Decline in belief in the Eucharist...last words (for now)

I want give my conclusions regarding my blog entries, the blog comments & my observations in the past couple of weeks. These observations don't necessarily explain the decline in the belief in the Real Presence. At the same time, the symptons mentioned in each of these observations aren't the primary reason in the decline either. My last two observations are as follows:

I came to the conclusion, and Rome is in agreement on this, that the return of the communion rail is not only impractical but also could have a negative consequence; mainly a reduction in the number of persons who receive communion or even attend Mass. To begin with, most parishes are not even designed to accomodate the addition of a communion rail. I know Prince of Peace is not. My home parish is not either. The re-education of nearly two generations of persons is also a major factor. We have seen the difficulty of properly educating people on changes in the practice of the faith by the aftermath of poor teaching on the changes of Vatican II. The return of the communion rail would also entail discontinuing the use of Eucharistic ministers. Lastly, no one has been able to explain to me a practical reason for the desire for the return of communion rails and I do not agree that it will increase reverence.

Whether it is because of the return of the communion rail or simply the return to only clergy distributing Communion, there are a number of problems with discontinuing the use of Eucharistic ministers. By discontinuing the use of Eucharistic ministers, the priests and deacons would be the only persons to distribute communion. This is highly impractical. Take Prince of Peace for example. We have 13,000 parishioners but in reality have 900 to 1,300 at each Mass for an average total of about 6,000 actively practicing parishioners. Using 1,000 as the average attendance at a Sunday Mass with a strict time of 3 seconds per person it would take Fr. Frank and I at least 25 minutes just to distribute Communion. In a perfect world, the time it takes to distribute Communion should not be a factor. In reality, however, today's people are not likely to accept this and the solution for them many of them is simply not to attend Mass period. While it is true that we should not put a time constraint on the Mass it is also true that we must be mindful of the lives of our parishioners and their other responsibilities. The Mass schedule itself is often dictated by the needs of the people. It may have been practical forty years ago when we had three times the priests we have but it isn't practical anymore. For example, in 1965 the Archdiocese of Kansas City in KS had 135,000 Catholics and 381 priests (130 diocesan and 251 religious) which comes out to 1 priest for every 354 Catholics. In 2007, the archdiocese had 199,246 Catholics and 167 priests (105 diocesan and 62 religious) which comes out to 1 priest for every 1,193 Catholics - over three times as many Catholics per priest than just forty-two years ago. And as far as active priests we only have 73 diocesan priests and 38 religious priests serving in parishes. So in truth we have 1 priest for every 1,795 Catholic. The reality is that there are not enough priests to properly minister to the Catholic people and this means we need laypersons to help.

While the issues are very complex, what is evident is that there are some very important decisions to be made that will have radical and potentially dangerous consequences. It is vital that before making a broad spectrum opinion or decision about something, every possible aspect as well as its benefits and especially its consequences must be considered. That is why it seems sometimes that Rome moves so slow in responding to issues. The truth is that they are making decisions that impact the souls of millions of people and that is not something to be done hurridly or taken lightly.

This will be my last post on this subject...for awhile at least. I want to encouage people to continue to add comments or insights however. I have a feeling we will be revisiting this topic again sometime soon. Until next time...God bless.

posted by: crossman at 07:01 | link | comments (5) |
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Comments:

#1  01 July 2008 - 11:00

 

1. People need to be coming to Mass every Sunday period, but it should not be for the sole purpose of receiving communion.

2. Because of the 1 hour fast from time of reception of the Eucharist it has become common place for everyone to get up and receive even people who shouldn't be receiving. Not many people are willing to stay seated when EVERYONE gets up to receive. This issue could be resolved by having a longer required fast, say 3 hours, but this rule/law is out of the Priests control.

3. In this Catholic's opinion Extraordinary Ministers should be replaced by Acolytes. I believe this is still the practice the Lincoln, NE Dioceses. This is under full control of the parish Priest although you can expect to take some serious heat from some of your female parishioners. The laity do not have the "right" to distribute communion although people have come to think this is the case. It is not, all within the Church need to be obedient including the laity.

Sincerely John 6:54
www.GetToMass.com

Anonymous

#2  01 July 2008 - 20:22

 

I tend to agree with everything that you've posted here on this topic.

Honestly, my biggest difficulty with EMHCs is that most of them -aren't- trained properly to give Holy Communion to a person receiving on the tongue. At my home parish it's not too big of a deal, but at school, where almost everyone receives in the hand, you can very much tell how awkward a EMHC is.

Then, I just get really bothered when people see being an EMHC as a "right", rather than somewhere to serve. I don't care for the attitude that some people get thinking that they have to be an EMHC, reader, or such in order to participate in the Mass. None of those roles are about finding a place for lay people to "participate". It's about serving because there's a need.

And there is a legitimate need for EMHCs. Like your parish, mine is also in need on them. But I do think they can be over-used in certain situations. Or just have too many. There's a difference between speeding up Communion so that it doesn't last 1/2 hour, and speeding up Communion so it takes five minutes.

Either way... like you said, there are pro's and con's to these issues and I think it's a good thing that Rome does not act right away on them. I think we tend to forget how many souls even a small decision can make.

Thanks for your posts, Father. I enjoy reading them.

In Christ,
Kayla

Anonymous

#3  05 July 2008 - 15:03

 

While I can see where one might think acolytes would be a solution the truth is that I don't think they would. The primary issue with EMHC's is education. I have a friend in the Lincoln diocese and I contacted him about this. He said that their using acolytes hasn't made any difference. Its actually reduced the people available to assist in distributing communion when it is necessary. They DO resolve this problem to some extent by not distributing under both species (Body and Blood) but as far as acolytes being the solution he said no it isn't.

Anonymous

#4  05 July 2008 - 15:07

 

Whoops...that last entry was by me. I guess I wasn't signed in to Motime.

Just a quick follow-up too. An acolyte must be installed by the bishop and must go through training that can be up to a year. My friend in Lincoln said that their training is about 6 months (6 Saturdays for 6 hrs) but that almost no one is able to give that kind of time. I think that we could employ additional educational time to training EMHC's better and also utilizing them less (i.e. not distributing the chalice as much) and this would be a better and more practical solution.

crossman

#5  06 July 2008 - 02:52

 

Fr. Chris

As someone who has seen at more than one parish in the local area, one of the issues of EMHC are their improper reverence toward the tabernacle, and I have seen them purify the vessels, including transferring the blood from one cup to another.

:-(

Anonymous

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