Posted on 02/25/2008 5:48:28 AM PST by NYer
Rome - The Vatican is poised to introduce stricter norms on Roman Catholic mass, including halting the taking of communion in the hand and setting a time limit for homilies, an Italian newspaper reported Monday. Turin-based daily La Stampa quoted senior Vatican official, Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don saying the move was necessary to eliminate "extravagancies" that have crept into Mass celebrations.
Provisions include restricting to 10 minutes homilies and sermons and ensuring that they be exclusively based on the Gospel readings, said Ranjith who is Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
The practice of allowing the faithful to receive Communion - the bread host which Catholics believe represents the body of Christ - in their hands would also be "urgently reviewed", Ranjith was quoted as saying.
The Vatican wants the host "placed directly into the mouths of the faithful so they don't touch it (with their hands)... because many don't even realize they are receiving Christ and do this with scant concentration and respect," Ranjith said.
The distribution of communion on the hands of those attending mass has been widespread since the so-called Vatican II Council - a series of reforms introduced in the 1960s aimed at making church celebrations more accessible to the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.
But according to Ranjith the practice was "illegally and hastily introduced by certain elements of the Church immediately after the Council".
"Some people keep hosts with them as a sort of souvenir, others sell them while in some cases the hosts have been taken away to be used in blasphemous Satanic rituals," he said.
Ranjith said the measures to bring back "dignity and decorum" to mass celebrations were in line with Pope Benedict XVI's wishes, but he did not specify when they would be introduced, nor if they would be issues as an order or a set of guidelines.
Benedict, who earned a reputation as a conservative before being elected pontiff in 2005, last year eased restrictions introduced by Vatican II on the celebration of the traditional Latin mass.
The move which has included softening a prayer for the conversion of Jews contained in the Latin liturgical text, has drawn criticism from Jewish groups who resent what they say remains a singling out of members of their faith.
Meanwhile hard-line traditionalist Catholics have expressed anger over what they say is Benedict's tampering of the original Latin mass which they regard as sacred.
Then lets train folks in respect.
As much as I liked the kneeling at the communion rail, I do believe that receiving in the hand is closer to the command of Christ – “Take this and eat” and what happened at the last supper.
Including some who shove their chewing gum to one side of their mouths when they “pop” the Host in. I’ve actually seen them go down to Communion chewing gum. It’s amazing.
Nobody knows exactly what Jesus did or exactly what happened at the Last Supper. However, the practice of the Church for centuries - in fact, millenia - both in the East and in the West - was for the priest to place the Host or the consecrated species, in the case of the Eastern Church, in the mouth of the communicant.
One of the problems in our modern analysis of things is that somehow we follow the Protestant approach of trying to jump back to some original point in time that (a) we really don’t know with any certainty because we weren’t there and they didn’t make a video; and (b) is separated from us by some 2000 years of development of doctrine and practice, which we certainly have no right either to skip over or throw out. So I think Catholics have more to consider than the speculations of Biblical scholars on what may or may not have happened at a certain moment in the life of Jesus.
That said, we still have our communion rail up! It’s a beautiful malachite and marble railing. Our current pastor has been angling to take it down, but it has some historical value and a number of defenders, and now if Rome comes along and supports Communion on the tongue, it will be logical to start using it again. Woo hoo!
However, the practice of allowing only the priest to touch the Blessed Sacrament goes back to the Old Testament, where only the Jewish priests could touch the Ark of the Covenant which contained the manna and the scrolls of the Law. 1 Chronicles 13:8-10.
When my boys were young (and receiving Communion in the Russian Orthodox Church) I used the holiness of Communion as an analogy to chastity: that the parts of the body which generate life are consecrated, and the spouses are consecrated to each other in the Sacrament of Matrimony, and therefore (with the exception of doctors in the event of medical treatment) only spouses should touch each other's private parts.
But this is what happens when the sense of sacredness of the Blessed Sacrament declines: we become gross and stupid in our perception of spiritual things, and all sanctity declines.
Now there's almost nothing you can even use as an analogy of sacredness. Nothing strikes us as being awesome. No "take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground." No "depart from me, Lord, for I am a man of unclean lips." No angel with a burning ember to purify the mouth of the prophet. No sense that there exists any "mysterium tremendum." No numinous dread mixed with solemn joy, awe or awe-fullness, neither for God nor God's image.
It's as if someone had a rheostat, and turned God's mystery and glory down to minimum. It barely registers anymore.
and the “greet your neighbor” handshakes, and the holding hands during the Our Father, and the corny life teen mass with electric guitars and drum sets...the list goes on :)
Video is in this reel.
http://www.youtube.com/v/9UQFdngUliI
It was a wedding, and nobody knew what to do. The bride eventually retrieved it.
No paten was used.
That’s why I go at 7:30 AM. Short and sweet, usually without hymns and virtually always done by 8:00 AM even for Christmas and Easter.
Remember, though, that it was the 12 Apostles - Jesus' 'choice' followers - who were present at the Last Supper, and became the first bishops.
I bet that many who receive have never been told of the requirements. 30+ years with no real teaching creates a lot of folks who are ignorant (not necessarily disobedient). I can’t remember ever hearing a priest talk about it, at least not from the pulpit.
Freegards
Except Christ didn't speak English and we don't know what happened at the Last Supper. And it's still a Middle Eastern practice, at least sometimes in a relationship of any kind of friendship or affection, to "feed" someone a bit of something right to the mouth.
It was on America’s Funniest Home Videos. A wedding video to boot.
Had there been a paten, it wouldn’t have happened.
Thank you.
As it turns out, there was no talk in the video of the priest being the only one holy enough to retrieve it, or of the woman being unholy and unable to, or any such nonsense referred to above.
What we have are a couple of individuals who are obviously flustered at an embarrassing mistake and who are trying to correct it.
No paten was used.
A common oversight in parishes that usually practice communion in the hand as their default.
Should they work on bringing back no meat on friday first?
When I was preparing for my First Holy Communion, everything stressed respect or this was the Body of Christ we were receiving. We were also taught to receive the host in our hand, for practicality reasons. Our priest suffered from Parkinson’s and little seven year old tongues and Parkinson’s hands did not mix well.
I still take Communion in the hand. The one time I tried taking it on the tongue, the priest hit my nose with the host which then bounced off the plate and onto the floor. I figure, better in my hand than in the aisle.
>>and the “greet your neighbor” handshakes, and the holding hands during the Our Father, and the corny life teen mass with electric guitars and drum sets...the list goes on :)<<
Yepers! I’m down with this. How about if we stop the “Catholic calisthenics” and get back to a Holy Mass?
No meat on Fridays never went away....
>>This is what the new Code of Canon Law brought out in 1983 says about the matter:
Canon 1251
Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. Abstinence and fasting are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Canon Law still requires that Catholics not eat meat on Fridays!
Of course, most Episcopal Conferences have determined that, instead of abstaining from meat, Catholics may perform an act of penance of their choosing. But, do you ever remember to abstain from a particular food or do some other penance on Fridays? And, at any rate, the main rule is still to abstain from meat on Fridays, the performance of another penance instead is an optional alternative. <<
ITS A CRACKER!
What a crazy racist thing to blurt out.
I also wonder what this would do to the distribution of communion by the laity. Although there are times I believe it is essential it has become widely abused in most parishes. In a parish with more than one priest there is no reason why on Sunday masses they all (along with the deacons) cannot assist instead of lounging in the rectories or socializing.
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