Q: Hi, Father Paul-
I was recently out of State and attended mass in the local parish.
When it came time for the Eucharist, we were instructed it would happen in 3 waves. The faithful were told to approach to receive in the following waves (guided by a man walking back and forth on the altar with his fingers up):
1-if you wish to receive in the hands
2-if you wish to receive on the tongue
3-if you wish to receive intiction from the priest
It was a bit chaotic, did not seem to be “in communion” and was quite distracting.

I did not get a chance to ask the priest about the process. It was not like this 2.5 years ago.  (I also did not get to ask about why he led the Prayer of St. Michael before the dismissal. This is so perplexing to me).

Thoughts?

==

A: Those are three ways of receiving communion, but how odd that people were asked to publicly align themselves with each group. I can’t imagine why the staff thought that this was an improvement over their previous practice, but it doesn’t break any rules. And maybe they have their reasons.

Here’s a previous post on the Prayer of St. Michael: https://paulturner.org/prayer-to-michael-the-archangel/

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