on it and know how to say - not today please as kind of did so the other month but in a light way.
 
ProVobis said:
But you’re also burning charcoal. Burning just that inside a building can be quite harmful, I would think. Not to mention as a server you might even blow on the charcoal to get it hot. That’s a lot of smoke that can reach the lungs between blows.
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It is a small briquette burning in a large space, and the briquette doesn’t produce smoke until the incense is put on top of it by the priest…which, let us hope, waits until he is out of the sacristy. When you blow on the briquette, you blow on it gently from the side and the hot fumes go up. You don’t want to ever put your face directly over the briquette in order to blow down at a fire you’re trying to encourage! :eek:

Unless you are particularly sensitive or you are a somewhat less sensitive person being asked to be the altar server with the thurible, this is not going to hurt you.

There are some priests who go a bit overboard on the incense, though. (Maybe they are the sons of those devout old ladies whose perfume assaults you from 3 pews away? :rolleyes:) That’s another issue!
 
englishredrose said:
I like the smell and love the effect. I am the first one to light a garden bonfire etc and love the smell of cigar smoke etc.
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I think we all have our favorite tobacco or incense flavor/smell/scent. Mine was cherry blend pipe tobacco. Some love the smell of autumn leaves. But we have to watch our lungs is what I’m saying, especially when they have gadgets these days that can detect one small whiff of anything.

But if I have to, I can sit in the back and hope the place is well-ventilated or has open windows.
 
I voted “No”, not because I don’t like incense, but because we already use it every Sunday and Holy Day. I think it would lose its significance if it was used during the Daily Mass, same as if the Schola were chanting every day instead of just Sundays and Holy Days.
 
I voted “No” mainly because our Church is small. Incense is only used on Holy Days… we used it on Easter Vigil. But, most of the time it’s used the Deacon will prop open a side door and put it outside. If he didn’t do that it would probably get overwhelming. But, in general I would like to see parishes use incense more often.

I also love getting asked about incense by Protestants. Because there’s multiple places in the Bible which talk about incense. So… I think most Protestants leave thinking “hmm… if incense is Biblical I wonder why we don’t use it??” 😃
 
I attend a very small Byzantine Catholic parish from time to time. The church is small with a fairly low ceiling. During the Divine Liturgy the deacon uses copious amounts of incense. He even incenses the people twice during the celebration. All without a problem.

I really do think one’s mindset play a huge part. I remember nearly 10 years ago when he apparently used to receive a lot of complaints. Not from the actual Byzantine Catholics but from Roman Catholics attending the parish. He explained that the incense was part of the liturgical rite and that it would be used. If anyone had any questions to please come and see him.

Once he made it clear that the incense wasn’t going anywhere, the complaints ceased. One man (an MD) has emphysema and you can hear him coughing in a peculiar manner but he hangs in there without complaining. A totally different mindset.
 
ProVobis said:
I think we all have our favorite tobacco or incense flavor/smell/scent. Mine was cherry blend pipe tobacco. Some love the smell of autumn leaves. But we have to watch our lungs is what I’m saying, especially when they have gadgets these days that can detect one small whiff of anything.

But if I have to, I can sit in the back and hope the place is well-ventilated or has open windows.
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There has never been a reported case where anyone developed cancer based on exposure to incense smoke in a Christian worship environment. Not ever.
 
Chatter163 said:
Where was this request made?

My parish is a full parish of the archdiocese and is staffed by priests of the FSSP. Is it not an EF parish? :confused:
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Sounds like a Roman Catholic parish to me.

Labels like “OF parish” and “EF parish” exemplify the division many are concerned about. Very unhelpful.
 
Jegudiel said:
Sounds like a Roman Catholic parish to me.

Labels like “OF parish” and “EF parish” exemplify the division many are concerned about. Very unhelpful.
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Then, please help us. What term could we use to concisely express the concept of a church that exclusively celebrates the OF or the EF?

??
 
I love incense. But I said no. Because our parish is made up mostly of older folks and so many of them are allergic or have breathing issues and it really bothers many of them. Also I think because our little church is soooooo tiny, it’s really concentrated and you can’t get away from it even by sitting in the back of the church.
 
Jegudiel said:
Sounds like a Roman Catholic parish to me.

Labels like “OF parish” and “EF parish” exemplify the division many are concerned about. Very unhelpful.
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Balderdash. The Holy Father provided the terms OF and EF precisely so that we COULD use them in discussing the Mass. Obviously in a forum such as this, where liturgical forms are discussed, terms to distinguish churches and chapels and their use of the two forms are going to be used. Nothing more to it than that.
 
Little_Mary said:
What does EF and OF stand for? 😊
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Ordinary Form and Extraordinary Form.

The EF is what is usually known in speech as the “Traditional Latin Mass.”

The OF is what the majority of parishes use, in the vernacular, even though it can be and is celebrated every day in Latin.
 
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