On Church....

Mom's a cradle Catholic, and adapted very well to the changes in the Church after Vatican II, and was very very involved in Church activities, Liturgy Planning, laundry, all the things that women do as they 'hold up the Church' without being ordained. Before Vatican II she carried a mantilla in her purse just in case she had to go to a Church, since women used to have to cover their heads with something! We got a great new Pastor at the closest church to Mom's home 15 years ago, Mom and I became more involved in the Parish, Mom would drive herself to daily Mass during Lent and Advent, and would attend the Pastor's Scripture Study talks by herself while I was living away, and would then call me to tell me what the Pastor talked about. We also became Eucharistic Ministers, where we assist in the distribution of Communion under both forms of Bread and Wine. Mom did really well with it, until about 3 years ago, when Sundays became difficult.

Difficult because she was forgetting how to do the very basic things one must do as an EM (Eucharistic Minister), distribute the Bread and Wine, and when being a Cup minister, wipe the lip of the cup after a person has received.

8/15/08 Mom fell and fractured her left hip, so that meant impaired movement so being an EM went away for a bit, but after healing she could kinda still get up the step to the altar with my assistance. By Christmas 2008 it was becoming a little too much for Mom to continue with EM duties, so she 'retired'. I still did it, and therein lies the visibility of the problem.

I started to notice that even though we sit in the same place/pew for Sunday evening Mass, Mom would come to Communion, and then get confused as to where to return to. Nice people at Mass would have to 'help' Mom back to where she was sitting when I wasn't able to. Needless to say, the 'getting lost' condition has progressed to a point where she needs assistance going to and coming back from Communion; this is behavior from Mom who used to diagram to people what to do and where to go during Masses.

Mom still knows all the responses during Mass and sings most all the songs, amazing to the music leaders that Mom can still do this.

This is only one portion of what Mom does at Mass that I find terribly interesting and terribly sad at the same time, Mom's been to Communion thousands of times, just why are the connections broken now?