Friday, November 2, 2007

Storm in a Chalice...

It's difficult to understand why this is news:
PRIESTS fear that altar wine will put them over the legal limit, making it impossible for them to drive to conduct essential duties.
Those working alone in rural churches fear that they may be over the legal limit if they have to drive to give the last rites to parishioners.
One priest in a rural north Galway parish said he sometimes has to finish the wine left over in the chalices. He feels that this could put him over the limit if he had to drive afterwards.
According to church law, wine which has been consecrated must be consumed as part of the Mass.
"What option do I have but drink the wine, as the chalices have to be emptied before being put back in the tabernacle?" he said.
"The only other possibility would be to ask some members of the congregation to drink the excess wine. This would be unseemly and certainly not Church practice."
What a non-story... If that is a worry for the priest, then all he need do is consecrate a sip of wine for himself. Given that the administration of Communion under both species is very much the exception rather than the rule in Ireland, there's no question of people being upset that the chalice isn't made availible.
At least we can give Fr Brian Darcy credit for making one thing clear:
"Perhaps it could be enough for you to fail a drink-driving test. I don't like to use the word wine, as it is Christ's blood in the Eucharist -- but it still has all the characteristics of wine when in the blood stream."

A more serious problem, and one that is more difficult to resolve, is highlighted later in the report:
Priests in larger towns and cities may be affected too according to Fr Stephen Farragher, administrator in Tuam.
"I would often have three Masses to say in the one day and while I had not thought about the impact of drinking the wine, it is probably now a factor that needs to be seriously considered," he said.
Obviously it is contrary to Canon Law that a priest be expected to trinate on any day other than a Sunday. This is a problem for the Church in Ireland. In the planning of Mass-schedules and so on, priests need to be more careful about taking into account the Church's regulations on bination and trination, and episcopal leadership on this would be very welcome. I remember being impressed by this letter of Bishop Martino of Scranton, and think that the Irish Church would benefit from a similar reminder:
It is the Church’s ancient discipline and practice that, except for very special occasions like Christmas and All Souls Day, her priests celebrate only one Mass a day. So august is God’s gift of the Eucharist, so important is the spiritual preparation for it, so careful and attentive must its celebration be, and so essential the thanksgiving to be made afterward as priests carry forth its grace to the rest of their ministry, that the multiplication of this central act in a priest’s daily life runs the risk of diminishing the value he places on it. Such a danger imperils the whole community of faith along with its priest. The law, therefore, is not an arbitrary one. It provides an essential means of fostering the holiness of the Church’s faithful.
And yet the Church, ever solicitous for the spiritual needs of the faithful and mindful of the shortage of clergy, gives its bishops the authority to permit priests, for a just cause, to celebrate two Masses on weekdays and, for a true pastoral necessity, even three Masses on a Sunday or holy day of obligation. Our priests have had this permission and they now have it from me. However, I cannot allow the limits of this permission to be exceeded. As your Bishop, I must ask you to accept the decision of your priest when he tells you that he cannot offer another Mass on a particular day.
Appeals to practicality, convenience, or long-term contrary custom must not be allowed to derail this effort. All of us – but I, especially, as your Bishop – are gravely obliged to be stewards of the Church’s mysteries and the age-old discipline that has been fashioned to preserve them.

1 comment:

Ann Murray said...

Bishop Martino's letter is indeed impressive. I'm glad you posted it - I haven't come across it before.