They are still happening.

Here we go again...

Oh, and is it really appropriate to refer to "ungrateful b******s" in a parish newsletter?

While we're here, is it really appropriate to quote from feminist Elizabeth Johnson's "She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse" (though the newsletter gets the title wrong referring to "Who is She")

Another Communion Service...

All the people who want to ask "huh? what's wrong with communion services?" can read my previous blog entries on the subject here, here, here, here and here.

Because the Parish Priest is away in Lourdes, the parish down the road have decided to have four "Communion Services" this week.

Masses: Vigil Mass: Sat 6.30 pm; Sun: 10 am Sat: 9 am Communion Services: Mon to Fri 9 am, except Tues 7 pm

[link]

Bishop Drainey? Are you asleep?

Previous blog entries on this are here, here, here and here.

The parish down the road are at it again...

Thurs     9 am    Service of the Word and Holy Communion

Fri     9 am    Service of the Word and Holy Communion

Sat     9 am    Service of the Word and Holy Communion

[link]

The diocesan MC told me in December that "These services are not meant to be celebrated on weekdays. So what happens now is we raise this as a point of discussion at all the next Deanery meetings in our diocese"

Hmmm. So what happens now?

I've blogged about this again and again and again.

The Diocesan MC, Fr Gerard Robinson wrote to me in December...

Regading the situation of Service of Word and Holy Communion. If a Priest is unavailable to preside at Mass due to extraordinary or emergency situations, then the rite of "Celebration of the Word and Communion in the Absence of a Priest", may be invoked.

There is a specific rite, and it may include the reception of Holy Communion. However it must not be seen as a substitute for the Mass. We should always encourage our parish to attend a nearby Church to celebrate Mass, and only under extraordinary situations should we allow a Service of Word to occur.

The person who attended the training day for extraordinary ministers is almost correct, what I said was that we do not need to think about training for Presiding skills for lay people at the moment because we have plenty of Churches and Masses for people to go to. It is only in extraordinary circumstances that a Parish may celebrate these Services anyway, and they should only be celebrated on a Sunday.

Did you catch that? "Must not be seen as a substitute for the Mass", "should only be celebrated on a Sunday".

He also told me...

The problem is some Parishes have become use to them, and it happens each week, or each time the Priest is away. These services are not meant to be celebrated on weekdays.

So what happens now is we raise this as a point of discussion at all the next Deanery meetings in our diocese, and helpfully explain the meaning and understanding of this rite to the Priests.

I wonder if that happened? If it did, why am I still seeing things like this:

Wed 9 am Service of the Word and Holy Communion

[link]

One or two of these pseudo-masses could be a mistake. It taking a while for Bishop Drainey to tactfully drop hints is to be expected, but for them still to be happening nearly six months later?

No doubt Bishop Drainey will make further excuses for the priest in question. Priests never do anything wrong and are always acting out of love. Laypeople meanwhile are nasty and vindictive and couldn't possibly be acting out of any genuine concern for the kind of Church their children are growing up in.

When will Bishop Drainey stop protecting priests who abuse their authority and start protecting the laity from them?

I wrote in December about the pseudo-Masses that are going on in parishes across Middlesbrough Diocese. It's no suprise that a parish in Hull is still having them - I really didn't expect Bishop Drainey to do anything. He's not the doing something type... he might stretch to being "concerned", but not to actually doing anything.

There will be one today at 7pm and tomorrow at 9am.

I see no reason to think they will not still be happening in a years time.

I don't know if you've heard of these pseudo-masses called "Service of the Word and Communion". There are presided over by a layperson, there are hymns, readings and prayers and Holy Communion is distributed. To the untrained eye they it looks a lot like a Mass, only without the priest. There is no Eucharistic prayer of course and the Holy Communion is from a previous Mass.

This is an abuse of something that is allowed under certain circumstances, Canon law has this to say about our obligation to attend Mass...

Canon 1247

On Sundays and other holy days of obligation the faithful are bound to participate in the Mass; they are also to abstain from those labors and business concerns which impede the worship to be rendered to God, the joy which is proper to the Lord's Day, or the proper relaxation of mind and body.

Canon 1248

1. The precept of participating in the Mass is satisfied by assistance at a Mass which is celebrated anywhere in a Catholic rite either on the holy day or on the evening of the preceding day.

2. If because of lack of a sacred minister or for other grave cause participation in the celebration of the Eucharist is impossible, it is specially recommended that the faithful take part in the liturgy of the word if it is celebrated in the parish church or in another sacred place according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop, or engage in prayer for an appropriate amount of time personally or in a family or, as occasion offers, in groups of families.

[link]

In other words, on occasions when we are obliged to attend Mass  if it is impossible then it is recommended that we take part in a liturgy of the word "according to the prescriptions of the diocesan bishop".

What it doesn't say is that if we are used to going to Mass on a week day and our parish priest is too busy and we don't feel like travelling to a Mass elsewhere in the same city then we can have a pseudo-mass instead.

In our part of the world you can always find a Sunday Mass within a reasonable distance and there is never a need for such celebrations.

Our own Diocesan MC agrees. At a training day for extraordinary ministers somebody asked him if there would be training in how to lead a "Service of the Word and Communion"? There won't, he said, because they shouldn't be happening.

But they are happening.