Comments on man with black hat: Playing Priest

dawg-lady:While available as a last resort, obsten...

2006-11-11T15:24:00.000-05:00

dawg-lady:

While available as a last resort, obstensibly in mission areas where a priest is not regularly available, a "communion service" nonetheless does not fulfill one's Sunday obligation. The faithful are to make an honest attempt on such occasions, to travel to where Mass is being offered. This is not possible, say, in much of Alaska. It IS possible in most of the continental USA.

As to the use of astrological signs in the profile, that is something provided by Blogger, which as I recall is based on my date of birth. As a Catholic, I see no significance in such things.

i see the name "roamin' catholic" on one of the co...

2006-11-11T12:45:00.000-05:00

i see the name "roamin' catholic" on one of the comments above...
that's what i have been for some time...looking for a catholic church with some semblance of orthodoxy.
i'm still roamin'...

(david, why do you use astrological signs in your profile? i hope that's meant to be humorous...)

i like what i've read here.
it makes me feel less alone....that there really is some hope, because there are others out there who believe as i do! :))

the worst abuse i've seen, is the use of an extraordinary minister of the Eucharist directed by the priest to do a communion service in place of a weekend mass.
it seems to me that every one of the people attending were in a state of mortal sin unless they went to mass at one of the other nearby catholic churches.

i suspect, sadly, that the reasoning behind it was economical.
if the people went to another catholic church that weekend, they would have put their money in another collection.

i could just cry.

I am acquainted with someone who is an EMHC and wh...

2006-10-04T00:37:00.000-04:00

I am acquainted with someone who is an EMHC and who freely states that she does not believe in teh real presence... and is pretty much an agnostic.

The reason she is an EMHC is that is counts as 'volunteer hours' and reduces the tuition for her children at the parish school. She think she is quite clever to get a whole hour credit for every Mass she assists at.

I never much liked EMHCs but after hearing that I refuse to go to them - I will cross th aisles in the church to go to a priest if I must.

When a friend asked why I replied - it's supposed to be EXTRODINARY ministers. And Sunday morning in the suburbs is hardly a war zone...

Anonymous said:"The listing given shows men listed...

2006-09-30T10:34:00.000-04:00

Anonymous said:

"The listing given shows men listed ahead of women of similar "status". Does that show preference toward men?"

The original Latin text is the authoritative wording of the law. Such would appear to be the case here. This would not be enough to prevent women from functioning in this way, as that is not the only factor in the order of preference, but it is consistent with the tradition of the presbyterium (that is, the place of presiding) being restricted to men, the inclusion of women being an indulgence.

Carrie said:

"I ran into the worst abuse of EM's yet, online. One of them said he really didn't believe in Real Presence."

I frankly don't know what would make such a person want to serve in this capacity at all. The worst abuse I ever heard, was in a diocesan paper some years back. The issue was of pro-choice politicians receiving Communion, and an EM wrote to the editor bragging that she was pro-choice, and that being an EM presented no problem for her. This was followed in a subsequent issue by an announcement that the woman in question was removed from this function by her pastor.

Ran into the worst abuse of EM's yet, online. One...

2006-09-29T23:32:00.000-04:00

Ran into the worst abuse of EM's yet, online. One of them said he really didn't believe in Real Presence. I guess he thought of it as passing out refreshments or something.

With our previous pastor, the eucharistic minister...

2006-09-29T12:05:00.000-04:00

With our previous pastor, the eucharistic ministers would file up into the sanctuary during the fractioning rite. The priest would distribute communion to the ministers assembled in a semi-circle around the back of the altar, he would fraction his host, then one-two-three, they all would consume the hosts at the same time (like concelebrating priests).

Our new pastor put a stop to that practice his first week in our parish. They now line up in front of the sanctuary, and receive first (after the priest).

We lost a few families after that one. One lady was heard to have said: "He took our place on the altar away!". It almost sounded like she was cut from the school play.

Another thing I find reprehensible is an attitude I've gotten that that the ministers of the cup of Precious Blood are "lesser" in some way than the ministers of the hosts.

I really believe our use of Extraordinary Minister...

2006-09-29T00:25:00.000-04:00

I really believe our use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion is abused, overused to extremes. I guess it is against the new rules for distribution of Holy Communion to take more than 3 minutes! We don't want to "waste" too much time doing that do we!

Thanks so much! This is exactly what I was looking...

2006-09-28T20:25:00.000-04:00

Thanks so much! This is exactly what I was looking for!

Concerning women as deaconesses, I did a piece for...

2006-09-28T19:02:00.000-04:00

Concerning women as deaconesses, I did a piece for the Arlington Catholic Herald nine years ago, and it now sits in the EWTN Online Library:

http://www.ewtn.com/library/liturgy/aroseby.txt

Among other things, it explains why the claim of "sacramental ordination" would have been understood more broadly then. Since this piece was written, some parts of the Orthodox Church now have women as deaconesses, namely the Greeks and the Antiocheans. They are distinct from their male counterparts, as they have always been.

Excellent post! I am happy to say that our large p...

2006-09-28T18:51:00.000-04:00

Excellent post! I am happy to say that our large parish in Annandale, all three assigned priests usually distribute communion at every Mass. However, 5-6 Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion participate as well. Six lines go to the front and two lines take care of the balcony.

Just curious about your use of the term deaconess above. I've been carrying on an online discussion with some folks from Richmond, some of whom are advocating ordination of women based on the history of deaconesses in the early Church. My understanding is that these deaconesses were not really considered ordained clergy but more like acolytes.Do you have any more specific information?

"according to the order of this listing"The listin...

2006-09-28T18:09:00.000-04:00

"according to the order of this listing"
The listing given shows men listed ahead of women of similar "status". Does that show preference toward men? (that is to say if they are otherwise of similar religious status, the men are listed ahead of the women and are we to presume they would take presidence?)