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I just participated in my first Lord’s Supper via a streaming service. My pastor asked us to have juice and bread ready in our homes. I served my wife, and then I served myself as our pastor prayed and read Scripture regarding the Supper. It was different, but it was meaningful. To be clear, I know different churches handle this ordinance differently. Some call it by another name such as Communion. Some have a common cup. Some have different theological understandings of its purpose and meaning. Many churches in my tradition have very small cups of juice on a plate...

[Catholic Caucus] Latin Mass Society say no to Communion in the hand after Bishops' Coronavirus guidelines While the Bishops of England and Wales have issued updated Guidelines (dated 27th February 2020) on steps to be taken in parishes in relation to the possible spread of the Coronavirus/COVID 19 - including distribution of Holy Communion on the hand only - the Latin Mass Society has stated that it is not permissible to distribute Holy Communion in the hand at celebrations of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.The LMS says in a statement: While noting that these guidelines do not take...

[Catholic Caucus] Here Comes the "Host Bar" A "crisis committee" of St Joseph parish in Bottrop, Germany, decided to preside Eucharist again beginning on May 10th.In order to comply with iron "hygiene rules," wooden bars with notches at appropriate distances were manufactured for the hosts.The faithful must wear a mask and bring their own hymnal.A prerequisite for participation is a prior personal registration by telephone, which is only possible at certain times and on certain days.The chairman of the parish council, Roberto Giavarra, told NeuesRuhrWort.de (10 May) that the feedback from the faithful "fell far short of expectations".

Days after the U.S. bishops' conference forwarded a set of suggestions for how Catholic prelates might restart the public celebration of the Mass during the coronavirus pandemic, the national organization of diocesan liturgical officials has published its own separate set of recommendations. The guidelines from the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions differ from those offered by the bishops on one major point: whether Catholics should be allowed to receive Communion on the tongue. Where the bishops' guidelines, prepared by the Thomistic Institute at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, say it is possible to offer Communion on the tongue...

The U.S. bishops' conference has forwarded a set of recommendations to Catholic prelates across the country, proposing various paths forward for how they might restart the public celebration of the Mass in their dioceses despite the continued fear of the spread of the coronavirus. In an April 30 memorandum obtained by NCR, Archbishop Leonard Blair, head of the bishops' Committee on Divine Worship, suggests the prelates consider a series of guidelines prepared by the Thomistic Institute at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington. Taking their cue from the Trump administration's "Opening Up America Again" plan, which says the country...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Müller Calls an Archbishop "Another Example of Disastrous Theological Formation" The Church isn't an agency subordinated to the state, and no bishop has the right to ban the Eucharist, Cardinal Gerhard Müller told LaNuovaBq.it (May 7).He criticises that priests were punished for celebrating Mass with a few people by their bishops, “This means they conceive themselves as state officials.”Müller reminds that “our Supreme Pastor is Jesus Christ, not [the Italian Prime Minister] Giuseppe Conte." And, “The State has its task, but the Church has her own.”Exceptional circumstances like a prison may allow for live-streamed Masses, Müller concedes,...

[Catholic Caucus] As Masses open up, priests told to DROP Hosts onto hands, Communion on the tongue is banned As public Masses start up again, people are sending notes with indications from different dioceses about distribution of Holy Communion.Under the excuse of being “realistic” and so forth, chanceries are writing for their bishops – I prefer to believe that the bishops themselves are not so awful – that Communion in the hand is obligatory and that people do not have a right to receive on the tongue.Sed contra, Redemptionis Sacramentum says “Quamvis omnis fidelis ius semper habeat pro libitu suo sacram...

There’s good news and bizarre news for Christians who live in Knoxville, Tennessee. The government will allow you to return to your church house on May 1st, but there are a number of rules, regulations and hoops you will have to jump through to make that happen. City and county leaders released a lengthy list of guidelines for church members and pastors. Click here to read the full list. I was particularly curious about an edict from government leaders banning what we in the Baptist faith tradition call The Lord’s Supper. “The physical taking of communion/sacrament should not be performed...

Wake County, North Carolina continues to ban Christians from their central rite of communion while allowing hand-delivered food so long as it's served by restaurants instead of pastors. Like many other locales across the nation, in the name of reducing coronavirus transmission Wake County, North Carolina continues to ban Christians from their central rite of communion while allowing hand-delivered food so long as it’s served by restaurants instead of pastors. After I reported last week on threats against a local church for holding services within government social-distancing and hygiene guidelines while grocery, hardware, and other retail stores are allowed to...

[Catholic Caucus] Swiss churches put consecrated hosts in match boxes for faithful to take 'Consecrated hosts to take for Communion at home,' a handwritten sign states next to a bowl containing dozens of match boxes with the Eucharist. STANS, Switzerland, April 21, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Several Catholic churches in Switzerland are offering prepackaged consecrated hosts for the faithful to take and consume at home amid the prohibition of public Masses during the coronavirus pandemic. The consecrated hosts, which, as Catholics believe, contain the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ, are put into small containers that look like a...

Moscow, March 11, Interfax - Threat of being deprived of Liturgy and Communion is more dangerous than coronavirus, Archimandrite Philipp (Ryabykh), representative of the Moscow Patriarchate to the European International institutions, believes. "On the one hand, it is frightening to be infected with the dreadful virus that may be lethal, this fear is great and it makes many people think about their life and health. However, on the other hand, under these circumstances it is even more frightening to be deprived of the Holy Communion and the Holy Eucharist, which is the great gift of the Lord. We also have...

Metropolitan Klimis of Peristeri sent a clear message in every direction at the Church of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Peristeri and called on the faithful to “receive Holy Communion without fear.” The Metropolitan of Peristeri, who presided over the Service of the Rejoicings to the Theotokos (Chairetismoi ) on the first Friday of Great Lent, stressed that the Holy Communion was the body and blood of Christ and, therefore, it could not contract any disease.

March 6, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Sante Fe’s Archbishop John Charles Wester has asserted that Communion in the hand is “every bit as respectful” as receiving on the tongue in a statement regarding his response to the coronavirus. “There is nothing ontologically preferable to receiving on the tongue,” he said as he announced that all communicants in the archdiocese must receive in the hand due to the coronavirus. The archbishop said in a statement earlier this week that “[g]iven the highly contagious nature of the flu and the coronavirus, communicants MUST [capitalization in the original] receive Holy Communion in the hand...

BUCHAREST – The Press office of the Romanian Patriarchate published a communiqué, in the context of extensive media coverage of the coronavirus (Covid – 19) and following requests from some state institutions that the Church should take measures to prevent the spread of the virus and to reduce the population’s fear of this phenomenon. “Believers who are afraid of virus transmission may temporarily refrain from kissing the holy icons in the churches. They can exceptionally ask the priest to use their own spoon for the Holy Communion,” says the announcement by the Church while adding that “these are exceptional measures...

Don Pietro Leone: The Coronavirus and Holy Communion in the Hand Translated from the Italian by Francesca Romana If honour is due to another according to his dignity, that is to say according to the excellence that he possesses, it is due to God absolutely in virtue of His infinite dignity and excellence. The name of this honour due to God is ‘Adoration’, which encompasses an attitude both of the mind and of the body. That of the mind is defined by Bossuet as: ‘The recognition of God’s Highest Sovereignty, and of our own most profound dependence’. The attitude to...

In a first since the Reformation era, Protestants are set to receive communion during a Catholic mass at a historic Cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, John Calvin's adopted home. The historic Swiss church, Saint-Pierre Reformed Protestant church, will hold a Catholic mass on Feb. 29, leap day, and Protestants have been invited to attend and take part, including in receiving communion. Although open communion is forbidden by Catholic doctrine, the practice is reportedly common in Geneva, according to Protest Info, a Swiss Protestant news outlet. The church became the home of French Protestant Reformer John Calvin, whose famous triangular chair continues...

<p>WEST WARWICK, Rhode Island - The pastor of a Rhode Island church issued a flier which said that every state legislator who voted last year to preserve the right to an abortion in state law would be denied communion.</p> <p>Father Richard Bucci distributed the fliers last week at Sacred Heart Church in West Warwick, the Providence Journal reported on Saturday. He also mailed them to the homes of several lawmakers.</p>

[Catholic Caucus] Concubinist and Abortionist Argentina President Receives Communion in Vatican (Video) A smiling Francis welcomed Argentina President Alberto Fernández to the Vatican on January 31.Their conversation lasted twice as long as that with Fernández’s predecessor, Maurizio Marci, in 2016.A Vatican statement listed among the topics of discussion an unspecific “protection of life from conception.” However, Fernández said later that he and Francis had “not discussed” the question of abortion. The Vatican has a history of misleading the public.On December 31, Fernández has announced his intention to send an abortion bill to Congress. He used as a pretext the myth...

Catholic-Protestant Communion Pact Trashes Apostolic Succession Eucharist and Lord's Supper are not identical, warns Vatican cardinal ROME (ChurchMilitant.com) - A German ecumenical declaration on intercommunion between Catholics and Protestants has trashed the ancient doctrine of "apostolic succession" as unverifiable and concluded that the Protestant Lord's Supper is also "valid." "The assumption of an unbroken chain of laying on of hands by the apostles until today ... cannot be proven historically," declares "Together at the Lord's Table: Ecumenical Perspectives in the Celebration of the Lord's Supper and Eucharist."   Authored by the Ecumenical Working Group of Protestant and Catholic Theologians, the document suggests that "the...

Calvin’s Cathedral to Celebrate First Catholic Mass Since Reformation Protestants welcome to receive Holy Communion GENEVA (ChurchMilitant.com) - For the first time since the Protestant Reformation, Catholics will celebrate Holy Mass in the cathedral of one of its chief "reformers," John Calvin. Neither Catholics nor Protestants in Geneva opposed the historic proposal to hold the Eucharistic celebration at the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre (St. Peter), despite an unequivocal statement inviting Protestants to receive Holy Communion at the service.  The Feb. 29 Catholic liturgy is the first in almost 500 years following Calvinists' abolition of the Mass in August 1535, after iconoclasts devastated Saint-Pierre Cathedral by breaking statues and slashing...