Tag Archives: eucharist

Fasting From the Eucharist

Leave a reply

Here’s a completely different take on the current communion debate that’s all the
rage these days.

Staying
in the Pew at Communion Time

I’ve come to believe that part of the problem has to do with the unremitting insistence
on frequent Communion. I will pause for a moment as 90% of my readers emit gasps
of horror at what I’ve just written. I think we’ve hammered frequent Communion (a
wonderful thing, in itself) into the people’s heads so hard and have at the same
time failed so miserably to catechize them on the full richness of this Sacrament’s
meaning, that now we find Communion time resembling (as one of my scandalized Mexican
parishioners described the English-language Masses) a stampede of cattle, leaving
behind empty pew after empty pew as everyone surges forward to get a Host. And if
they can’t have a Host, you damn sure better give them a nice blessing because it’s
Communion time and, you know, everybody has to get something. I’ve had people go
to confession for not having gone to Communion even though they were present for
an entire Mass. It is not a sin not to go to Communion. But people have been led
to believe that it is. Together with the misunderstood insistence on frequent Communion,
a poor understanding of “active participation in the Liturgy” must shoulder
a fair share of the blame.

A Year of Adoration

Leave a reply

It’s a cool coincidence that my wedding is in the inaugural month of the Year of
the Eucharist. 🙂

John
Paul II Convokes “Year of the Eucharist”
From October 2004 to October 2005

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 10, 2004 (Zenit.org).- On the feast of Corpus Christ, John Paul
II announced a “Year of the Eucharist” that the Catholic Church will observe
from October 2004 to October 2005.

Pope
Explains Why He Convoked “Year of the Eucharist”
Church’s Program Is to Start Afresh From Christ, He Says

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 13, 2004 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II said he convoked the “Year
of the Eucharist” because the program he presented to the Church at the start
of the millennium is based on “starting afresh from Christ.”

Improper Conduct

Leave a reply

Well,
I am now a former parishoner of my parish.

[…]

[A]fter I had received the body and blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ in my mouth, and as I was proceeding back to my pew (still with the Body of Christ in my mouth), the women’s ACTS group finished their rendition of “How Great Thou Art.”

Then half of the congregation clapped and catcalled and whistled and cheered.

During the Eucharist.

For the women’s ACTS group.

And that, my friends, was the deal breaker for me and my parish. I can ignore the ritualized clapping after the choir finishes the final song of the Mass. The priest is gone, the tabernacle is sealed, and the Mass is ended. I can even ignore the fact that the choir director is an ageing ex-hippie gal who shakes her butt whenever she uses the tamborine during a song. I wince but don’t walk out when the altar servers walk up to the altar and start grabbing the crystal chalices filled with the Precious Blood and handing them to the deacon. I can deal with the fact that they use crystal for the chalices and for the ciboriums, even though the Bookman and I have been looking into buying some of the less expensive precious metal ones and donating them to the church.

But the fact that a large percentage of the congregation thought it was acceptable, in any way, shape, or form, to applaud a musical performance during the most sacred mystery of the Eucharist . . . that tells me right there that the people at that parish have no clue what the Mass is about. The disrespect staggered me. I actually gasped, just stunned that anyone could possibly think that it was an appropriate time for catcalls and whooping.

I don’t blame this lady for leaving her parish one bit. It’s sad, though, that she
could not have been a force for change. I’m sure it wasn’t for lack of trying.

United We Stand

Leave a reply

Divided we fall.

Putting aside the actual "meat" of the denial of Eucharist issue, it is quite disturbing and somewhat frightening to see such a division among U.S. Bishops. What kind of message does in-fighting and lack of pastoral harmony send? The Church is in a precarious position right now, due to scandals, dwindling numbers of faithful, rampant heterodoxy, and hostile secularism. We, the members of the Church militant, the body of Christ on earth, need strong, unified leadership. A decision needs to be reached soon, one way or another.

Communion issue causing split amongst US bishops

The New York Times is interpreting recent signs from the Vatican as dismay over the dissention amongst US Bishops on denying communion to politicians.

Weak as Water

Leave a reply

Well, this is certainly a disappointment to me. Bishop Donald Wuerl, otherwise an upstanding, orthodox guy, has taken the politically correct way of the communion denial issue. Another bishop (I forget who at the moment) at least had the guts to say that no Catholic would take communion unworthily. In other words, to do so would make one un- or non-Catholic. Wuerl’s statement seems to laugh in the face of Canon 915.

Wuerl doesn’t back disciplining abortion rights politicians
Says bishops’ role is to educate them
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Pittsburgh’s Catholic bishop said today that Catholic politicians should not support legalized abortion but he does not advocate denying them Holy Communion."

Wuerl: Catholic legislators should make own decision on communion
Bishop says politicians like Kerry who favor abortion rights should stop receiving Holy Communion of their own accord
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
By Ervin Dyer and Mackenzie Carpenter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Pittsburgh’s Catholic bishop said yesterday that Catholic politicians should not support legalized abortion but that he does not advocate denying them Holy Communion."

Don’t deny sacrament, Wuerl says
By Robert Baird
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, May 26, 2004

"Catholic politicians who support abortion violate church teachings, but Pittsburgh’s Roman Catholic bishop said Tuesday he does not favor denying them the sacrament of Holy Communion."

On a related note:

Catholics Should Vote Pro-Life First, Despite Dissident Opinions
by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com Editor
May 6, 2004

"Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A leading Catholic bishop has sparked controversy by suggesting that abortion is just one of many issues Catholic voters should consider when making a decision for whom to vote. Those comments stand in opposition to the overwhelming number of Catholic leaders who say other issues are important but that the pro-life perspective is paramount."