From a reader…
QUAERITUR … sort of… there is am implied question:
It all started when I tried to go to a noon Mass today at the liberal parish you have showcased before (the old pastor retired but the new guy is a “get along” guy) and there was a sign in front saying “No Daily Mass This Week.” A large woman in a sleeveless top and shorts (I think she’s a “pastoral associate”) was coming out and waved at me, “I need to turn the sign around. We’re having a Communion Service.” I then continued through the parking lot, made my exit, and headed back to safety. She turned around on her way back and watched me drive away. She looked puzzled.
Are there no diocesan guidelines?
They have announced Communion Services all three days that he normally offers Mass (T-Th). Nothing Monday or Friday since he does not offer Mass on those days.
This suggests a thought pattern of equivalency. [There it is!]
The bigger issue of course is the availability of several Masses within 15 minutes rendering such “emergency sacramental rations” unnecessary.
I wonder what that guy you wrote about last week would do since he abhors going to the tabernacle for “leftovers”.
On that last point, no kidding!
Several things might be good to review.
Over the past several decades, the Holy See has issued precise instructions regarding the use of Communion services in the Novus Ordo.
1. Redemptionis Sacramentum of 2004 from the Congregation for Divine Worship
165: “It is necessary to avoid any confusion between this type of gathering and the celebration of the Eucharist. The diocesan Bishop should give careful consideration to the appropriateness of such celebrations in the absence of a priest and should issue specific norms for the diocese in this regard.”
166: “The diocesan Bishop must not easily grant permission for such celebrations to be held on Sundays and holy days of obligation, especially in places where it is possible or would be possible to have the celebration of Mass.”
167: “It is preferable that the faithful participate in celebrations of the Word of God rather than in celebrations during which Holy Communion is distributed by extraordinary ministers.”
Hence, in suburban or urban areas with multiple parishes, Communion services should not be used simply because the local priest is away. The faithful should be encouraged to attend Mass elsewhere, even if that means adjusting their daily routine.
There’s more…
2. Ecclesiae de Mysterio of 1997 – Interdicasterial Instruction
Art 7.2: “The habitual use of these services on weekdays, especially in places where it is possible to attend Mass, must be avoided.”
Pretty clear. The habitual Communion services in populated areas are to be avoided. This is not a matter of personal preference or parish tradition. Tt is a matter of liturgical fidelity and Eucharistic coherence.
What about this?
3. Directory for Sunday Celebrations in the Absence of a Priest of 1988.
18: “A Celebration of the Word with distribution of Holy Communion is not to be equated with the celebration of the Eucharist. Care must be taken not to create confusion or to promote an attitude of indifference toward the Sunday Mass.”
While focused on Sundays, this provides foundational principles that apply to weekdays.
The point: Don’t foster a mindset that receiving Communion is interchangeable with attending the Sacrifice of the Mass.
When Holy Communion becomes something we expect or demand, there is a risk of turning the sacrament into a self-affirming commodity rather than a transforming mystery.
Communion without the Mass is not the same. The Church does not treat it as equivalent and neither should we. That said, there is no rule that people MUST receive Communion at every Mass. Most people, I suspect, shouldn’t be going at all given that they probably haven’t been to confession for who knows how many years.
If this is manifestly violated where you are, you should inform the local bishop.
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I am not Sede vacantists. Never have been, never will.
I have questioned for many years the Novus Ordo treatment of the Holy Eucharist.
Only a Priest with consecrated hands is allowed to consecrate and distribute the body and blood of Christ. Who does it fall upon? The Pope
For allowing the new mass. Priests who went along with it. Bishops who allow it.
If a Priest drops a host, only he can retrieve it and consume it. When I went to Mass in France they had an Altar rail cloth that you put your hands under so if the Host fell it didn’t fall on floor.
Vatican II , as I remind people was a Pastoral Council and not a Doctrinal Council, stated that if a Priest drops is old or infirm and the distribution of Communion takes to long, the Priest can be assisted. Hello Eucharistic ministers???
How can these N O consecrations be valid when they are treated with such disrespect.
The Priest in the Latin Mass wears beautiful Vestment’s and prays while vesting.
Eucharist ministers wear whatever they want. Women ministers.? Who approved that?
I question, either the N O is invalid or Our Lord is being totally disrespected.
For 6 months now, my Sunday diet has been strictly the TLM. (As opposed to the occasional TLM prior to 2025).
Clearly, the TLM is a sacrifice – prayers offered, a pure victim is prepared, slain, then the person making this sacrifice consumes the victim.
The people, if any are there, partake in the sacrifice by consuming the victim (lamb) if they are properly prepared. If not, in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, they can make a spiritual communion. (Not sure how the Aztecs handled it – did everyone eat?)
The focus is not “communion for all!” It is a sacrifice. It is The Sacrifice.
No communion service by lay hands for me thanks. I’ll pray the rosary – all 15 decades and read the missal if there’s no Mass.
In Butler’s Lives of the Saints June 12 is St John of St. Fagondez. He had a “singular devotion to the Holy Mass.” He reconciled disputes, was a great missionary and converted many hardened sinners. St John of St. Fagondez pray for us!
God bless you Fr Z!!
We sometimes have communion services when all the priests are called away for the twice yearly meeting with the bishop. The nearest Mass is in the next state. I previous parishes I have been in, the laity would be prepared for a ‘communion service’ when the priest failed to show up which happened sometimes when he ran late at the gym or something. I also know of parishes that deliberately had such lay run ‘services’ to get the people ‘used to not having a priest’. Hopefully that nonsense has subsided. But even some daily Mass people would comment that they still ” got what I came for”. That is the level of understanding.
Ave Maria’s comment gets to the heart of it. “Got what I came for.” In the frontier days, Catholics went weeks, months, and years without ANY sacraments. Absence not only makes the heart grow fonder, but communion services foster a practice of receiving without offering.
Perhaps these parishes should move their communion services to nearby nursing homes where the people can’t get to Mass. It’s still not the same thing, but at least they are offering something.
This is actually quite common, depending on where you live.
Before the pandemic, my former parish had daily Masses at 7am and 12pm. However, the Tuesday and Thursday noon Masses had, some years earlier, become regularly scheduled Communion Services.
As an instituted acolyte, I volunteered to serve as one of the “leaders” or “ministers” for these services—mainly because if I didn’t, someone else would, and it would most likely be a woman in an alb standing behind the altar.
We were encouraged to sit in the “presider’s chair” and offer a short “reflection” on the day’s readings. I declined to do so. My Communion Services were very much “by the book”, following the guidance of Bishop Elliott (cf. Ceremonies of the Modern Roman Rite), which included draping a stole in the color of the day over the presider’s chair to signify the priest’s absence, as well as including prayers for vocations to the priesthood.
Someone once told me my Communion Services were “the best”. Occasionally, people even knelt to receive Holy Communion.
I recall hearing years ago that the Holy See was concerned about how many Communion Services—with the Liturgy of the Word and Rite of Communion—resembled Mass too closely, and that a new rite, based more on the Liturgy of the Hours with a Communion Rite, was being developed. I’m not sure what ever came of that.
To paraphrase Fr. Z on concelebration: I think Communion Services should be “safe, legal, and rare”!
The crux of the issue is people want to received Holy Communion, which is laudable. However, they should even more so want to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. That is why in my parish when I am away for a day off or vacation and the priest does not show up for any reason, there is NOT to be a Communion Service. There are 23 + churches within a 5-20 minute drive. There is no need for a Communion Service in all of this area, but there are.
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