[Magdalen] physically distanced communion

[Ginga Wilder]

I was trained at two parishes in EDoSC.  First in the parish of my birth
and upbringing...the one that joined the new 'Anglican denomination/ in
2012.  The second was the church in Charleston that John and I transferred
to in 2007 when the handwriting on the walls was clear that the home parish
would not remain in the Episcopal Church.  The training I received in the
early 1990s in my home parish was far superior to that which I received at
the big downtown Charleston parish.  In the first, we were instructed about
how to have a short visit with the one to be communed and how to switch
from visiting to presenting the Eucharist, for which we had a format to
follow.  It was very pastoral, and an excellent way to serve for lay
persons to were blessed with pastoral gifts.  In the larger church, I met
one on one with a priest who instructed me to simply administer the
sacrament and leave...no visits.  I think this different formats reflected
the gifts of the priests doing the training.  Guess which was my
preference...yep, and did I conform to the instruction to give and
go....nope.  Father forgive me..
Ginga

On Wed, Dec 23, 2020 at 6:25 PM Roger Stokes via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

> Ginga,
>
> I recognize from my own parish ministry that there are two, or possibly
> three, distinct forms of ministry to those who are unable to join in the
> regular worship. One is the ministry of friendship. I have long felt
> that is best exercised by laypeople who have known the shut-in for a
> number of years rather than by the parish priest. I ise the metaphor
> that they will be entertained with a mug of tea round the kitchen table
> rather than the parson getting a china cup in the best parlour.
>
> An important adjunct to that came to me in one visit to someone who had
> been a widow for sixty years and was housebound. She told me that she
> had said to one of her friends that she was waiting for death and wanted
> it to come soon. Her friend was horrified by that but she could say that
> to me as her priest who did not have those decades of shared experience
> and so could recognize and empathise with the constraints of her present
> existence.
>
> Finally there is the sacramental ministry. In my last parish there were
> numerous nursing and residential homes and I gather that my predecessor
> had regularly visited them to take them communion. My experience was
> that most of the residents did not understand what was happening
> (assuming they were awake). Prompted by a period of sick leave I
> basically withdrew from being part of the entertainment programme and
> said I was happy to visit residents who requested it. Individual church
> members I would happily visit and I would celebrate a simplified
> Eucharist with them. There were few enough for me to be able to do that.
>
> Roger
>
> On 23/12/2020 22:58, Ginga Wilder wrote:
> > Hi Roger,
> > As I said, I have not asked why lay persons - all of whom are licensed
> and
> > trained properly - are no longer asked to serve as Eucharistic visitors.
> > We were always 'sent out' from the altar to proceed directly to the
> > person.  Perhaps I jumped to a conclusion, one of my favorite exercises!
> > I've not asked, and it could be that because we are a small community, he
> > wants to visit any homebound or sick parishioners.  I'm not upset by
> that,
> > but it was certainly an immediate change when he arrived.
> >
> > Ginga
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 23, 2020 at 5:42 PM Roger Stokes via Magdalen <
> > magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:
> >
> >> Ginga,
> >>
> >> That surprises me. Given that our RC brothers and sisters have the
> >> practice of laypeople taking communion to those unable to be in church,
> >> and being officially sent out to perform that ministry towards the end
> >> of the mass, the idea of duly authorised laypeople taking the elements
> >> to the shut-in members of the congregation should not be anathema to
> >> him. In this diocese the requirement is that those exercising this
> >> ministry should be specifically authorised by the bishop to do so. It
> >> may be that your new Priest in Charge was concerned that this ministry
> >> was not being carried out with proper respect for the consecrated
> >> elements. We may no longer expect that a vested server precede the
> >> priest bearing the Blesses Sacrament but the Eucharistic Prayer does
> >> include the suffrage that the elements may for us be the Body and Blood
> >> of Christ and, as such, it needs to be treated with respect. In the
> >> current situation this is more challenging than it was when I was in
> >> parish ministry but I am glad that your proest is reaching out to you at
> >> this time.
> >>
> >> Roger
> >>
> >> On 23/12/2020 19:17, Ginga Wilder wrote:
> >>> My priest called this afternoon to ask if I would like him to bring
> >>> communion to me tomorrow between services.  Yes!  I have so missed
> >>> receiving.
> >>>
> >>> He quietly ended lay Eucharistic visitors when he became
> >> priest-in-charge.
> >>> I've never asked why, because I know it has to do with is
> >> 'Anglo-Catholic'
> >>> centering...he served for nearly 20 years at Holy Communion,
> Charleston -
> >>> the High Church in the Lowcountry - before coming to Good Shepherd.
> >>>
> >>> Anyway, I am grateful that I will have Christmas communion.
>
>
>