Posted on 01/17/2013 6:33:07 AM PST by marshmallow
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- This year amid the raging flu epidemic in the United States, several dioceses have issued recommendations for receiving Communion, offering the sign of peace and even attending Mass.
According to a report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the flu season started earlier than usual this year. As of Jan. 16, 47 states were reporting widespread influenza activity, up from 41 states the previous week. The report also stated that the flu was beginning to subside in some areas, especially in the Southeast, where it first appeared.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops posted on its Facebook page and blog the recommendations it offered in 2009 regarding the flu and church practices.
The recommendations stressed that the diocesan bishop should always be consulted regarding any changes or restriction of options in the celebration of the liturgy.
It also noted that in localities where outbreak of influenza was high, "bishops have introduced several liturgical adaptations in regard to such practices as the distribution of holy Communion and the exchange of the sign of peace in order to limit the spread of contagion."
The recommendations urged the use of common sense and basic hygiene stressing that priests, deacons, and extraordinary ministers of holy Communion should "always wash their hands before Mass" and that the "the faithful should be instructed not to receive from the cup if they feel ill."
In mid-January, several Catholic dioceses posted guidelines on their websites about liturgical practices during flu season.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnews.com ...
At times in the past they have suspended the “Sign of Peace” handshake when the flu was going around. Not much new here I think.
“.. the faithful are instructed not to receive the cup if they feel ill”.
The problem with this is that the flu doesn’t sort of just creep up on you. I have felt fine at 1 in the afternoon... folding laundry and doing what I need to do. I have then been on the couch at 3... shivering, sick to my stomach. Personally, I haven’t received the cup since I was a child for this very same reason. I don’t want to get sick and I wouldn’t want to make anyone else sick.
Intinction is one of the most blatantly unbiblical practices to begin with since Jesus clearly had them eat and THEN later drink, so let’s hope it stays that way for good.
Personally I always thought that was a little gross. In the mainline Protestant churches I used to go to they always used individual cups.
The priest . . . and only the priest . . . should handle the Host . . . this people-grabbing-handling-drinking-from-same-chalice stuff should stop. Ridiculous!
catholic churches do not practice tincture at anytime flu or no flu. additionally, receiving both species is always optional for catholics as Christ’s body and blood is fully present in the host.
We grew up receiving the host from the Priest. We NEVER passed a Chalice around until all the changes began to take place. We NEVER drank from the Chalice. Drinking after someone is NOT and NEVER HAS BEEN HEALTHY in my opinion. The very thought of it makes me ill.
Actually, NO ONE EXCEPT THE PRIEST should be handling the host.
We were at Mass on Christmas Eve one year and the helpers as I call them stood on the altar after Communion and were getting ready to return the hosts. Well, a few of them stood there and ate one after another like it was a friggin box of candy. Pardon my language but... I was infuriated and instead of leaving Mass fulfilled instead...I was FILLED with anger. I could not imagine ... it was like they were eating the “leftovers.” Disgusts me to the core even to this day and it has been many years.
Despite the notions of sharing and community, the whole common cup thing has always bothered me for health reasons. Many Protestant churches use small glass cups filled from the common chalice and the Catholic Church at least used to allow intinction where the host was dipped in the chalice before being distributed on the tongue. Both options would be better for health reasons especially during a flu epidemic.
When I was a young man (before Vatican II sold out the Church), I was an altar boy. One of the positions as an altar boy was to hold the paten under the chin of anyone receiving communion, because if there was even a particle of the host that fell off the priest's fingers, we altar boys had to catch it, and then we'd let the priest (and only the priest) put the particles into his wine chalice for his consumption only.
Now, my point is, if the Host and all its particles were to be revered that much, then why, now, can they be grabbed, handled, sneezed on, dropped, etc.? Either the Host is GOD or it isn't. What happened?
And since the Church is still letting Pelosi, etc., receive Holy Communion even though they believe in the DAILY wholesale slaughter of 3,300 harmless, defenseless, little unborn and newly born babies, then WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?
They might want to look at things like this too:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is holding a young immigrant from Asia who officials say is infected with a rare drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis.
I dislike the “sign of peace” immensely....people coughing into their hands, sneezing, wiping their noses and then they want to shake your hand...
I think you have, in a nutshell, summarized my frustration with the Church these days.
We seem endlessly mired in insular issues of marginal consequence. Do we stand or kneel for Communion? Does the Priest put the Host in your mouth or in your hand? Do we say “consubstantial” or “one in being with”?
Meanwhile Rome is literally burning. Catholic politicians like Pelosi openly support 65 million abortions since Roe v. Wade and yet they still take Communion. Obama fires a direct shot into the face of the Church with his health care mandates and they don’t have the courage to stand at the pulpit and say “you can not vote for this man”. The family structure is literally disintegrating before our eyes. And yet the Cardinals just move on to their next angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin topic.
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