[Magdalen] physically distanced communion

[Ginga Wilder]

Not at all, Grace!
Ginga

On Wed, Dec 23, 2020 at 9:37 PM Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com> wrote:

> I hope you didn’t hear any implied criticism of you in my comments about
> home communion. I know you’ve been missing it terribly, and I’m glad your
> priest is recognizing that and providing it for you.
>
> > On Dec 23, 2020, at 8:10 PM, Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > 'Hit and run' is an apropo description, Grace.  The 'slam-bam' method
> seems
> > rude to me.  Perhaps there are people who need that quickness, but what
> > about shut-ins who would love a visit?  I guess the important thing is to
> > know your congregation.  Also, there's no rule against asking the person,
> > him/herself, rather than assuming.  IMNSHO, the difference seems to be
> > seeing a person as an object and a person.  (Putting on my brakes here,
> > because I can go on and on, when it comes to that issue.)
> >
> > FYI, the reason I am receiving a Eucharistic visit is because my priest
> > knows how hard it has been for me not to receive Eucharist in this season
> > of isolating.  I am not homebound, of course, but because I have a long
> > list of medical issues, I am staying in.  I spoke with my physician about
> > this.  His response was that I am not more vulnerable to catching the
> virus
> > than anyone else, but if I contract it, I will have much more trouble
> with
> > recovery than healthier folks.
> >
> > Ginga
> >
> >> On Wed, Dec 23, 2020 at 7:55 PM Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> As I may have mentioned, we have been told we (priests or LEV’s)may
> bring
> >> communion in one kind to official “shut-ins,” and visits are to last no
> >> longer than 15 minutes. Since I’m used to spending some time visiting
> when
> >> I do home communions, this feels a little too much like “hit and run”
> >> ministry, and I haven’t offered it. At the moment we only have one
> actual
> >> shut-in couple, and since she’s recently finished a round of chemo, she
> >> probably wouldn’t want a visit anyway.
> >>
> >>>> On Dec 23, 2020, at 6:53 PM, Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>>
> >>> 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.
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>
>