A reader writes:
I’ve been looking for canonical or magisterial information on the practice of some priests (who are not presiding) who exit the sanctuary once they’re finished with the homily only to pop-in later to give communion to the faithful.
I argue that it shouldn’t be done because of the unity and continuity between the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Bread.
They started this practice so they could have a single priest give the
homily for all the weekend Masses (5 in total at our parish).
You’ve got at least some traction here in the law, if they’re doing it on a weekly basis. According to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal:
66. The Homily should ordinarily be given by the priest celebrant himself. He may entrust it to a concelebrating priest or occasionally, according to circumstances, to the deacon, but never to a lay person. In particular cases and for a just cause, the homily may even be given by a Bishop or a priest who is present at the celebration but cannot concelebrate.
The phrase "in particular cases" indicates that this should not be a habitual thing.
The reader also writes:
Related to this question, is a "fireman" priest who comes in to distribute communion always preferable to an extraordinary minister of communion?
Rome would have much less problem with this, because they really, really, really do not want extraordinary ministers being used unless they have to be.
This is indicated by the tenor of the way the issue is handled in the instruction Redemptionis Sacramentum:
[157.] If there is usually present a sufficient number of sacred ministers for the distribution of Holy Communion, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion may not be appointed. Indeed, in such circumstances, those who may have already been appointed to this ministry should not exercise it. The practice of those Priests is reprobated who, even though present at the celebration, abstain from distributing Communion and hand this function over to laypersons.
[158.] Indeed, the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion may administer Communion only when the Priest and Deacon are lacking, when the Priest is prevented by weakness or advanced age or some other genuine reason, or when the number of faithful coming to Communion is so great that the very celebration of Mass would be unduly prolonged. This, however, is to be understood in such a way that a brief prolongation, considering the circumstances and culture of the place, is not at all a sufficient reason.
While this doesn’t explicitly say "priests who aren’t present can come in to distribute Communion," it establishes such a strong preference for ordinary ministers over extraordinary ones that Rome not only wouldn’t have a problem with this but might regard it as preferable.
This has been happening at our parish and I love it. Every Sunday Mass is celebrated by only one of our three priests. However,the other two usually arrive in the sanctuary sometime after the Eucharistic prayer but before the Agnus Dei to help with the distribution of Communion. In our large parish we still need an additional six Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. It truly shows their great commitment to the Eucharist and sends a very positive message to the congregation.
need an additional SIX? Nine total people distributing? Well, at least all the priests are included…
This happens in my mother in law’s parish as well, where they have an orthodox pastor and two wonderful young priests who all distribute communion at every mass. They also each take a door after mass so that a priest can greet the people, no matter from which door we exit (Unfortunately, its a bleh 1960’s constructed church-in-the-round). Makes you feel like they take Sunday mass, the people, and the Eucharist very seriously.
Honestly, it’s refreshing. It’s probably not in Redemptionis Sacramentum because it’s either rare or expected. Was this commonplace before VII and Extraordinary giver-outers, or did only the celebrant and concelebrating priests distribute communion?
It was SOP at my parish before V-II. We always had 2 (and, sometimes, all 3) of our priests distributing Communion.
Louise,
After thinking about it is five additional people. Two go to the balcony so we don’t have lines of people falling as they try to navigate their way down the odd labrynth of stairs that get to the balcony. There are three major aisles that have two lines each.
We get the complete opposite. Associate Priest celebrates. Pastor comes to read the gospel and homily and then leaves. 7 EU’s help distribute communion. After communion, Pastor returns to give announcements.
You know. It’s kind of a trade-off. Either you have several EMHCs in order to distribute communion faster, or you use only ordinary ministers, BUT give the choir that much time to play more “best liturgical hits of the 70s,80s, 90’s and today”.
At a local parish, the pop-up priest is a weekly regular, but the fireman priest is nowhere in sight (although you probaly wouldn’t notice him amongst the sea of EM, 12 at least!). You can even go online and see who is saying the Mass you want to attend and who is preaching for the weekend. It bothered me a little when I heard that the pastor’s justification was that it saves the priests (four total) from the work of each having to write a homily every week. I hope my priest doesn’t think of his job as only 9 to 5.
chris-2-4:
I would argue that a pastor who was so concerned about distributing the Eucharist in the most reverent and faithful way probably wouldn’t let the choir indulge in “best liturgical hits of the 70s,80s, 90’s and today”. A reverent priest can have an amazing impact on the overall attitude of everyone in attendance.
C.M.W.:
I wouldn’t be so sure. The number of EMHCs is a matter of liturgical correctness, while the “hymns” sung are largely a matter of style. I agree that they MIGHT go hand in hand, but a priest who is very conscientious of the rubrics may still opt to allow a more modern collection of hymns…
Also (regarding hymns) today’s priests may not pay a ton of attention to liturgical music. They may have grown up with 1970s and 80s stuff, endured it, and discerned for the priesthood while simply accepting that the music is part of the deal.
95% of the parishes I’ve been to lately have “Music Issue” or whatever the flimsy book is that is put in the cover along with the missalette. Not much to chose from there, no matter how orthodox the priest.
The only time we ever have a priest give the homily and then leave is a couple times when the pastor had a Big Announcement From The Bishop About That Situation. Father didn’t want to put the Big Announcement on any of the other priests. So the priest saying Mass said a little something about how the pastor was going to say something (as if he were a guest homilist), and Father came up. After giving the announcement/homily, Father left (though letting people know he’d be back for people to let people talk to him after Mass).
All this is IIRC.
Thanks for the info! Our bishop was at my parish to give homilies for all the Masses one weekend, and I was surprised (“shocked” might be a better word) when he walked out after the Homily, because I had never seen anyone do that before. I’m glad to know that it is contemplated by canon law.
bill912 says:
“It was SOP at my parish before V-II. We always had 2 (and, sometimes, all 3) of our priests distributing Communion.”
That’s how I remember it too, and in my present parish in Chicago it still continued up until, oh, about 20 years ago. Then they brought in the extraordinary ministers, who are now all over the place.
Jonathan Prejean, we had a few visits from our Vicariate Bishop last year in regard to That Situation (we lost one of our priests in the witch-hunt, and may I say right now that I think the charge against him is absolute BS). I wish the VB *had* given us the bad news and then beat it; he did nobody any favors (certainly not himself) by keeping the spotlight on himself for the whole Mass.
Dr. White has responded to your blog article:
Click here
EEEEK! How did that get on the wrong comment thread?
Sorry.
We have two priests on staff and they are nearly always there on Sunday to distribute communion regardless as to who celebrates. I deeply appreciate it, especially when Fr Schleicher, who could have retired long ago and whose health is not good, shows up to do his duty.
“The homily may even be given by a Bishop or a priest WHO IS PRESENT at the celebration but cannot concelebrate”… But in this case the priest walks out of the celebration after the homily. Does that count as “being present” for the celebration? He’s there, but he’s not really there.
I would love it if the parish down the road would only use the priests and deacons to distribute communion, but how do you convince them they can when they are use to having 22 EMs? I kid you not, I counted yesterday! Plus the priest and deacon that is 24 people total. This church has 2 actie priests, 2 retired and 4 deacons. They would never do it.