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Communion on the tongue in the Palmerston North Diocese is to cease forthwith. It's confirmed, it's official.
All the more reason to attend the Latin Mass at St Columba's, Ashhurst! Or the Latin Mass at St Anthony's, Whanganui! Because at the Latin Mass, anywhere, Communion can be offered only on the tongue.
The priest or priests in the PN Diocese who dared to follow the advice of the NZ Bishops, and offer Communion on the tongue to communicants who asked for their unalienable right (receiving after Communion had been given in the hand to the others), those priests have been told to toe the Diocesan line. As from tomorrow.
As far as I know no rhyme or reason is forthcoming to explain why the advice - presumably from different 'experts' - offered the hapless lay faithful of the Wellington Archdiocese (including Palmerston North Diocese) is different from the advice for all other NZ dioceses.
Here in Holy Trinity CHB, 'The Holy Trinity Parish Voice' informs us for the second week running that "Taking the host (sic) via the tongue will not be available (sic).... The health and safety of our parishioners, priests, staff, and the wider community is our top priority".
And there was I, thinking that the 'top priority' of the Church is saving souls. Silly me.
In reality, how many souls have been lost through the irreverence and ho-hum attitude towards the Blessed Sacrament which has been engendered since Vat II by giving Communion in the hand?
And there was I, thinking that the 'top priority' of the Church is saving souls. Silly me.
In reality, how many souls have been lost through the irreverence and ho-hum attitude towards the Blessed Sacrament which has been engendered since Vat II by giving Communion in the hand?
However, we can compare the two pix and reflect on the evidence below, recently republished as a calming influence on CORONAVIRUS hysteria.
Communion on the tongue insanitary?
NOVEMBER 22, 2013
SOURCE: DISTRICT OF
THE USA
Opponents
of Communion on the tongue often assert that this practice is insanitary
compared to in-the-hand. But what is the reality?
Pastor's Corner for Sunday,
November 24
Communion
on the tongue is unsanitary, says the Australian Catholic Leader.
"…It is awkward for ministers to give communion on the tongue to people
who are standing, which is the recommended posture for communion in Australia,
and it is unhygienic because it is difficult for ministers to avoid passing
saliva on to other communicants."
This
statement (often made by in-the-hand proponents) reveals an ignorance of the
Roman Church’s traditional practice and the rubrics for the distribution of
Holy Communion on the tongue.
The communicant is supposed to kneel; exceptions are
made for the handicapped. Not only does this
show communicants’ humility in receiving their Divine Eucharistic Lord (i.e., God), but this submissive posture also enables
giving the Host on the tongue more practically, safely and… hygienically, much more so than Communion in the hand.
The traditional form of receiving Communion kneeling
and on the tongue demonstrates the Roman practicality that
pervades its namesake liturgical rite, resulting in a reverent and dignified
manner of receiving the Bread of Angels easily and efficiently.
The
traditional rubrics of the Rituale Romanum prescribe that the priest is to pick up the Host carefully by Its edge, between
his right thumb and index finger; no other digits may be used to perform this
action. As diligently taught in traditional First Communion classes, the
communicant is to tilt his head back slightly, open his mouth and extend his
tongue a little, creating what's often called “the pillow of the tongue”.
The
priest then easily places the Host on this “pillow” without touching the
communicant’s tongue, mouth, or even lips, resulting in an absence of physical
contact between administrator and communicant.
But with
Communion in the hand, hand-to-hand contact is made between the
administrator (usually the ubiquitous 'Eucharistic Minister') and the
communicants, who often have not washed (or sanitized) their hands. Hence there is a very real danger of spreading germs.
The fact is, before the progressivists’ clamor for Communion in the hand (which episcopal conferences allowed without the Holy See’s approval), the issue of hygiene was never raised — during an era when hygiene advocates were in full swing.
The irony
of this charge against Communion on the tongue is that those who promote
in-the-hand for non-existent hygiene reasons simultaneously encourage 'sharing the cup' (receiving the Precious Blood communally from a
chalice) which the Roman Church ceased in ancient times precisely due to hygienic concerns (i.e., because of the backwash of saliva that inevitable
occurs from a group of people drinking from the same vessel)—which in turn
could lead to disdain of this Sacred Mystery.
This provides just one more example of how through Holy Mother
Church’s traditional practices, she is solicitous for both our spiritual and
natural welfare.
She provides us, supernaturally, with a reverential
manner in which we poor and unworthy sinners may receive Our Lord’s Body, Blood,
Soul and Divinity, yet in the natural sphere, in a way that does not jeopardize
our bodily health.
Yes, definitely changes in the Wellington Archdiocese. I always receive on the tongue.
ReplyDeleteAlong with the demand for reverence due to the Sacred Host, receiving in the hand is most likely to mean fragments of the Host end up on the ground etc. This is a genuine concern.
To be denied communion on the tongue is terrible. But in this context of extraordinary concerns about clovid-19 what should we do if we truly want to receive?
Dr Kwasniewski suggests this: on approaching the priest, bow deeply and hold your hands out flat, right over left. The priest places the Host on your flat hand which you then use like a paten and consume the Host with your mouth to your hand. In that way no fragments of the Host are lost, you have given due reverence in an extraordinary context and obeyed your Bishop.
For the scrupulous, there is Fr Z's insight. Apparently, there is an instruction in the Latin Mass that should the priest drop the Host onto a woman's cleavage she is to retrieve the Host by her own hand and consume it. Rather than, as he said 'the priest diving in'! All of which means in this extraordinary situation communion by the hand is legit, so I suppose it might be applied to another extraordinary context.
Clovid-19 is an extraordinary context. Perhaps to force the issue about receiving on the tongue is this context could lead to another problem, tempting God. Caution and circumspection is needed.
That said, I did last Sunday receive on the hand as described. I also witnessed the priest lay his hand on the heads of children for a blessing as they arrived in the communion line, and then return his hand to the Host. Everyone in the Church also handled the collection basket, as has already been pointed out by another commentator. Therefore if the Archbishop and priests of Wellington wish to be consistent they have further serious issues to address in light of their concern about clovid-19.
But now, having received in the hand last Sunday, for the first time in years, I am now at home with a sore throat and a sniffle, feeling under the weather. In the last week I have only been to Mass and the supermarket. I haven't travelled anywhere for 11 months. I guess I have a simple cold...but how did I get it? Communion in the hand?
With the priest touching the children while giving a blessing and the fact everyone has touched the collection basket it really does sound to me like the Wellington diocese is merely paying lip-service to the Coronavirus issue. I read online just today of one overseas diocese looking at all ways of avoiding touching, including the collection plate. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall at our Cathedral last Sunday to see how those priests/lay ministers performed there as they are masters in the art of touching.
ReplyDeleteAs I have been trying for over three years now in contacting my bishop, priests and Liturgy Office - without response - regarding basic hygiene while distributing Communion and giving blessings,it doesn't surprise me when I hear about priests now doing things in a sloppy way. Perhaps the Wellington diocese didn't get advice from health professionals like they did elsewhere in New Zealand. Notice, though, how priests do make a big thing of not giving Communion on the tongue, which smells to me of another agenda afoot.
ReplyDeleteBob Gill says:
Bear in mind that the celebrant has touched the hands and heads of others before using that same contaminated hand to give you Communion in the hand.
I wonder too if the celebrant was handed the collection basket during the bearing of the Offertory gifts and that later his hands were vigorously scrubbed during the Lavabo.
Philippa O'Neill says:
ReplyDeleteAt our Latin Mass we have a young boy who takes the collection bag around.. and he places it on a table.. no procession of course. Much, much less chance of catching anything at a Latin Mass as you are there solely with God and everyone else around you is doing the same. We don't chat to each other before or after Mass in church or shake hands or pass a collection plate around to each other.
Yes, it's likewise at the Latin Mass at St Columba's Ashhurst (12 midday)and also at the SSPX Mass every third Sunday in Napier 5 p m).
ReplyDeleteThat Mass is held in a funeral parlour - Dunstall's - which at least looks like the church it once was (but Protestant). St Thomas More's is nearby; NZ's Bishops do our Eucharistic Lord a terrible injustice by forcing Him into such a hole-in-corner venue.
No wonder so few NO Napier Catholics have savoured the Latin Mass! I don't know, but I suspect the SSPX were refused a church and forced to accept Dunstall's by Bishop Emeritus Peter Cullinane, with exactly that intention, of putting people off the Latin Mass.
Bob Gill says:
ReplyDeleteA nice church setup you have, Philippa, for which I envy you!
The N Z Church’s response to Coronavirus has highlighted itsshort-comings in practising basic hygiene in N O Masses– and it has ignored requests to change things over the last three years in the P N Diocese, to which I can attest.
Just over the past week or so, in its attempts to heed international Communion concerns, the N Z Church has stopped the Sign of Peace, but has negated that by continuing to circulate the collection basket - and at least one priest has continued touching people during blessings! Does that give me confidence that any of these concerns would be rectified? No! With my experience of P N Diocese ignoring parishioner concerns, I would be surprised if it suddenly demonstrated evidence of listening by doing. I can see too that there will continue to be questions concerning a parish’s ability to carry out recommendations precisely.
My hope is that the information I received last week from the P N office is incorrect and that the Latin Mass at Ashhurst will be as normal with regards receiving Communion on the tongue. That, then, together with the SSPX Mass in Wanganui, will be my focus for Sunday Mass after this weekend while the restrictions associated with the N O are in force. I don’t have any choice, if I wish to receive Communion on the tongue and feel surrounded by others who believe in the Real Presence.
Bob, if the PN office told you that the indult Latin Mass at Ashhurst will be "as normal with regard to Communion on the tongue", they were correct: Communion at the Latin Mass can never be in the hand, only on the tongue. Hooray!
ReplyDeleteSomeone posted a comment this morning - signed - I think in regard to the Mass and coronavirus and spiritual Communion. My computer has swallowed it. Please send again. Thanks.
ReplyDelete