At last week’s Parish Pastoral Council meeting, part of the discussion centered around our use of fresh bread at the table of the Eucharist and the comments made about this practice during our parish-wide meeting last November.  Some PPC members brought to my attention that some parishioners are wondering what is happening as a result of the issues that surfaced around fresh bread.  Here is what has happened since the November meeting.

The concerns voiced at the parish-wide meeting were taken up at the December Liturgical Commission meeting.  It is most appropriate that the Liturgical Commission  take up the issues raised because our use of fresh bread and the bread baking ministry came from discussions and decisions made by this commission.

The first issue discussed was the use of fresh bread in general and how some people are wondering why we do this and should we not discontinue this practice due to some of the feedback of recent months.   It was the unanimous decision of the Liturgical Commission to continue the use of fresh bread and to actively address the important issues brought forth, namely: size and texture, the baking and handling of the bread, and people’s difficulty in consuming it.

I am told by PPC members that there is a feeling “on the street” that I personally instituted fresh bread and that the Liturgy Commission just rubber stamped it.  Here’s what transpired. The Liturgical Commission had been studying the liturgy documents that shape our worship.  One aspect of the communion rite that we looked at was the bread offered as the Body of Christ. 

Here is what the practice of the universal church as put forth in the General Instruction to the Roman Missal (GIRM) says about the bread used for communion.

            “The bread for the celebrating the Eucharist must be made only
            from wheat, must be recently baked, and…must be unleavened.”
            (GIRM #319)

            “The meaning of the sign demands that the material for the
            Eucharistic celebration truly have the appearance of food.”
            (GIRM #321)

The document goes on to talk about the use of hosts saying that they may of course be used: 

            “when the number of those receiving holy communion or other
            pastoral needs requires it.” (GIRM #321)

From studying these documents the Liturgical Commission saw that the church prefers eucharistic bread that looks, smells and tastes like the food that it is over hosts when possible.

Our discussion then centered around the possibility of introducing fresh bread into our worship at St. Matthias.  It was clear that a bread baking ministry would be needed along with a good program of catechesis before we introduced the practice.  To these ends some members of the Liturgical Commission began to bake “test loaves” which we tried out at subsequent meetings. The recipe decided upon is officially approved by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.   It was then agreed that I would write a series of articles for the bulletin as catechesis for the introduction of fresh bread.  We targeted one mass, the 4PM on Saturday for the introduction of fresh Eucharistic bread on the first Sunday in Lent 2005.  The Liturgical Commission had agreed to monitor feedback from this introduction and then gradually introduce the practice into our other masses if there were no strong reservations from parishioners.  When virtually no negative comments came to me or Commission members, the Commission decided that by Easter 2005 all three of our masses would have fresh Eucharistic bread.  It wasn’t until much later that the extent of concern and negative feedback came to our attention.

With that background in mind, let me address some of the changes that have been made in light of parishioners’ comments.   During the fraction rite when the Lamb of God is sung, only the presider breaks the bread.  Most of the bread is now broken before mass by a gloved Eucharistic minister for sanitary reasons.   The bakers have been experimenting with the size of the bread so that the pieces are not too large or small.  The recipe continues to be worked with and improved upon.  There are continuing evaluations for each bread maker for quality and consistency.  Being unleavened bread, the taste is always going to reflect the bare bones recipe of flour and water.

This bread is to be chewed as you would any piece of bread.  Some may remember when chewing the host was not allowed.  You were to let it melt in your mouth.  I’m not sure that this was ever a rule of the church but it certainly was a common if not universal practice.  Some still feel awkward when chewing the bread become the body of Christ.  Yet this is exactly what Christ commanded us to do – to take and eat.   The bread he used, and the bread used for centuries by the church is very much like the bread we have begun to use once again at the eucharist.  In a true sense we are recovering an ancient tradition of the church.

Some have said that the fresh bread is a distraction at communion time that they can’t concentrate because they are eating bread rather than a host. Well, in whatever baked form, what we are consuming is the Body of Christ.  Taking and eating should make us all think and be a bit uneasy!  Jesus took ordinary bread and made it himself.  He comes to us in the ordinariness of everyday life to reveal that we are extraordinary beings in God’s eyes. 

I encourage each parishioner to reflect upon these thoughts.  The Liturgical Commission and the parish staff welcome your comments.  We are called to unity around the table of the Lord.  Can we work together to make our communion rite a highpoint of unity during our worship?