Hello, Friends.

At Mass when I am walking up to receive The Eucharist I always walk were the priest is, because I want my daughter blessed by the Catholic priest.

I do see other lay people that are Eucharistic ministers blessing children that are with their parents as they receive the Eucharist. Does any Catholic know if our Church tells us anything about this ? Or if anyone else would like to comment on this I would enjoy reading their opinion. What are your thoughts Carolyn ? I know how you are a proud Mom that takes her faith serious !

-- David S (asdzxc8176@aol.com), January 18, 2002

Answers

Thanks !

-- David S (asdzxc8176@aol.com), January 18, 2002.

Dave,
I'm just taking a guess, but the minister is a sort of deputy to the celebrant priest. In order for his blessing to ''take'', all he needs is deputizing by the priest. In Holy Mass, the blessing is ritual and must confer grace, like some sacramentals do. Yet, anybody can bless us, without this being a liturgical sign. My mother, God bless her, is coming to her 89th birthday January 31st. I phone her often (we live far aaprt) and before we say goodby, she blesses me over the telephone. ''En nombre del Padre, y el Hijo y el Espiritu Santo;'' and inside this frame, I make the sign of the cross. Amen.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), January 18, 2002.

Jmj

It is true, David S and Gene, that we members of the laity, through the common priesthood of the faithful (conferred in Baptism), have the right and power to perform certain blessings of things and other persons. An example of the first is our blessing [i.e., calling upon God to bless] a meal before eating it. An excellent example of the second is the case of Gene's mother blessing him (or a parent making the sign of the cross on a small child's forehead).

The Catechism (#1669) states, "[E]very baptized person is called to be a 'blessing' and to bless. Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings."

However, the right/power of the laity to bless is limited.
The Catechism continues: "The more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more its administration is reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priest, deacons)."

When I read your message, David S, I seemed to remember hearing, within the past few years, that an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion is not permitted to bless people, but I was not sure if I could trust my memory, so I did not respond to you. But when I saw Gene's guess that such a minister could indeed bless if deputized by a priest, I knew that I had to see if my memory could be confirmed or not.

I turned to a major 1997 Vatican instruction ("On Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Non-Ordained Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of the Priest") and found this:
"Article 6 -- Liturgical Celebrations
"§ 1. Liturgical actions must always clearly manifest the unity of the People of God as a structured communion. Thus there exists a close link between the ordered exercise of liturgical action and the reflection in the liturgy of the Church's structured nature. This happens when all participants, with faith and devotion, discharge those roles proper to them.
"§ 2. To promote the proper identity (of various roles) in this area, those abuses which are contrary to the provisions of canon 907 are to be eradicated. In eucharistic celebrations deacons and non-ordained members of the faithful may not pronounce prayers -- e.g., especially the eucharistic prayer, with its concluding doxology -- or any other parts of the liturgy reserved to the celebrant priest. Neither may deacons or non-ordained members of the faithful use gestures or actions which are proper to the same priest celebrant." [Canon 907 basically re-states part of what has just been quoted.]

For more specificity, I turned to an orthodox expert on theology and liturgical matters, EWTN's Colin Donovan. Last Spring, he was asked (as part of a list of questions): "What blessings (if any) is a lay person entitled to give? May an extraordinary minister bless a person who comes forward but does not receive holy communion?"
The relevant part of Mr. Donovan's reply was:
"Extraordinary ministers have no power to bless [those who approach them in church]. They are ministers of Communion only. Parents may bless their children, superiors their subjects (as in monasteries) and similar, though these are not exercises of the power of the keys as are the blessings of clergy. In both the case of the blessing of throats and the administration of ashes, since these articles are already blessed they may be administered by laity delegated by the pastor for that purpose."

Unfortunately, the word on this has not yet filtered down to some parishes.
St. James, pray for us.
God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 18, 2002.

I've often felt slightly miffed to hear some choirs changing the words of the Agnus Dei. You sometimes hear, Lamb of God first, then they'll sing Bread of Life, etc. and finish again with Lamb of God, who takes away, and so forth. The words are NOT supposed to be changed. It should be Lamb of God, repeated three times. The last reply, is of course, Grant us peace. Why do priests allow that? I guess I'm quibbling, but the Liturgy is supposed to be CORRECT, not almost correct.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), January 18, 2002.

John, to apply the phrase "Neither may deacons or non-ordained members of the faithful use gestures or actions which are proper to the same priest celebrant." during this particular portion of the Mass, ie. the distribution of communion and to suggest that Deacons and Eucharistic Ministers cannot bless individuals in the communion line, are we not misinterpreting this instruction? Is the act of distributing communion and all it entails a "celebrant" one? While I can fully appreciate the intent of this instruction for most parts of the Mass to be performed exclusively by the celebrant, is this clause intended to be applied to all who assist the celebrant at communion? If we employ this instruction during distribution of communion than Deacons and Eucharistic Ministers must be prohibited from distributing communion altogether, since the act of giving communion in itself is a “gesture or action proper to the celebrant"? Is the distribution of communion considered one of the “acts” of the Mass performed by the celebrant this clause is referring to? If it is then no one other than the priest can distribute communion. Does the priest not specially designate ministers for this purpose with special instruction? Do these specific instructions outlining the discretion bestowed upon Eucharistic Ministers etc. while distributing communion not also include all the actions that the normal minister who distributes communion (usually a celebrant) might carry out while performing this duty including the blessing of those not receiving communion?

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), January 18, 2002.

Sorry, I forgot to add a clause from the G.I.R.M. "68. As for other ministers, some perform different functions inside the sanctuary, others outside. The first kind include those deputed as special ministers to administer communion[54]..." It would seem to me that Ministers for Communion other than celebrants are created and given special guidelines and intstruction which do not necessarily conflict with, but rather compliment other instructions for the Mass regarding the duties of the celebrant.

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), January 18, 2002.

Jmj

I agree with you, Gene, that the Church forbids tampering with the words. I have read that there is some slight variation permitted in sacred music (e.g. reordering the words, inserting a minor word or synonym), to allow the words to fit the musical notes, but only without changing the meaning. The many different "petitions" being offered in place of "Lamb of God" do not conform to the regulation.
However, Gene, when the new rite of the Mass came in around 1970, the Church changed the rule on the number of times the petition could be repeated -- now more than three times in a certain situation. Here are a couple of official texts that touch on these subjects:

---------------------- QUOTE -----------------------
[From the General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM), official regulations found at the front of the Sacramentary on the altar:]

56 "Agnus Dei": during the breaking of the Bread and the commingling, the "Agnus Dei" is as a rule sung by the choir or cantor with the congregation responding; otherwise it is recited aloud. This invocation may be repeated as often as necessary to accompany the breaking of the Bread. The final reprise concludes with the words, "grant us peace."

[from "Notitiae" (Official interpretations of the GIRM by the Sacred Congregation For Divine Worship And The Discipline Of The Sacraments, in the form of queries from around the world and replies):]

56e.
Query 1: May the singing of "Shalom" replace the singing of the "Agnus Dei"? Reply: No. The Ordinary of the Mass in all its parts must be followed as it appears in the Missal. Some slight adaptation is countenanced in the "Directory for Masses with Children" no. 31. What is established for children, however, is not transferable to other assemblies...
Query 2: How many times must the "Agnus Dei" be said or sung, according to the indications in the Order of Mass? Reply: The point of the "Agnus Dei" is to accompany the breaking of the consecrated Bread until a particle is dropped into the chalice (GIRM no. 56e). In practice two situations are to be considered:
a. If there is only one celebrant presiding or if there are only a few concelebrants, the breaking of the Bread is done quite quickly. Usually the "Agnus Dei" said or sung three times, as indicated in the Order of Mass no. 131, is enough to accompany the rite.
b. In the case when there are many concelebrants or the breaking of the Bread takes a long time, then the "Agnus Dei" may be repeated until the completion of the breaking of the Bread, following the ... directive of the GIRM no. 56e: "This invocation may be repeated as often as necessary to accompany the breaking of the bread. The final reprise concludes with the words, "grant us peace."
----------------------- END QUOTE ----------------------

Gene, what I think happened was that some cantors and choirs got tired of singing the same words five, six, ten times during situation "b" (many concelebrants), so some composer (unaware of the regulations) got a bee in his bonnet, thinking: "I will invent some new petitions here for variety's sake." Then they got (get) away with it, because too many bishops and priests also did (do) not know that it was (is) prohibited!

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 18, 2002.

Jmj

Hello, Ed.

You expressed a concern that I may have misapplied -- to the case of blessings by extraordinary ministers -- a statement that seems intended for a different purpose ("Neither may deacons or non-ordained members of the faithful use gestures or actions which are proper to the same priest celebrant").

Yes, I will grant you that the above statement does not refer specifically to the case of blessings at Communion time. That is clear from the fact that deacons can give such blessings. They have that power, along with priests and bishops, by virtue of their ordination. But my main purpose for quoting from that document (on the collaboration of the non-ordained with the ordained) was to emphasize the "non-interchangability" of the laity and those ordained. Note that the first part I quoted says: "[T]here exists a close link between the ordered exercise of liturgical action and the reflection in the liturgy of the Church's structured nature. This happens when all participants, with faith and devotion, discharge those roles proper to them" -- that is ONLY those roles proper to them.

You see, that document was prepared by the Vatican in response to a torrent of reports of abuses from around the world, over the course of many years. One of the major reasons for the document was to put a stop to what the pope has called the "overclericalization of the laity." Blessing things and people, within a sacramental context, is reserved to ordained men. You will see that within my quotation from the Catechism, above. The Church wants everyone to keep in mind that the extraordinary minister of the Eucharist [whom the Church does not even want us to see on a routine basis] is only a layperson, not a "hybrid." Awkward though it may be, such a non-ordained minister would have to ask a non-communicant to seek a blessing from an ordained minister. No big problem, though, since the non-communicant would then know better from that point onward (and there really are not so many of these people to begin with).

Ed, I will admit that I cannot today produce for you an explicit quotation from a Vatican document stating something like, "Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion may not give a blessing to those who approach them in church" or "Only an ordained minister may give a blessing to those non-communicants who approach the sanctuary."
However, I have two reasons to believe that some such statement does exist -- perhaps in the Vatican's Book of Blessings. [I don't have a copy, and it's not online.]
First, James Akin (senior apologist for Cathoic Answers, Inc.) is the author of the book, "Mass Confusion," in which, after lengthy research, he details the Church's liturgical regulations, gives examples of abuses, and explains why they are wrong. I feel sure that it was from Mr. Akin that I first heard that only the ordained can bless non-communicants in church.
Second, I trust Colin Donovan, an extremely careful and knowledgable man, not to have erred in providing the reply I quoted above.

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 18, 2002.

Thanks Guys ! I knew I would get correct answer here.

-- David S (asdzxc8176@aol.com), January 18, 2002.

At this site: http://www.saint- mike.org/Apologetics/QA/Answers/Apol_Liturgy/l010629Bell.html You will find an interesting and reasoned interpretation about the propriety of blessings at communion by Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist. It goes one step further and also suggests the celebrant himself has no authority to provide additional blessings at communion.

“Neither the priest nor an extraordinary minister may bless children (or adults) at Communion time. It is a practice that is foreign to the Roman Rite. It is not found in the instruction. When the G.I.R.M. was written, the authors were unable to know what sort of abuses would be introduced in the future, so they were unable to explicitly prohibit each one we see today. Instead, Vatican II fathers have ruled that NOBODY may make additions to the liturgy. Adding a blessing at communion time would be an example of an illicit addition. This "personal" blessing is unnecessary anyway, because everyone receives a blessing immediately prior to dismissal.”

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), January 19, 2002.

Here is another well-reasoned reply to this question which seems to agree with my last post:

(http://www.blessedsacrament.com/theology/q61.html)

"It has become a custom in some churches to have those who do not receive communion do this practice and receive a blessing. Lots of times, it is done to children who have not received their First Communion. It is not in the rubrics of the Mass, nor appropriate. In fact, it is rather patronizing. If anything it symbolizes more the division between those who may receive communion and those who may not. Receiving a "token" blessing at this moment also seems to become "superstitious" when all are blessed in a few short minutes with the "final blessing" of the Mass. At one point in the history of the church and it's worship, those who were not Catholic would be dismissed after, what we call today, the "Liturgy of the Word." Then it was also called the "Liturgy of the catechumen." This was so that the divisions would not be highlighted around the table of the Lord."

-- Ed Lauzon (grader@accglobal.net), January 19, 2002.

Jmj

Thanks for the URLs for those interesting comments, Ed.
Yes, I had not even considered the thought that blessing non-communicants may never have been authorized by the Church even for ordained men. do not remember reading anything about such authorization, so I made an assumption that may have been faulty. However, I do barely seem to recall some Protestant royalty or even Lutheran "bishops" approaching the pope for a blessing of this kind at Mass during a papal trip to Scandinavia, but my memory about this may not be correct.

After reading the comments at the sites that you provided, I made an attempt to find out if a blessing by ordained men is authorized, either for Catholics or non-Catholics or both who are not receiving Communion. I could not find anything definitive. So such a blessing is either what the Church calls an "illicit accretion" to the Mass, or it is authorized in some document that I cannot find (e.g., the Book of Blessings).

I knew that there was a very large document at the Vatican internet site -- "Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism" (1993) -- in which I thought I would find this mentioned, but it was not present in the text. The closest thing I could find in this document (by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity) are these words: "Blessings ordinarily given for the benefit of Catholics may also be given to other Christians who request them ...".

I was able to find a Protestant seminary's Internet site that contained the following interesting item, which may provide a solid clue about how this practice of blessing came into existence:
"[T]he [Episcopalian] parish bulletin carried a carefully worded announcement that had been in place since the early 1970s: 'We welcome those of you who are visitors ... this morning. All who are eligible to receive communion in their own churches are invited to receive communion with us. It is the usual custom in the Episcopal Church to receive bread in your own hands and to guide the chalice of wine to your lips. Those who do not wish to receive communion can forward to the altar rail for a blessing. Crossing your arms across your chest will indicate to the celebrant that you wish to receive the blessing.'"

Turning once again for help from the EWTN expert, Colin Donovan, I found a few relevant comments:
----- "Children ... [who] have not yet received First Communion ... may approach a priest or deacon for a blessing."
----- "It is not appropriate for an [extraordinary minister] to give any blessing in a liturgical setting, as such blessings are reserved to deacons and priests. The formulas of the Book of Blessings makes clear that lay leaders pray for a blessing, while deacons and priests give them. In the case of a Eucharistic Blessing, Church law specifically limits this to deacons and priests. The context is Eucharistic Adoration with Benediction, but the principle applies [at Mass], too." ----- "[I]t does appear that this gesture is universally understood as [meaning that one is] NOT receiving Communion."
----- [But then a sort of retraction ...] "This [crossing arms across chest] seems to be a recent phenomenon, a way to avoid being left out at Communion time if one can't receive. The posture invites a blessing from the priest, instead of Communion. There's no real problem with it, except that it invites the liturgical abuse of [extraordinary ministers] attempting to bless people. Such non-communicants should get in a line with a priest or deacon, if their intention is to get a blessing. Note: a caller pointed out that Eastern Catholics fold their arms in this way to receive. Thus, such a person may simply be an Eastern Catholic attending a Latin Rite Mass. This is another example of why unapproved innovations in the liturgy are to be avoided. They have unintended consequences."

If I come across something absolutely official about ordained men giving these blessings (positive or negative), I will let you know, Ed and David S.

God bless you.
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 19, 2002.

Friends, I am sorry I think I asked my question wrong. Because only ordained clergy are Eucharistic Ministers. I should of refered to the lay people as Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministers.

-- David S (asdzxc8176@aol.com), January 19, 2002.

Up to the top

-- ## (foo@bar.com), September 18, 2002.

Wow, I missed this thread entirely when it was first started. David, my apologies to you, because you specifically asked for my thoughts. I certainly wasn't ignoring you, I simply missed this thread. (Seeing the date it was started, it was on my daughter's birthday, maybe that's why!)

David, and others, I will be happy to share my thoughts, but these are thoughts from a mom, and not from someone who has studied all the documents, etc, that have been referenced to date in this thread. The custom at our parish is that anyone who is not able to receive communion (children included) may receive a blessing instead. This is very much encouraged. We have a very large parish with MANY children so it would be impossible for everyone with children who have not made their first communion to line up to receive such a blessing from the priest or deacon. This has been the practice not only in my current parish, but in my previous parish which is literally 1000 miles from where I live now. I will also tell you that in the Catholic school my children attend, whenever the children participate in a school mass, the teachers have taught the children who have not received 1st communion to cross their arms in front of themselves, and to receive a blessing.

Having 5 children who have been blessed in this way as small children, I can tell you that each and every one of them have felt "included" and it has made the Mass more meaningful to them. It's so hard for the children sometimes. They are small, they can't see, they don't understand the readings or the homily. This one small act of blessing is something that they look forward to each week. They have known that they could not receive Jesus in the Eucharist until they were old enough/had gone through intstruction; but this small act of blessing by the person who is giving Mommy and Daddy (and older siblings) Jesus in the Eucharist is another way that shows them that Jesus loves them too and it helps them look forward even more to receiving Him for the first time.

David you are right in saying that I am a proud Mom who takes her faith seriously. But I guess as a Mom I am not looking at the "legalities" of this. I am looking at the "love" in this.

I will tell you that I bless each of my children each night, tracing the sign of the cross on their foreheads and say "Jesus Bless You" My husband and I will bless each other in this way also. We started to do this when our children were very young after being inspired by a story one of the couples in our Baptism Prep class told us about how they share their faith with our children. It has become quite a tradition in our home now, and it is rare that the children even leave to go to school or another activity without wanting this blessing! It means that much to them! (Even the teenagers!)

When the person giving communion (extraordinary Eucharist minister?) blessed my children who are not receiving Jesus, that is exactly what they do also, trace the sign of the cross and say "Jesus Bless You". Are we all wrong? Are we wrong when we say "God Bless You" when someone sneezes? When we sign a letter (or email) and say "God's blessings on you"?

I don't believe that I am, nor do I ever want to be a "cafeteria Catholic" who chooses which doctrines I will believe in. But to me, to get bogged down in the tiny details of "legality" creates the danger of missing the "spirit" or the "love". Is this not what Jesus was trying to say when the Pharasees confronted Jesus and the disciples about picking grains of wheat on the Sabbath? Or when they confronted Him about healing the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath?

John, please know that I have GREAT respect for your knowledge, and I am in no way trying to slam you. I am just telling my thoughts and opinions as a mom.

Carolyn

cksunshine

-- cksunshine (ckSunshine@hotmail.com), September 19, 2002.

No problem, CKSunshine. I re-read most of what I posted in January and found that you and I agree on everything except one thing -- the fact that you have considered it OK for the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion to bless folks. It seemed pretty clear, from things I quoted above (most significantly the Catechism), that the Church does not permit that. I know what you mean about "pharisaism," but the reason I delve into these things to the extent I do is that many people in the Church have gone a bit bonkers in the opposite direction, wanting to be bound by no rules at all -- and that leads to anarchy and a lack of unity (one of the marks of the Church).

But please know that I agree with you completely about family members blessing each other, saying "God bless you" at a sneeze, and other non-ceremonial/non-sacramental blessings. Hey, did you notice that at the end of my 2000 (?) posts here, I usually sign off this way ...

God bless you!
John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), September 19, 2002.

Hi, Carolyn

Thanks for your post. And you are correct in saying on the other thread,"I don't think it is know accident that this thread..."

I topped it because I rembered some of the posts in this thread had some of the answers that I thought Liz might want to read. You are very observant. :-) I hope Liz read both.

God bless you

##

-- ## (foo@bar.com), September 19, 2002.

John,

Is this the thread that you mentioned to Paul, that you were looking for?

Happy New Year.

-- - (No@more.eddie), December 31, 2002.

Indeed it is, o nameless Finder-of-Lost-Threads!
THANKS.
Happy New Year. John

-- (jfgecik@hotmail.com), January 01, 2003.