[Apologetics] The Eucharist on Auction

Tue Apr 19 13:06:41 EDT 2005

by Mary Kochan 

Other Articles by Mary Kochan The Eucharist on Auction
04/18/05

 Many Catholics were outraged last week at the news that a consecrated Host was auctioned on eBay. Since It had been consecrated at a papal Mass in 1998, the holder of the Host had logically waited until the death of the Holy Father to offer It for sale, along with other mementos of the occasion.

His patience was rewarded by $2000. There was certainly some relief in knowing that the Host was finally purchased by faithful Catholics in order to be treated with due reverence and not made any further subject of sacrilege. But what to do about it?

EBay refused to forbid the sale despite numerous letters of protest. They communicated that it is company policy “not to prohibit any item only on the basis of the item being endowed with sacred properties by certain religious groups.” Several bloggers responded by questioning whether the sale did not violate eBay policy against the auctioning of stolen goods. I supposed it might have — if the seller had stolen It.

Now I know a lot of Catholics who would contend that of course he stole It. For one thing he admitted that he went up to Communion, received and consumed the Eucharist once, and then went back into line and received a second Host, which he kept — the one he sold. Since he had no right to receive that second Host, he was a thief. Actually since he is not Catholic, they would add, he had also “stolen” the Host he consumed.

I am reminded of a conversation that my husband had with my daughter who, in a public place, walked away from her jacket, leaving her wallet inside, only to return later and find both jacket and wallet missing. “Someone stole it!” she complained. “No,” he said, “you gave it away.”

His point was that if it is of value to you, then you guard it — otherwise expect it to be stolen. The difference between this incident with the Eucharist and my daughter’s jacket going missing is that despite his or her criminal act, the jacket thief shares with my daughter a common understanding of the ordinary reality of possession and theft. But there is no shared understanding between us Catholics and the person who took and sold the Eucharist. The seller made it very clear that he was not Catholic, did not believe the item for sale was sacred, and really did not care what we Catholics thought about it. The similarity between the Eucharist and my daughter’s jacket is that both were, as my husband put it, “given away” by not being properly guarded.

This is not the fault of eBay. EBay has not been given charge of the Holy Eucharist by the Lord. Catholics who railed at the seller and at eBay are asking people who do not believe to act as though they do believe. The Eucharist is entrusted to the Church, and if the Church does not guard it, we can’t expect unbelievers to do so. The simple fact is that even if we reverence the Eucharist, unbelievers will not have respect for It. So it is ridiculous to expect them to do so when we ourselves show such disregard as to allow indiscriminate distribution of Holy Communion and Communion in the hand.

EBay’s policy is such that this could happen again. Consider it a certainty, especially if it becomes common knowledge that faithful Catholics will pay good money just to rescue the Sacred Species from desecration. Imaginative sellers will get a friend to enter fake bids to drive the price up. I mean how hard is this to forecast? One Catholic commentator said Catholics should refuse to make these purchases because “we should not negotiate with hostage takers.” As though what it took to get your hands on the Eucharist was raiding a Catholic Church wearing a ski mask and brandishing an automatic weapon. Would that it were so.

There are already so many good reasons for not having Communion in the hand that we hardly need one more, but now we have it anyway. As long as we have Communion in the hand incidents of sacrilege will continue to multiply. There are more evil things that can be done with a consecrated Host than being auctioned on a website. We could at the very least take precautions to guard the Eucharist by making sure that those who receive Communion really consume the Host. So whose responsibility is it to make sure that the person who receives Communion does consume the Host?

Plenty of blame falls on priests who are less careful than they ought to be, both in the manner of distribution and in the instruction of their parishioners. And we can kick this buck even further up the episcopal chain of command. Instead, let’s look in the other direction.

The 1983 Code of Canon Law specifically provides deacons — at the direction of the bishop — authority for ministering Holy Communion (Canon 910[1]). Lumen Gentium (no. 29) lists among the faculties which may be granted to a deacon to be “custodian and dispenser of the Eucharist.” While the main function of the deacon’s ministry is that of service, the deacons’ liturgical function both in preaching and in distribution of Holy Communion makes them especially responsible for seeing to it that the Eucharist is not abused.

Allowing Communion at Mass to be distributed only by ordained clergy properly disposed both to guard the Eucharist and to instruct the faithful in proper reception of the Sacrament would go a long way toward curbing abuse. Communion in the hand is, if not formally an abuse in itself, certainly an open door to sacrilege. Those of us who recognize it as such should be more vocal within our parishes, urging our friends and family to proper reverence. This has become a case where what is (perhaps) lawful is clearly neither helpful nor edifying (1 Cor 10: 23). It is an indult (something allowed) not something mandated. It is high time that we agitated as vocally and determinedly for its cessation as those who began the practice agitated for the indult. We can take a cue from Blessed Mother Teresa: "Wherever I go in the whole world, the thing that makes me the saddest is watching people receive Communion in the hand."

All Catholic men should imitate St. Joseph, guardian of the helpless infant Jesus and His Blessed Mother. When Jesus is present, small and vulnerable, they should have about them a certain disposition of watchfulness and be ready to take action to protect the Eucharist from sacrilege.

When there is a question about whether people are Catholic — they are unknown to the clergy or to other respected members of the parish and they give evidence of unfamiliarity with the Mass ritual — someone has to have the courage to call them aside for a moment of scrutiny before they are admitted to Holy Communion. If someone is observed receiving Communion in the hand and it appears something other than immediate consumption has occurred, that individual should be confronted. My husband and I have both had occasion to do this at our parish. But as long as too many Catholics are shy and reticent, more worried about being embarrassed or discomfiting a guest than about protecting our most Precious Possession, we can hardly expect unbelievers to do it for us.

Sweet Sacrament, we Thee adore. O make us love Thee more and more! O make us love Thee more and more!

© Copyright 2005 Catholic Exchange 

Mary Kochan, Senior Editor of Catholic Exchange, was raised as a third-generation Jehovah’s Witness. She is a member of St. Theresa parish in Douglasville, GA and she is homeschooling four of her grandchildren. Her tapes are available from Saint Joseph Communications. 

Like a deer that longs for running waters so my soul longs for you, O God.

Ps 42:1

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