Now this really is an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion

Photo: http://sthughofcluny.org/category/masses 

Whatever happened to priestly OCD?

Now I blame Vatican II for many things but it would be a little OTT to hang this one on the poor old Council. I am talking about an obsessive compulsive disorder that was once common among priests - incessant hand washing. You hardly ever hear of it these days but I knew several priests and even one Auxiliary Bishop who suffered with this and, seemingly, never found a way of ceasing the hideous practice which produced countless painful side effects such as psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis.

One does not need to be a psychoanalyst to comprehend the reasons why clerics often suffered from this, although, I guess that, today, some pretty nasty reasons might be levelled in the wake of the child abuse scandals. The reason then (and it was well accepted in Catholic circles) was that an imbalanced view of worthiness developed and was linked, of course, to the physical handling of the Body and Blood of Christ. The priest did not feel 'clean' enough, on a daily basis, to take the Body of Christ between thumb and forefinger and then to proceed to distribute the Eucharist to the mouths of the kneeling faithful.
It is a very comprehensible disorder and a very disruptive one for the priest because the handwashing exercise would manifest itself every few minutes and, very often, the hands that would hold the Sacred Host the next day at Mass, would be red raw and bleeding by the end of the day.

There was no help available, of course, I am sure that the view of the Canon observing his curate's fetish type habit would be to say: "Pull yourself together and cut it out at once Father!" Not very helpful but, there were quite a few bad things about the days before Vat II. In some instances, those who committed suicide were not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground - very hard and now, happily, a thing of the past.

When Pilate washed his hands it was
for a very different reason!

So why is it apparently absent today? I believe that we are more relaxed in respect of the Blessed Sacrament today and that this easy going attitude has rubbed off on the priest (after all, most priests will have a coven bevy of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to aid him in the time consuming and laborious task of distributing Holy Communion to all those hordes who await with hands outstretched. No OCD amongst that lot, their hands were probably peeling spuds or throwing darts down the local the night before......ahem.

Of course, do not misunderstand me, it is a good thing that priests do not suffer with this complaint so much these days; it is just an interesting reflection on how time changes observance.

I have a book written by a Herefordshire Catholic woman in the early 19th century and, in those days they would begin preparation for the Sacrament of Confession a full three days before the priest was due to call. Each day would be a blend of prayer, silence, meditation and examination of conscience.....but no handwashing!

I WON'T STAND FOR COMMUNION!

I thought that I had posted enough on the subject of kneeling to receive Our Blessed Lord by mouth but, Francis Phillips of the Catholic Herald has opened up the debate still further and the blogosphere has got a tad worked up by it.
So here are my last words, really. Prompted by the fact that, up until January of this year I had never, in 66 years (doggie ones), laid hand on a consecrated host.
What happened in January was, for me, a shocking experience. I was fortunate enough to serve an EF Mass at St Mary Maggiore's in Rome. It took place in a side chapel with a congregation of four. By the time the priest was ready to distribute Communion, the congregation had swelled to 10 or 12 souls - such is the power of the Mass of all time!

Faced with this dilemma, the priest, most reverently, broke up each host into segments but, horror of horrors, one segment fell to the floor. The priest suffered from acute arthritis and I knew he would not be able to retrieve the host so I began to place the communion plate over the fragment for retrieval later (standard practice in times past). However, the priest, being a little more worldly wise than I, did not wish to leave the host unprotected as there were crowds wandering around the church and chance is not an option where the safety of the host is concerned.
He whispered to me that I should pick it up.....I bent down with hand outstretched but then froze...I was incapable of movement..."Pick it up" whispered the priest more insistently...still I could not move...rational thoughts were racing through my head. I knew this was the only thing to do and the right thing to do but I was still doing a reasonable impression of Lot's wife. "Pick up the host" whispered the priest commandingly, so I did.
Afterwards I was in a state of mild shock; I was very disturbed and it took a day or two to wear off.
Now this story will be pooh-hooed by many. I can hear cries of "inbred superstition," "religious maniac"and much more besides but, it is a fact that those of us who believe in the True Presence and the divinity of Christ also believe that He should be accorded not just reverence but the greatest reverence we can reasonably show when we receive the Blessed Sacrament.

Here are some of the specious arguments that I have read over the past few weeks (and my responses in red):

1. "I can be just as reverent standing up" Really? Is that possible? It's an outward sign as well as an inward one we are looking for and kneeling is more reverent than standing for these reasons - it requires more effort and it is a recognised way of humbling oneself.

2. "Our Church doesn't have Communion rails" Install them

3. "It takes up too much time to kneel" What! can't we afford God a few extra minutes?

4. "Our priest does not like to give to those kneeling" Speak to your priest and if you don't get any joy, write to your Bishop and then Rome

5. "We have Ministers of Holy Communion who will not give to those kneeling"
Get rid of them. Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion are only permitted to distribute the sacrament under exceptional circumstances (not likely to be normally encountered in most parishes) - See Ecclesia de Mysterio

6. "Receiving by mouth spreads diseases" No one has died from receiving the Body of Christ yet!

7. "Priests do not kneel when they receive, why should I" Because you are not a priest - simple

8. "I want to kneel but I would be the only one doing so" Our Lord was the only one to offer up His life for us....surely we can take a little embarrassment (and snide comments) on His behalf?

9. "But we wish to receive under both kinds and kneeling would be impossible"
Each species is entire and complete, each host is both body and blood and each drop of precious blood both body and blood. It is unnecessary to receive both*
*as an extra note: reception of the Precious Blood is fraught with safety issues. How do you recover from a spillage? You cannot leave the Body of Christ there on and in the fibres of the carpet, so what do you do? You know the answer!

10. "The Apostles did not kneel to receive at The Last Supper" As priests and Bishops of the Church they had the privilege of receiving (as far as we know) by hand

Extraordinary insights into the practice of....

.......Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. Are EMHCs (or Ministers of Holy Communion as they erroneously prefer to be called), legit? Do they have a role to play in today's Church?

I have always wrestled with this issue, especially when I used to attend the then Novus Ordo Mass to witness them trotting off after Holy Communion (wrong to leave before Mass ends surely?) to take the Sacrament to the sick. What happens if the poor soul is in a state of mortal sin? They can't very well hear Confessions can they? Or can they? Not yet at any rate.

And, anyway, why if there is a priest present do EMHCs have to distribute the Eucharist? I have never received Holy Communion from anyone other than a priest and would no more think about receiving from Mr X than I would attempt to carry out the removal of my appendix with a blunt knife and a wire coat hanger! It's not for me!

Now the great Fr Zuhlsdorf has thrown a hand grenade into the room with his piece on something called Ecclesia de mysterio....heard of it? No? Well he posted it in December last year but it slipped past me. He has raised it again as a parish priest (Fr Rick Heilman, brave, brave man) in the US  has given his EMHCs the order of the boot...he's sacked them!  There will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth from the Cathlib brigade but I think it's long overdue. EMHCs should only be used at time of extraordinary need.

  Here's the piece from Fr Z .......and here's the link to Fr Rick Heilman's site.

Ecclesia de mysterio…. Ever heard of it?

Posted on 28 December 2010 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In 1997 the Holy See issued an important document, unusual in its form and provenance in that it was signed by eight dicasteries, or departments of the Roman Curia.

• Congregation for the Clergy
• Pontifical Council for the Laity
• Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
• Congregation for Bishops
• Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples
• Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
• Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts

Don’t for a moment think that, just because the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wasn’t at the top of the list, it isn’t the most important.
Ecclesia de mysterio approved by the Sovereign Pontiff who ordered that it be issued in forma specifica, which gives it even greater weight.  It contains legal provisions in order to correct abuses.

In the light of the aforementioned principles, remedies, based on the normative discipline of the Church, and deemed opportune to correct abuses which have been brought to the attention of our Dicasteries, are hereby set forth.

It is called in English, “Instruction on Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of Priests“.
You will have to look for this document on the website of the Holy See under the Pontifical Council for the Laity.  You won’t find it easily by looking on the website under the other dicasteries or by using their so-called “search” feature.
As this document itself states:

The scope of this present document is simply to provide a clear, authoritative response to the many pressing requests which have come to our Dicasteries from Bishops, Priests and Laity seeking clarification in the light of specific cases of new forms of “pastoral activity” of the non-ordained on both parochial and diocesan levels.
Though being born in very difficult and emergency situations and even initiated by those who sought to be genuinely helpful in the pastoral moment, certain practices have often been developed which have had very serious negative consequences and have caused the correct understanding of true ecclesial communion to be damaged. These practices tend to predominate in certain areas of the world and even within these, a great deal of variation can be found.

Remember, eight dicasteries of the Curia signed onto this document.
Ecclesia de mysterio, among other things, seeks to correct the abuses of the laity and of the priesthood, both, which have crept in over time because of  theological problems resulting from, for example, the terms “minister” and “ministry”.
Here the titles of the provisions:

1. Need for an Appropriate Terminology
2. The Ministry of the Word
3. The Homily
4. The Parish Priest and the Parish
5. The Structures of Collaboration in the Particular Church
6. Liturgical Celebrations
7. Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest
8. The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
9. The Apostolate to the Sick
10. Assistance at Marriages
11. The Minister of Baptism
12. Leading the Celebration at Funerals
13. Necessary Selection and Adequate Formation

Let’s tease out one of these: 8. The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
I am not making this up.  Go look for yourselves.  My emphases.

Article 8
The Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion
The non-ordained faithful already collaborate with the sacred ministers in diverse pastoral situations since “This wonderful gift of the Eucharist, which is the greatest gift of all, demands that such an important mystery should be increasingly better known and its saving power more fully shared”.(95)
Such liturgical service is a response to the objective needs of the faithful especially those of the sick and to those liturgical assemblies in which there are particularly large numbers of the faithful who wish to receive Holy Communion.
§ 1. The canonical discipline concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion must be correctly applied so as to avoid generating confusion. The same discipline establishes that the ordinary minister of Holy Communion is the Bishop, the Priest and the the Deacon.(96) Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion are those instituted as acolytes and the faithful so deputed in accordance with Canon 230, § 3.(97)
A non-ordained member of the faithful, in cases of true necessity, may be deputed by the diocesan bishop, using the appropriate form of blessing for these situation, to act as an extraordinary minister to distribute Holy Communion outside of liturgical celebrations ad actum vel ad tempus or for a more stable period. In exceptional cases or in un foreseen circumstances, the priest presiding at the liturgy may authorize such ad actum.(98)
§ 2. Extraordinary ministers may distribute Holy Communion at eucharistic celebrations only when there are no ordained ministers present or when those ordained ministers present at a liturgical celebration are truly unable to distribute Holy Communion.(99) They may also exercise this function at eucharistic celebrations where there are particularly large numbers of the faithful and which would be excessively prolonged because of an insufficient number of ordained ministers to distribute Holy Communion. (100)
This function is supplementary and extraordinary (101) and must be exercised in accordance with the norm of law. It is thus useful for the diocesan bishop to issue particular norms concerning extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion which, in complete harmony with the universal law of the Church, should regulate the exercise of this function in his diocese. Such norms should provide, amongst other things, for matters such as the instruction in eucharistic doctrine of those chosen to be extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, the meaning of the service they provide, the rubrics to be observed, the reverence to be shown for such an august Sacrament and instruction concerning the discipline on admission to Holy Communion.
To avoid creating confusion, certain practices are to be avoided and eliminated where such have emerged in particular Churches:
— extraordinary ministers receiving Holy Communion apart from the other faithful as though concelebrants;
— association with the renewal of promises made by priests at the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, as well as other categories of faithful who renew religious vows or receive a mandate as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion;
— the habitual use of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass thus arbitrarily extending the concept of “a great number of the faithful”.

Ends/................

Of course, the Bishops of England and Wales will be tripping over in their haste to implement Ecclesia de mysterio........hang on....a pig has just flown past my window!