The Problem with Live Streaming Masses

Readers of my blog will notice that it has been many months since I last blogged. Much has happened in the last few months including two lockdowns. One might of assume that the lockdown provided ample opportunity and reason to blog. The problem is, however, that despite keeping oneself busy with all kinds of activities I must admit to suffering from writers’ block. Only now, please God, do I sense that I am moving out of this rather peculiar period.

The last the last nine months or so have been challenging times for all of us in many ways. The reality of the worldwide pandemic and the subsequent restrictions placed upon our day to day life has been extraordinarily difficult for all of us. As a Catholic and as a priest I would like to take the opportunity to reflect, albeit briefly, on a phenomenon that has become in recent months very much the norm: Live Streamed Masses.  I do this as someone who live-streamed Masses 7 days a week in the last lockdown and continues to stream 5 times a week now. There are many fruits and blessings that have come out of live streaming. Broadcasting the Mass over the internet has helped to keep our Catholic Communities together and connected during this most challenging period in recent history. Furthermore, the live streams have reached people who ordinarily would not come through the door of the Church. To be clear, live streaming has its place and has been a necessary lifeline for many people’s faith. There is, however, another side to the live streaming which if goes unchecked could be problematic in the future for the faith and life of the Church.

Talking to my brother priests, it is noticeable how live streaming can give rise to several phenomena that may not be conducive to faith development. I would like to reflect on these in turn: Clericalism of the Eucharist, Commodification/consumerism  of the Eucharist, Spiritual Idleness concerning the Eucharist

 

Clericalism and the Eucharist

The pandemic has given rise to peculiar way of celebrating the Eucharist, which is at odds with the Church’s understanding of the Eucharist. Put bluntly, the Mass has become all-priest focused. The priest presides, reads the readings, sets up and cleans up before and after Mass, performs any servers’ duties, and is the sole communicant (when in lockdown).

The Mass is the action of Christ and as such must always be the action of his whole mystical body: the Church. The Second Vatican Council’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy was clear on this, encouraging full, active, conscious participation. It is worth quoting here at length:

Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people (1 Pet. 2:9; cf. 2:4-5), is their right and duty by reason of their baptism. In the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy, this full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else; for it is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit; and therefore pastors of souls must zealously strive to achieve it, by means of the necessary instruction, in all their pastoral work. (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 14)

 

 

Whilst it would be wrong and far too simplistic to read this paragraph as meaning: everyone should have a role at Mass, indeed, all people should actively and consciously participate with the source and summit of the Christian life and faith – the Eucharist. The admittedly necessary situation of curtailing lay liturgical ministries, as well as removing singing, has placed all the emphasis back onto the priest. The Mass becomes, therefore, a clerical thing – something the priest does, and the priest does alone. What is more, the level at which one ‘consciously’ participates in a virtual celebration on a phone, tablet, or computer is debatable. It potentially takes more effort and is open to distractions. One can easily watch the Mass, rather than participate in it. Admittedly this risk always exists - even if one is in church but viewing Mass on a screen, if not careful, can simply become that: viewing Mass on a screen.

 

Commodification/consumerism of the Eucharist

This brings me to my next area for reflection: live streaming can easily turn the Eucharist and specifically, Holy Communion, into a commodity that one simply consumes. The live streaming of a Mass where people are unable to receive Holy Communion risks separating the act of Holy Communion from the rest of Mass. Communion: Communion with Christ and communion with one another, is the fruit of the Eucharistic celebration. In every Eucharist, the whole Church is present, the Church on Earth, the Church in purgatory, and the Church in Heaven. In every Eucharist, the one eternal sacrifice that Christ made is re-presented and we are reconciled to God and to one another. Holy Communion exists because of the Mass to separate Holy Communion from the Mass risks turning the Holy Communion into something that we “go and get”, it risks turning the fruit of the Mass into a commodity that we can give out at will. To be clear, we need Holy Communion and I am not advocating that people do not come to Communion, however, due prudence needs to be observed. Communion is not a “magical product” and it certainly is not a right…Holy Communion is a gift that flows from the source and summit of the Christian faith – the Eucharist. When at all possible the celebration of the Eucharist and the reception of Holy Communion should go hand in hand.

As I have hinted previously, the way in which we now ‘consume’ the Mass on our digital devices is also something to be aware of. It’s possible to pause and watch a recorded Mass at our own convenience, it’s also possible to shop around until we find a Mass we like – vigilance is needed, if we are not careful following Mass online can become little more than watching a spiritual video that we watch on our own terms and consume in our own way.

 

Spiritual Idleness concerning the Eucharist

Clericalism and commodification of the Eucharist can potentially lead to a lazy attitude towards the Mass. If we can just log on anytime and access the Mass on our terms then there is a danger of taking the Eucharist for granted. It doesn’t mean we will, but the danger exists in a way that it didn’t exist before.  One of the more worrying features of Masses after the first lockdown is the people who haven’t returned to Mass. Whilst it is understandable that a number have to still isolate, there sadly exists a smaller, but no less significant, amount of people who simply don’t. Or at least, are not consistent with their isolation, i.e. they have returned to the shops, the garden centers even pubs and restaurants but still haven’t returned physically to Mass, preferring it would seem to watch from their own homes. If Church has become something to watch on TV, which can  be consumed at one’s own leisure then why bother coming to Mass? One would hope that Holy communion would be the draw to get people back to Church, but sadly this has not always been the case. With the resurgence of the practice of spiritual communion (which is a good and holy thing) some people, it seems,  believe that a spiritual communion is virtually the same (or at least nearly as good) as a Holy Communion. To be clear, it is not! If people are going out and mixing then Mass should be the first thing that people return to, not the last.

 

To conclude, the pandemic is throwing all kinds of challenges at us but with these challenges have also come great opportunities. I believe in live streaming. Live streaming Masses has its place and it is an important way to keep the people of God together and to reach one another with the Eucharist in these uncertain times. Nevertheless, live streaming also poses some very real challenges, and great care and prudence will need to be exercised to ensure the Eucharist remains in reality the source and summit of the whole Christian life.

 

 

Faith for our Times: The Eucharist - The Real Presence of Jesus Christ (with Q&A)

Coronavirus: Corona Catholicism and Corona-opportunities - A personal Reflection

Well, a lot has been happening in our world and in our country especially in this last week. If you told me a week ago that I had a week of public ministry left before we go on lockdown, I would have struggled to believe you. “Not in Lent surely!” It’s not that I didn’t think it wasn’t coming eventually, I just didn’t really want to think about it amid the daily pastoral demands and there was certainly enough to keep me busy!

Friday morning came of course, and I celebrated the last public Mass for the immediate and foreseeable future – it was painful, to say the least. It was moving to have a fuller church for a Friday morning Mass, but that Mass will go on my list of the handful occasions where I felt that I would nearly not get through the Mass. The people of God were, as ever, encouraging and the reverence and prayerfulness of Friday’s Mass were beautiful, never-the-less it was a sad and painful occasion for all of us.  

Now, however, we have to get on with things. The period that our Nation has moved into is unchartered territory. It seems to me, at least, that we have a choice: we can either moan, get angry and depressed and complain about the situation or we can learn to live with our new reality, accept it for what it is and learn how to flourish in these difficult times. Everyone will suffer in some greater or lesser way in the foreseeable future - this is happening to all of us. We need to let go of things that we thought gave our lives security, direction and meaning and use this time well to rediscover what is important and what is essential.

It’s not all doom and gloom: families will be forced in many cases to spend more time with each other. There is only so much TV and the Internet (if the broadband holds up) that people can cope with so at some point, people will have to relearn how to sit around a table and talk to each other, play games and read books! Of course, there will be many of us who are isolated, the sick, the elderly and those who, like me, live alone. So, it’s important that we connect with each other using all the technology and resources that are available.

As a priest I am struggling and will continue to struggle with the inability to do what my very life is given over to – the public celebration of the Eucharist and the public administering of the other sacraments, pastoral visits and generally all pastoral contact. It’s going to be difficult to be a shepherd to a virtual flock. Yet these are difficulties and struggles which all my brother priests and ministers are going to struggle with during this time and I feel a strange and new solidarity with my brothers already beginning to blossom.

As Catholics and as Christians the coronavirus time can be a real opportunity for us if we allow it. A time to foster a contemplative heart and re-discover and deepen our relationship with Jesus. A time to learn the value of silence, immerse ourselves in the Word of God and do all those spiritual things that we have “put-off” because we are just too busy.

There are lots of resources and courses online that can help us form our faith and nourish our relationship with Jesus, many are now being offered for free and at heavily discounted prices. Dr. Scott Hahn has put together The Quarantined Catholic Hub:  

https://stpaulcenter.com/hub?utm_source=hub_launch_hahn&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hub&utm_content=text-hub

And David Payne at Café (Catholic Faith Exploration) is offering lots of courses at discounted prices www.faithcafe.org

I am also streaming live Mass and prayers and content from our Facebook page www.facebook.com/bmrcparish

(10 am daily and 11 am on Sunday)

These are going to be different and difficult times for all of us, but let’s stay positive and most importantly let us keep our eyes fixed on Christ! Jesus is everything! In this time of isolation, I pray that we can relearn the important lesson that all our hope and trust should be placed in Him! We have been overly-comfortable and self-reliant as a people and a nation for a long time – may we learn and re-learn dependence on each other and dependence on God.  The coronavirus pandemic can be a great opportunity for all of us, and God will if we let him bring great fruit out of what to human eyes look like a disaster – and this, of course, is the substance of our faith. God brings hope out of despair, light out of darkness and resurrection out of death.

Why Receiving Holy Communion in the Hand can be Good Thing!

As a priest and as a pastor, I am asked, not infrequently, what I think about widespread practice of receiving Holy Communion on the hand. To younger Catholics this might seem like a bit of a non-question. For many of us who have grown up in the English Church within the last forty years our only experience of receiving Holy Communion has been in the hand.

There is, it would seem, much debate and controversy surrounding the practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand. Just five minutes on the internet will expose anyone who wishes, to view the strongly held and divided views that exist on this issue. The most recent video images that appeared on my Facebook feed from Newman’s canonisation in Rome (Deo Gratias!) showed stewards reminding priests to give Holy Communion on the tongue only. The argument accompanying the feed went along the lines: well this is what Rome is insisting on now, so this is what we should all do. As I understand it, however, the practice of only ministering Holy Communion on the tongue at Vatican Masses has been tightened up on recently to help prevent tourists treating the Host as a souvenir from Rome, and in outdoor Masses particularly, it also prevents the Host blowing away. (Incidentally, I have ministered Holy Communion in St Peter’s at two Masses celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI and a prohibition of Communion on the Hand was not mentioned, indeed most people received in the hand)

As I understand it, the main thrust of the argument against the practice of receiving Holy Communion in the hand is that it emerged via the ‘back door’ as it were, after Vatican II. The argument runs that it was not really something that was in the mind of the Church. I find all of this, however, a bit of a red herring.  It’s a non-argument because Church teaching and discipline emerges organically and in many instances the practice of the faithful is constituting factor. However which way it occurred the fact remains that receiving Holy Communion in the hand is licit, and it is normative in large parts of the Catholic Church. The personal opinions of individuals whether they be Cardinals, clerics or laypeople do not change the fact that it is licit to receive Holy Communion in the hand.

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal, (GIRM) is the go-to document if we want to know how to celebrate a proper, noble and licit celebration of the Holy Eucharist. The GIRM is promulgated by the Holy See, and read alongside the Code of Canon Law, gives us the Church’s liturgical laws and norms. The GIRM also may have documents prepared by the local bishop’s conference.  In our own country ‘Celebrating the Mass’ (CTM) is the document which interprets the GIRM for the territory of England and Wales. The GIRM states that ‘the consecrated host may be received on the tongue or in the hand, at the discretion of each communicant.’ This is reiterated in the English and Welsh Bishops document ‘the conference of Bishops allows the reception of the Body of the Lord in the hand. However, the choice whether to receive in this manner is the prerogative of the communicant.’  (see GIRM 160 and CTM 211)

As a Catholic and as a priest I believe firmly and truly that the Holy Spirit animates the Church and preserves the Church from teaching moral and doctrinal error. I believe that the Bishops in communion with the Pope are successor to the Apostles and are the authentic teachers of the faith.  I have faith and confidence, therefore, that what is taught by them, is put simply, legit! Opinions on these issues, including my own, whether they be from good Catholics or bad, lay or cleric, right-wing  or left-wing do not enjoy the authority and reliability of Church teaching which is promulgated through her Bishops in communion with the Pope.

So, when I’m asked, ‘what do I think about Communion in the hand?’ my first answer is that it is a legitimate way to receive Holy Communion. To be clear,  this does not mean that I am against receiving or giving Holy Communion on the tongue, far from it. I find administering Holy communion on the tongue, and to people kneeling, a deeply moving experience. When people are reverent towards Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, actually, truly and tangibly present in the Eucharistic species I am delighted, and I am moved. Few things pain me more as a priest than the complete lack of awareness and irreverence shown to the Mass and to the reception of Holy Communion in general. When I think of the saints and martyrs and those who gave their lives for their faith, and when I think of our brothers and sisters across the globe who are persecuted and cannot receive the Eucharist or get to Mass as we frequently do, I am deeply disturbed at the cavalier attitude with which many people seem to approach the holy of holies. In some cases and in some parishes, it may well be that kneeling at altar rails for Communion (whether receiving on the tongue or in the hand) could be a good way to  restore a sense of the sacred to what is the most sacred of all acts. Nevertheless, I would hesitate to say that this should be the case in all parishes.

What is more at issue here, however, is how Holy communion is received in the heart. Whether Holy Communion is received on the tongue or in the hand is not the real issue, the real issue is whether it is received with reverence and humility. In some cases, this can be helped by receiving on the tongue, but not always. Receiving on the tongue can become just as mechanised as any other human activity unless the heart and mind is truly engaged. How receive Holy Communion in our heart is the most important thing.

I maintain, however, that receiving Holy Communion on the hand (kneeling or standing) can be a good thing, and it’s a good thing principally because it says something powerful about the nature of the Mass itself.

The Mass is both a Sacrifice and a Meal, it is at once the same sacrifice of Christ on the Cross and it is the paschal banquet instituted by Christ at the Last supper. It is not a sacrifice only nor is it a meal only. These two intrinsic dimensions, meal and sacrifice, therefore, must find expression in our celebration of the liturgy. The altar itself expresses these two profound realities. As an altar it is a place of sacrifice, but furnished with cloth, candles and gathered around it is also the Table of the Lord.

I would argue, however, that during the post Tridentine period, the dominant image of the Mass (up until Vatican II) was the Mass as the Holy Sacrifice. This of course was not wrong; the Mass is the sacrifice to end all sacrifices because it is Jesus’s sacrifice. The problem, however, was that the meal and banquet dimension to the Eucharist was obscured and thus overlooked. One of the major strengths of the revised Roman Rite (Ordinary Form of the Mass) is that it keeps both the sacrifice and meal dimension of the Eucharist in a healthy balance.  One of the ways the meal dimension has been restored is with the strong encouragement for the faithful to receive Holy Communion under the form of consecrated  bread and from the chalice. The catechism reminds us that ‘the sign of Communion is more complete when given under both kinds, since in that form the sign of the Eucharistic meal appears more clearly.’ (CCC 1390)

I would argue, then, that the reception of Holy Communion in the hand is a further helpful expression of the meal dimension of the Eucharist where we are fed with Jesus as spiritual food and bread from heaven. Furthermore, it should be noted, that there is not any record in scripture of Christ placing the host on the tongue of his disciples, rather he ‘gave it’ to them and, since they were at a meal, one assumes they took it and ate it, in their hands!

To be clear this does not mean that receiving Holy Communion on the tongue is wrong, rather Communion on the tongue (especially when kneeling) can be an image of kneeling at the foot of Cross and receiving from the side of Christ his very life, as it is poured out into us. Receiving Communion on the hand expresses more clearly being seated around the Master in the upper room and sharing in an intimate meal. Both are correct, both are powerful images, and when both occur at the same celebration, I would argue that they more effectively communicate the essential and profound truth: that the Eucharist is both a Sacrifice and a Meal.

Church practices are not monolithic but develop over time, it’s too easy for us with our limited and Western view of the Church to assume that what we do must be the only way to do things and thus it is universally valid. St Cyril of Jerusalem, reminds that receiving Communion on the tongue cannot have been always universally practised:

In approaching therefore, come not with your wrists extended, or your fingers spread; but make your left hand a throne for the right, as for that which is to receive a King. And having hollowed your palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying over it, Amen.

                                                              (Catechetical lecture 23, par 21. This translation: New Advent)

Whatever way one receives Holy Communion, I believe, the most important thing is that we are properly disposed and receive with the right intention and due reverence. The Church currently allows for Holy Communion on the hand, if this discipline changes then, as a son of the Church I would enthusiastically teach the new discipline. If it did, however, we would have to find other ways to communicate the important teaching that the Eucharist is both a sacrifice and a meal.

“That was a lovely Mass Father” Why I never have (and never will) celebrate a lovely Mass!

Not infrequently, as I greet people after Mass I am met with the saying: ‘that was a lovely Mass Father.’ Mostly, I just say thank you.  Sometimes I respond ‘Well, every Mass is lovely’ but usually that is  just met with something like; ‘but that was an especially lovely Mass.’ Most priests are familiar with this phrase and  whilst on one level, I am grateful and pleased that people have had a positive experience of the Mass, on another level  the phrase really grates on me.  Why? What does it mean? What makes some people experience Masses as lovely and others as not?

I guess my big problem is with the word ‘lovely’. Lovely is word I would use to describe a cup of tea, a slice of cake, a time with family and, at a push, a meal out. It is not a word that I would use to describe the source and the summit of the Christian Faith – the Mass.

The Catholic Faith teaches us that the Mass is indeed the source and summit of the Christian Faith. This is a bold statement. The Source: the origin and root of our faith. The Summit: the highest point of our faith. Its not until we get to the nuts and bolts of what is going in Mass that we begin to see how source and summit are indeed the appropriate terms for the Mass.

Firstly, the Mass is a sacrifice.  It is not any old sacrifice, it is the sacrifice of Christ.  At the heart of the Mass is the un-bloody re-presentation of Christ’s eternal sacrifice. This is a point that many Christian's and sadly not a few Catholic’s also don’t understand: The Mass is Christ’s sacrifice but this does not mean that every time Mass is celebrated Christ is re-sacrificed. Christ died on the cross once and for all. The Mass re-presents that one sacrifice. In effect, time and space collapses in the celebration of the Mass and we are present, by the power of the Spirit, at the foot of cross – at Calvary.

Secondly, the Mass is a meal.  It is not just any meal it is the paschal meal: The Last Supper. At every Mass we are not simply playing out events that happened in the past, but we are remembering them in such away as the one event is taken out of the past and experienced in our present. The Mass punches a hole through the fabric of time and space and we are partakers, with the disciples at the Last Supper.

Thirdly, heaven touches earth in the celebration of the Mass. Jesus is truly present to us in the Mass. He is present in his Word proclaimed from the Scriptures, He present in the Priest, He is present in the people gathered and he is most especially present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharistic species: the bread and wine which is changed into Jesus. In Holy Communion Jesus feeds, us with his very self! We are not just in the presence of God, but God enters our bodies, feeds us and is intimately close to us. At every Mass the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s comes personally to us to invite us into a deeper share of his divine life. The Mass is indeed the source of our faith because it is the sacrifice of Jesus, it is the summit of the faith because God comes to us. There is no way in this life to be closer to God than to come to Mass, this is why I don’t think ‘lovely’ truly cuts it!

What its more, this happens at every validly celebrated Mass. Every Mass: Ordinary Form or Extraordinary Form, sung or said, High or Low, with two or two million people – every Mass, full stop! To say that one Mass is more lovely than another doe not makes sense! To be fair, what I suspect is really being said is:  ‘I was particularly aware of God’s presence in that Mass Father’, or ‘this Mass was celebrated in such a way that enabled me to really appreciate the awesome mystery it is’ But ‘lovely Mass’ doesn’t really say this.

You see, every Mass is truly lovely, truly beautiful. Christ is present to us in every Mass, the problem is, so often, we are not present to Him!

Whilst appreciate the intended kindness of someone saying ‘lovely Mass Father’ I would love it if people would come out of Mass and say ‘Thank you for Mass, God is awesome’. I don’t believe I have ever offered a lovely Mass and never intend on doing so, an awesome Mass, A beautiful Mass, A glorious Mass perhaps (and that is every Mass!), but a lovely Mass? Just sounds a bit naff to me!