Hey Lady! When you hear from her, and if you have time, could you relay this question from Catholic Answers?
An interesting question was posed to me today and I didn't know the answer but said I would post it for a response.
As hundreds of thousands of Catholics receive communion at the World Youth outdoor Masses how is it possible to confect the Eucharist for all of them?
Are some of the communion wafers consecrated and reserved beforehand?
or
Does all of the bread and the wine which is going to be consecrated actually need to be directly on the altar itself while the Pope prays the words of the Eucharistic Liturgy?
If he intends it can he confect the Eucharist in wafers being held in a chalice even a mile away?
This same person wanted to know is it possible to have containers with wine on the altar during the words of consecration which do not undergo transubstantiation and therefore do not change into the Precious Blood because the priest simply had too much wine which he didn't intend to confect? Rather than put the extra wine on a side table he simply sets it to a corner of the altar.
Anyone up to handling these questions- if they aren't too confusing- please do.
Excellent questions! AND ... no need to ask GipperGal because EWTN has already supplied the response (I believe).
Recall the Installation Mass of Pope Benedict XVI. Standing directly behind him, were rows of priests holding communion cups containing unconsecrated hosts. B-16 did not say the words of Consecration until ... ALL ... of these priests were in position. Hence, all the hosts were validly consecrated. And ... carefully observing their distribution via the MSM coverage ... when the consecrated hosts ran out, each priest returned with an empty communion cup.
Being home sick for 2 days (God is most merciful :-), I have watched EWTN's extensive coverage of World Youth Day. Fr. Francis Mary, trying to kill some time, began citing statistics. One of the statistics mentioned that the number of attendees at Sunday's Mass is limited. Furthermore, 3600 chalices are in place to hold the hosts to be consecrated. When they're finished distributing them ... that's it! Now it is possible that some of the priests distributing communion may elect to break the hosts into pieces in order to extend the distribution, should they have miscalculated. It seems though, that much thought has gone into preparations for Sunday's Mass and it should also be interesting to watch this liturgy for 'signs' of what to expect from our new Holy Father.
Hope this tidbit is helpful.
The Priest only confects the sacrament in the elements he actually intends to consecrate.
As long as it is clear in his own mind what he is doing, he can certainly exclude some items on the side of the altar from consecration.