Pastor’s Corner — August 14th, 2022
Holy Communion from the Precious Chalice: Is it Coming Back?
Parishioners have been asking when receiving Holy Communion from the Precious Chalice is coming back. (After all the pandemic, which is why we stopped, is “over.”) Some may have noticed that we’ve already, in fact, offered Communion in the chalice on special occasions like Holy Thursday and Corpus Christi this year. However, we have not made a final decision on whether or not we are going to return to our former practice of offering Communion under both kinds every Sunday for a few reasons:
1) The Church teaches clearly that we fully receive Jesus’ Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity when we receive Communion in either kind: Precious Host and Precious Chalice. While the symbolism of sharing in Jesus’ Body and Blood is clearer when we have both options available, we’re really not missing any of Jesus when we only have one.
2) According to the rubrics, the universal Church doesn’t really foresee parishes offering the Precious Blood weekly, but reserves them for more special occasions. I am aware that this is the case more often in the United States.
3) As Pastor, I’m trying to be sensitive to the Church’s teaching not to unnecessarily multiply Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion for a given Mass. Adding chalices of Precious Blood on a regular basis can only be justified for pastoral reasons. I know there are good pastoral reasons, but I’m still weighing this.
4) When we offer the Precious Blood, sometimes we can have a shortage of Extraordinary Ministers at Mass which can make offering it consistently a challenge.
5) Before the pandemic, I was told that we had many spills of the Precious Blood during weekend Masses, which is honestly kind of distressing.
6) The new kneeler configuration for receiving Holy Communion has created a challenge for having as many chalices as before. It might be helpful to wait until the new pew/kneeler configuration to finalize a new plan for this.
Essentially, we’re still discerning this as a final decision has not been made. We’ll revisit this likely after the renovation is complete. (More on that below)
A Note on the National Eucharistic Revival
Our Sunday Visitor recently had a great interview with Tim Glemkowski, the Executive Director of the National Eucharistic Revival. While I encourage you to read the whole thing, here’s a note about the big Eucharistic Congress in the Summer of 2024.
Our Sunday Visitor: What are your hopes for the Eucharistic Congress? For individual Catholics and for the Church in the United States? Is it a matter of a new (or renewed) understanding of Eucharist, or a matter of actions to be taken and/or behavior to be changed?
Glemkowski: Ultimately, a belief that does not change how we live matters very little. “Even the demons believe and tremble” (Jas 2:19). Belief is critical, and our faith is inherently a faith of the mind. God wants to engage our intellects and help us to understand what it is that we profess and celebrate. But that is a starting point, not the ending.
When Jesus encountered or healed people in the Gospels, they were asked to live differently. The congress won’t be just about head knowledge but heart transformation. We want people to encounter God in the Eucharist, in the midst of his Church, in a way that transforms them and becomes a catalyst for transformation and ongoing revival for decades to come.
I went back recently and read all of the old articles in the Denver Catholic Register about World Youth Day in 1993. To live in Denver and be Catholic is to know that we are still benefitting from the effects of those days with the Pope St. John Paul II. Countless apostolates, vocations, conversions came from that experience. As I read these old articles, I became convicted that God was going to do something similar in Indianapolis in 2024.
I think that some people are concerned that this congress will be “just an event.” People forget that Pentecost was an “event.” The feeding of the 5,000 was an “event.” Events don’t necessarily have to be something that don’t make an impact going forward. It is all about how you position the gathering or event in the lead-up and in the follow-up, so that it bears fruit that will last.
We are going to be remarkably intentional in everything we do so that our five days in Indianapolis are transformative for those in attendance and for the Church in the U.S. for years to come. Even more, I hope that so many Catholics gathering together around our love for Jesus in the Eucharist is a profound witness to the broader public about what we believe and even an example to other local churches around the world. Then, we want everyone to be sent from that event as Eucharistic missionaries who go to the margins in a variety of ways.
Renovation Update
We are still working on securing bids on the Church renovation. The process is going well and considering the availability of contractors and lead times, we’re likely to start after Christmas and be done by our Patronal Feast: St. Patrick’s Day! If you haven’t personally donated to this wondrous cause, please consider doing so by either writing a check with “Renovation” in memo or donating online by going to the “GIVE” section on our website.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Mathias