Fresh homemade Eucharist
When you see a headline like "St. Charles Borromeo serves fresh, homemade Eucharist every week" you have got to laugh since it sounds like a Madison Avenue ad campaign pitch. For those who have a skeptical mind like mine you will be glad to know that the recipe they use will result in valid matter for the Eucharist.
LIVERMORE — "Give us this day our daily bread" may be what Catholics pray at Mass before receiving the Eucharist, but for many churches, the prayer should go more like this: "Give us this day our daily machine-manufactured Holy Communion wafer."
However, the bread baking ministry at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Livermore is sticking to the original.
If done right there is of course nothing wrong with this practice of involving a large part of the parish in producing Communion hosts. The only caveat is that I would think homemade bread would be much more susceptible to crumbs and that even more special care would be required in distributing it. This is problematic considering that it is rather rare to see the use of Patens. You might have a dozen Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, but no one to help ensure that the Eucharist is not dropped.
Thinking about this I do wish that every parish used patens. My own parish does and I think that it emphasizes the reality of the Eucharist and its sacredness. To take such care accentuates the truth that the every particle of the Eucharist fully contains the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. When I see the paten holder raise the paten up closer to my chin as as receive the Eucharist on the tongue it does once again remind me of the sacredness of the Eucharist. I do find it rather odd that there has been so much attention paid to involving members of the parish during the Mass, yet something so obvious such as having people on hand to hold a paten is overlooked. Or maybe they are just paten pending.
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On the subject of patens, I've noticed the same trend of general non-use. I'm a thirty-something and grew up in the post-V2 church, but even as an altar boy in the '80s, I can remember it being our duty during communion to be on guard, paten in hand. Maybe wafer manufacturers in the '90s devised a crumbless wafer or something. I do miss the patens too, it keeps the altar boys (sorry altar servers, I forgot the women folk) out of trouble. Maybe patens were affected by the millenium bug, and a patch is still being created.
Growing up in the 80's I remember my Mom taking her turn baking the bread that would be used for communion. It ended up being dark brown, 1/4 inch thick, an quite dense. The hosts were made into large circles with a coffee can (making 6 per cookie sheet) with 1/2 inch squares scored in the bread for when the priest would break it prior to distribution to the parishioners.
I also recall wondering what was going on when, at another parish, the alter boys held out the patens during communion as that was one (of many) things I had never seen before at my home parish.
There is a mistake in the article. They wrote that the bread is consecrated prior to Mass.
I never attended a church where patens were used until the first time I went to a Tridentine Mass.
I too would like to see patens used regularly; I doubt if most younger people would even know what they are.
For those whose parishes do NOT use communion patens, I would refer you to Redemptionis Sacramentum which clearly states that "the use of Communion patens is to be retained" which presumes that such practice never stopped! There is a company (Cavanagh) which makes a host which is sealed so there are very few particles, but even so, the paten is a good idea in case a host should fall! Not to mention the fact (as I did above) that their use is still expected. As to the baking of substantial bread - we did that when I was in the seminary - I have seen first-hand the serious drawbacks of using such hosts - the crumbs, the easily-corruptible nature of the accidents (they cannot be reserved for any time at all in the tabernacle) which also comes with the problem of consuming a large number of hosts remaining at the end of Holy Communion! Maybe their heart is in the right place, but I would say that in this day and age, we are better off buying hosts (yes, even the maching manufactured wafer) from folks who understand why these practicalities are important!
CJ,
Your right in saying that in principle there is nothing wrong with this, but as a practical matter it almost always leads to abuses with the potential to render the bread invalid matter. Someone will decide that the recipe would be 'better' if something (honey, raisins, etc...) were added. This was done occasionally at the seminary I attended. (Oh great! Today we have Chewy Communion.) Inevitably there would be particles stuck between ones teeth. It was also done at the base I served at in the reserves. (I brought my own normal large hosts so I could be certain of the validity of at least some of the bread.) In both cases, there were particles everywhere. There is a good reason why the current form of the host developed.
PS I am ordering patens in the Fall.
For those interested, here's some info on how the Ukrainian Catholic church traditionally approaches the preparation, including offeratory, of the Eucharist. From St. Elias church in Canada. Lot's of pictures and a very informative site. Looks like an awesome parish.
http://www.saintelias.com/ca/liturgy/proskomidia.php
http://www.saintelias.com/ca/liturgy/commemoration.php
As a server, cantor, and master of ceremonies, I would also like to add that even though a priest might use patens, it is of utmost importance that he take his time distributing Communion. I've still seen hosts fall to the floor even with patens because the priest was in a hurry while distributing Communion.
The other problem that can arise from making your own hosts is the temptation (or in ignorance) of easily making invalid matter. A parish in our diocese supposedly encouraged first communicants to make their own hosts. Upon hearing some of the ingredients, it meant that basically for many of these children, their second Communion was actually their first Communion.