I went to Ascension Thursday mass at lunchtime today at parish near my workplace.
The pastor there seems like a generally good guy and this story is not to pick on him, but I did find what happened kinda funny, sad funny.
The Church is cruciform. In the nave, where I sat, were mostly the school kids. To the left of the sanctuary sat most of the regulars, tending toward the aged.
At communion time, the Priest and the Deacon came down to the center of the nave while ushers let us go row by row. I remarked to myself how pleased I was that there were no extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion as the crowd was not that large.
As soon as the priest finished giving out communion to the center aisle, he and the deacon returned to the sanctuary. The deacon began to clean the vessels and the priest put the Eucharist back in the tabernacle and sat down with his eyes closed.
Meanwhile there were 50 old people standing on the left of the sanctuary looking at each other, unsure what to do. Some people quietly tried to get his attention, but he just sat there with his eyes closed. Finally an altar boy got up, walked over, and tapped him on the shoulder.
A few puzzled glances and then he rushed over to give them communion.
Again, not knocking the priest, but I guarantee he thought an EMHC would take care of it, just like on Sundays. What was supposed to be extraordinary is now just assumed.
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