Communion services should never replace parish Sunday Mass except in the case of a “true emergency,” according to policies issued by Bishop Larry Silva on Aug. 21. During the rest of the week a Communion service in place of a Mass should be the “rare exception,” he said.

The bishop issued the rules in the Diocese of Honolulu e-NewsLetter, an on-line newsletter published by the office of the vicar general, Father Marc R. Alexander, and e-mailed to parishes and offices in the diocese.

At all parishes in the Diocese of Honolulu (and missions where a Sunday service is regularly scheduled), “Priests are obliged to celebrate the Eucharist in its entirety on Sundays (and Saturday Vigils)” in all parishes and missions with regularly scheduled Masses, the bishop wrote.

A Communion service is a rite in which Scripture readings are read and the Holy Eucharist is distributed without a Mass, usually because no priest is available.

If for some reason it is impossible for a priest to celebrate Sunday Mass, the first option is to direct the congregation to a neighboring parish if feasible. If a Communion service is held, it should be “reported to the bishop’s office as soon as possible,” the bishop said.

Sunday and Saturday vigil Communion services may also be held if the bishop gives specific written permission. And they may be celebrated in a prison in the absence of a priest.

For weekday Masses, the bishop’s policy was a little more lenient but not much.

During the week, Masses are the “norm,” he said, and Communion services the “rare exception.” Bishop Silva included examples of such exceptions:

--Priests are not available because they are at a mandatory meeting or on retreat.

--An unanticipated illness.

The only parish priest is away on his day off.

In every case, the bishop added, “attempts should always be made beforehand to secure a substitute priest whenever possible.”

A deacon dressed in a plain alb may preside over a Communion service or, in the absence of a deacon, carefully selected and trained lay people. The congregation is to be told that the service is the exception and not the equivalent of the Mass celebrated by a priest.