On the Communal Celebration of the Eucharist

Recently you may have heard that in the Diocese of Austin, at the direction of Bishop Joe Vasquez, we will no longer be able to store, or “archive”, recordings of livestreamed Masses, as we have done since the beginning of this pandemic. I would like to explain the reasoning behind this change.

First of all, I want to make clear that the Masses will be livestreamed, all the way through, at the times they are usually done. So the 8:00 a.m. Masses on Monday through Saturday, and the Mass on Sunday at 8:45 a.m., will be livestreamed all the way through, and you can watch these entire Masses on Facebook or YouTube at the time they are occurring.

You will be able to return later and find the saved recording of the first part of the Mass, with the readings, the homily, the Creed and Prayers of the Faithful (Universal Prayer) and even the exciting announcements, at your convenience. However, the Eucharistic Prayer and Communion will not be saved for later viewing. There are theological/liturgical reasons for this. This is what the Vicar General of Diocese has said:

• The sacraments are fundamentally lived experiences of a lived reality in a particular time and place that are celebrated with the person of Jesus Christ in communion with his Body the Church.

• Participation in the Eucharist and maintaining the holiness of Sunday must never be a matter of convenience, but rather, a faithful response to God’s invitation to commune with Him and the assembly together. 

• The liturgy experiences a poverty when it becomes an “on-demand” act. 

• The liturgy is something we are invited to at a specific place and time rather than something to which we invite ourselves.

I would add the following: The celebration of the Eucharist is never an individual act. It is, by its very nature, communal. We do this as the Body of Christ together. However, in this pandemic we are unable to gather in this time. To help emphasize the essentially communal nature of the Eucharist, we gather not in location (proximity) but at least in time (temporally). The Eucharist is something we DO (an action) and that we do TOGETHER. Ideally, we would do that all gathered in one space, and we look forward to when we can again do it side-by-side and holding hands. But in the meantime, to emphasize the collective nature of the Eucharistic event, we need to do it together in time, simultaneously. And we miss being together with you, so that your presence in time is still valuable to our celebration.

That is my understanding (for what it is worth) of what Bishop Joe is trying to achieve. You may or may not agree with the reasoning, but obviously Bishop Joe thinks this is what is best for the over-all spiritual health of this diocese. I sincerely regret if this causes you or your loved ones a sense of loss. If it is simply a matter of inconvenience then I invite you to “suck it up and deal with it.” We will have the readings, homily, prayers of the faithful saved and archived for you to enjoy.

We are looking at the possibility of livestreaming another Sunday Mass, either the 11:30 or the 5:30 p.m.. We have pretty much pushed our recording crew to the limit (he is also doing weddings, funerals, Baptisms, First Communions, etc.) and would probably have to hire another staff person as our videographer. Right now we don’t have the budget for that. But we are looking at ways to make that happen.

Please keep Bishop Joe and the staff at St Austin’s in your prayers as we try to figure out how to respond faithfully and with evangelical zeal in this unusual, difficult, and uncomfortable time.

God bless!