[Magdalen] physically distanced communion

[Judy Fleener]

There is a great difference between home Communions in our parish and what
I did today.  We are operating with a closed church and taking communion to
folks who will administer it to themselves.  I think this procedure would
raise my hackles at least slightly in normal times.  These are not normal
times.  The Bishops of the Michigan dioceses have agreed to closing church
services for more than ten people.  We have had maybe 2 weeks of services
for ten people or less indoors and then the virus exerted itself in
Michigan.  Our priest decided to take this course.  The diocese gave
parishes grants to buy recording systems. We deliver the Sacrament so that
people may receive during the broadcast.

I am grateful and I wait for a time when we can meet together.  Most of you
know that my husband, Bill, is a priest.  He has always refused to
celebrate the Eucharist just for us at home.

Making do in Michigan, Judy


On Thu, Dec 24, 2020 at 7:17 AM Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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.
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>
> >
>


-- 
Hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul.
Judy Fleener, ObJN
Western Michigan