Courtney McGrail
Fr Donal Neary SJ
Catechesis on the Eucharist is needed, writes Fr Donal Neary SJ
The recent document It is Good for us to be Here (Veritas 2015) from the National Liturgy Centre raises important and relevant concerns about the practice of weekday liturgy when a priest is legitimately absent. Much work over the past few years has gone into its preparation. Because of the huge devotion of Irish people to daily Communion, it is good to see that despite the obvious emphasis that services should focus on the Liturgy of the Word, the document also includes a formula for a service with Communion.
The new document is praiseworthy in that it is up to date in theology and canon law. Various documents over the past 20 years are well summarised, such as Dies Domini (John Paul II, 1993), the Roman Missal, and statements by local episcopal conferences and liturgical councils, and articles by Irish writers.
Tensions
However, a question can be raised about a possible gap between human and pastoral realities. Even though this document was almost four years in preparation, there can be a huge gap between liturgists and pastors, and much variety in pastoral practice has happened since then.
Major pastoral questions and the issue of the spirituality of the liturgy need to bring into dialogue with liturgical practice. The sacraments are for the people, and serve the everyday ‘religiosity’ of people.
Pope Francis’ thoughts on religiosity can give us a broad focus: “The rule is simple: only that which brings you to Jesus is valid, and only that is valid that comes from Jesus. Jesus is the centre, the Lord, as He Himself says.
“If your devotions bring you to Christ that works,” he adds (Daily Mass, September 7, 2013).
Receiving Communion, even outside the Mass, meets a deep hunger in many people – a fact that pastoral and liturgical instructions need to advert to and welcome.
Communion without Mass has already become standard practice over the last five years or so in many parishes; so it will now be difficult to change; it will also be difficult to achieve consistency on the practice among lay ministers, parishes, priests and dioceses.
We might note the varied history of Eucharistic practices. Up to the time of Pius X, frequent Communion was not approved. First Communion was at a later age.
Up to Vatican II, my memory as an altar server is that due to fasting customs, Communion was distributed only during Masses up to 10am on Sundays.
Evening Masses were not customary, again because of fasting rules. So a change in the custom in receiving Communion is not something new.
For years we have educated our people that to ‘get Communion’ is one of the best things they can do in the day! Even more than 50 years after Vatican II, for many people, especially the weekday Massgoer, Communion can be understood as the best of private devotions. People grew up with the belief that we build up grace, and even an indulgence, in ‘getting Communion’.
Communion was given out before and after Mass, and so was disconnected from the total action of the Mass; and it still is for many people of the 60s+ age group, who form the majority of daily Mass-goers. So in proposing changes, we need to respect the sensitivities of many good people who are the salt of the Earth and loyal to the Church.
Confusion
We are also in a time of liturgical confusion, where many people call any religious ceremony a Mass: our media refer to a funeral Mass as a funeral service (just imagine describing a Presbyterian funeral service as a Mass!).
My own liturgical training and sensibility favours a Communion service without Mass, apart obviously from bringing communion to the sick; but my pastoral sensibility, after a long period of urban ministry would halt me and influence in my views.
Catechesis on the Eucharist is needed; or is it too late? The Liturgy of the Eucharist should be understood as a unified action – taking the bread, blessing it, breaking and sharing it. Ingrained in the practical spirituality of the Communion service is a sort of supremacy of the fourth action over the other three.
Next, as Christians we need not only the nourishment given by Communion, but the nourishment given by the word of God. Yves Congar OP is quoted in It is Good for Us to be Here: “if in one country Mass was celebrated without preaching and in another there was preaching for 30 years without the Mass, people would be more Christian in the country where there was preaching”
(p.38). It follows that every non-Mass service, with or without Communion, should include the liturgy of the Word.
What can be done?
This short article may help as an introduction to the insights and the fruits of consultation which fill the document. As it stands, the document is advisory and helpful, leaving to individual bishops the responsibility for liturgical practice in their diocese. Does the situation call for a national consistency?
We know the confusion and pain caused when parishes and dioceses have different funeral and wedding customs, in parishes which are often locally adjacent but in different dioceses. But would pastoral damage be done if we were to have draconian consistency?
Wider issues arise, and as proposed by Pope Francis in The Joy of the Gospel, we need to approach them in a discerning way. We can learn from best practice in other countries. We can ask, ‘Has the life of the Church suffered much in energy and justice in countries where there are not enough priests even for Sunday Mass?’
The question of wider ordination also begs our attention: notice the recent remarks of Cardinal Parolin regarding priestly celibacy: “It remains true now as ever that the exigencies of evangelisation, together with the history and multiform tradition of the Church, leave open the possibility for legitimate debates, if these are motivated by the [imperative of] Gospel proclamation and conducted in a constructive way, safeguarding the beauty and high dignity of the choice for celibate life.” (See www.news.va, February 7, 2016.)
An impressive selection of texts and plans for various services is included in the second half of the book, so we have no shortage of resources. We might need to discern how best to present morning and evening prayer in a parish, as the full text can be rather daunting!
Given the religiosity of parishioners and our belief that the sacraments are for the people, time will be well spent in searching for the best way forward in regard to Communion services, drawing on pastoral, spiritual and human issues as well as theological and liturgical contexts.
Fr Donal Neary SJ is editor of the Sacred Heart Messenger.