Moms Giving First Communion
A ZENIT DAILY DISPATCH
Moms Giving First Communion
ROME, 17 JAN. 2006 (ZENIT)
Answered by Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university.
Q: Sunday last an acquaintance of my wife’s remarked, in passing, that it had been a stressful spring, “You know, with first Communion and all.” The lady explained that at her parish in Virginia, mothers (as in moms) administer first Eucharist to their children. She was “so nervous [she] almost couldn’t say ‘the Body of Christ’” and had to be prompted. Have you ever heard of such a thing, and is it not a gross liturgical/sacramental abuse? — L.L., Washington, D.C.
A: This practice is not only unlawful but is also rather poor pastoral practice. From the legal point of view, an analogous case was dealt with in the instruction “Redemptionis Sacramentum,” No. 94. To wit:
“It is not licit for the faithful ‘to take ... by themselves and, still less, to hand ... from one to another’ the sacred host or the sacred chalice. Moreover, in this regard, the abuse is to be set aside whereby spouses administer Holy Communion to each other at a Nuptial Mass.”
A mother and child are in a similar relationship to that of spouses with respect to the above norm.
Extraordinary ministers of holy Communion are commissioned by the bishop to respond to concrete pastoral needs. Appointing a parent as ad hoc extraordinary minister can never correspond to such a necessity.
Apart from the legal consideration, one could honestly ask, what kind of message is conveyed by such initiatives.
Perhaps, the thought is that since mothers gave life and nurture to the children, then it is somehow appropriate that they should also be the first to give them the Bread of life.
If this, or any similar reasoning, is behind it I sincerely believe that the practice actually weakens both the importance of first Communion, and the importance of the role of parents in bringing their children to the altar rail for the first time.
When children receive Communion for the first time they receive a gift from God. For the first time they share in something on a par with their parents, something which their parents, by themselves, are incapable of giving. In a sense they take a step in spiritual maturity, in entering into a personal relationship with Christ, and in forming part of the wider family which is the Church.
The fact that holy Communion is primarily God’s gift is best expressed by receiving it from the celebrating priest as Christ’s representative. Indeed, most pastors rightly reserve the administration of first holy Communion to themselves and almost never delegate this ministry to extraordinary ministers, or even to deacons.
The joy of parents in seeing their children receive Communion should stem from seeing how they have fulfilled part of their mission in assuring their children’s spiritual growth in unison with the physical. They have strived hard to form and guide the child and pass on the faith, but they know full well that it is above all God’s gift and not theirs. ZE06011721
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Follow-ups: Moms Giving First Communion
I wish to clarify an aspect arising from our column on parents giving first Communion to children (Jan. 17).
A Denver reader, who is a formally mandated extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, asks: "Was the abuse incurred because the moms were appointed as ad hoc ministers? I am asking because ... when my daughter made her first Communion, I served her the chalice. I assumed this was authorized and licit, was I wrong to do so?"
The abuse we mentioned erred on several counts, among which was the technically unnecessary appointing of ad hoc extraordinary ministers, but above all because we judged it as unsound pastoral practice.
Our reader's case is different. Here, we are dealing with a properly authorized extraordinary minister who assisted the priest in administrating the chalice at a first Communion. In doing so he was carrying out his usual service and the fact that one of the children happened to be his daughter makes no difference from the legal point of view.
From a pastoral viewpoint, even if the parents are authorized extraordinary ministers, there may be situations when it is imprudent to specifically delegate them to administrate their children's first Communion, especially if such singling out could easily lead to misunderstandings and resentment in other parents.
Such a procedure would also be illicit if this was done when the circumstances did not require the use of an extraordinary minister at all. ZE06013122
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