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PSA
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Monday of Holy Week, 2024
My dear Extra-Ordinary Ministers of Holy Communion,
As you all are aware during this week we have a lot of non-Catholics attend our services. While I firmly believe that so many lack a basic understanding of the vitality of The Eucharist to us as Catholics, I plead with you all, in your role as an Extra-Ordinary Minister, to protect and defend that very center of our identity and of our faith.
Yesterday, during the 10.00 Mass, which I was concelebrating with Fr Giuseppe, an unknown woman approached one of our ministers and produced a pyx in front of her, while at the same time demanding that this minister give her a host “to take to her friend”. This woman is not a member of the parish, neither is she known to me. We do not give communion to those who “demand” it, and most especially we never give it at communion time. Extra-Ordinary Ministers, bringing Holy Communion to the Sick, must record that visit, before they leave the Church at the end of Mass.
In all fairness, the minister refused to give her an extra host, but this woman was adamant, almost to the point of making a scene. Thankfully, I heard a pyx close and pursued this woman to see just what she was up too. Her attitude was not that of Christ, and felt she had the right, despite a total lack of training to violate our principles with regard to the Eucharist. She was not a parishioner, but her lack of respect for The Eucharist, and for the teachings of the Church, were a tragedy, in the holiest of weeks for us.
Should this happen to anyone do not be afraid to say “NO”, direct them to me or to Fr Giuseppe. Despite their attitude, you, as an Extra-Ordinary Minister have been entrusted with the protection and defense of The Eucharist. Should someone not consume the host immediately, stop what you are doing, and go after them, either directing them to consume The Eucharist immediately, or ask for it back. Should that fail, proceed directly to one of our priests and one of the ushers, who will handle the matter. Do not be afraid to do what is asked of you.
Some years ago, I had the following experience, where I collected six consecrated hosts in the parking lot of a parish I was working in. It was a blatant act of desecration. This knowledge, by itself, should encourage Catholics to make acts of reparation.
Why is it happening? I believe there are three reasons.
First, it is happening because it is tolerated. Today’s society dictates precepts requiring respect for the beliefs of others but do not apply to Catholics. Rules against "hate crime" evidently do not apply to hatred of Christ. Anyone who dishonors the Qu'ran knows that he is risking his life; someone who dishonors the Lord Jesus feels safe.
Second, it is happening because someone-- I mean, Someone-- wants it to happen. Pathetic individuals, scrabbling for their 15 minutes of public notice, find blasphemy a foolproof technique. A generation or two ago, even the most hardened anti-Catholic bigot would have shied away from such a frontal assault on the Holy of Holies. But we live at a time when hatred for the Church is intense, and the Enemy is not afraid to show his face. Never in the history of the world has there been such a deep-seated and widespread campaign of blasphemy against Jesus, and there is only one word for it-- satanic.
Finally, it is happening because Christ and his Cross, Christ and his Eucharist, remaining stumbling blocks for non-believers. A former Catholic claimed that he wanted to desecrate the Eucharist in order to show that a consecrated Host is only, in his contemptuous words, "a cracker." But if he really thought that this was only a cracker, he would not be so obsessed with the need to dishonor it. This evil man claimed that he only wanted to poke fun at Catholic beliefs, but one does not tease friends by insulting their most cherished beliefs. This was deadly serious, and he knew it.
Father Donald Keefe, a Jesuit theologian (whose works on the reality of the Eucharist have been an immense help to me), challenged this pathetic man in a letter that is worth quoting at some length:
Your conduct with respect to the Eucharist is execrable, but that you would spend so much time and energy on that desecration, and yet more upon publicizing your iniquity, is indisputable evidence that you take the Eucharist very, very seriously. So you should: it is the central reality of the universe; more; it represents our only ground for joy. There has been a long line of people like yourself unable to bear its existence and intent upon its abolition, but that is a cause lost from the beginning. You should think on this perdurance more deeply than you have: hatred is shallow stuff.
Exactly. This satanic man is not the first person to thrust a nail into the Body of Christ. It has been done before, by Roman soldiers, who thought they were eliminating a problem. Crucifixion, they confidently believed, would be the final humiliation for Jesus and the definitive proof of their imperial power. Two millennia later the Roman empire lies in ruins-- with basilicas built on the remains of pagan temples-- and the liturgical calendar includes a feast of the Exaltation of the Cross.
Each one of us offends God every day, and our sins add to the suffering of the crucified Christ. Deliberate desecration of the Eucharist is a particularly grave sin (as well as a grave offense against public decency), but I still cannot accept the notion that these vile efforts deserve journalistic attention. Sins by themselves are not "news" in the ordinary everyday sense.
If we called attention to every sin, to be fair we would also have to call attention as well to every sacrament-- every bid to balance the spiritual ledger. Then we might become more aware that while desecration of the Eucharist is a terrible thing, the celebration of the Eucharist-- every day, in every parish church-- is incalculably more important.
Don’t be afraid to protect the Eucharist – to which much is given, much is expected. If you see something out the ordinary don’t be afraid to approach an individual on the side of caution. Christ was crucified once – he does not deserve another. All of us must be aware of what is happening around us, sadly that’s the nature of the world we live in.
I have informed the Diocese of Palm Beach of this egregious act, so that they might prevent it from happening in the future.
Please contact me with any questions or concerns that you may have. Know always of my deepest gratitude for all you do - - but weakness can never be in the character of once serving Christ, Never, ever, ever.
With every good and kind wish,
Rev. D. Brian Horgan PhD
Pastor
