Briefing. In response to the abuse of the Blessed Sacrament, both deliberate and through carelessness, the Cardinal Archbishop of Bologna has banned communion in the hand from those churches where the abuses are most common - the largest, where the congregation is less well known to the priests and include tourists and the like.Let us pray that other bishops around the world take this elementary step to protect the Blessed Sacrament, as the law of the Church indicates that they should.
In the meantime, there have been reports of the cessation of giving communion under both kinds, or on the tongue, in response to Swine Flu. The sharing of the chalice is clearly a hygine issue; the giving of communion on the tongue is not so clear, at least if it is done properly. See the end of this post.
Hat-tip to New Liturgical Movement and Fr Z. Below is an extract fro Fr Z's post, which is the original story with his comments in bold.
In recent weeks, parish priests and rectors of churches in our diocese received a communique of the provisions issued by the Cardinal Archbishop, in the face of grave abuses that have been confirmed in this regard. In particular, the Cardinal has ordered that in the Cathedral of St. Peter, in the Basilica of San Petronio and in the Shrine of the Madonna di San Luca, Communion must be distributed to the faithful only on the tongue.
The possibility to receive the consecrated Host in the hand that was granted may, in fact, give rise to "grave abuses", because there are those "who take away the Sacred Species to keep them as souvenirs", "who sell them", or even worse "who take them way to desecrate them in Satanic rituals." [This is a real situation in Italy! Some areas of Italy have high occurances of activity by manifestly Satanic groups. They break into churches and desecrate cemetaries and other holy places.] Thus writes Provicar General, Msgr. Gabriele Cavina in the letter to the priests which accompanies the provisions of the Cardinal, citing a text of [Archbishop] Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
"We must take cognizance", Caffarra Cardinal writes,"that unfortunately there have been repeated cases of profanation of the Eucharist, taking advantage of the possibility to receive the consecrated Bread on the palm of the hand, above all, but not exclusively, on the occasion of large celebrations or in large churches subject to the passage of numerous faithful.
Hat-tip to New Liturgical Movement and Fr Z. Below is an extract fro Fr Z's post, which is the original story with his comments in bold.
In recent weeks, parish priests and rectors of churches in our diocese received a communique of the provisions issued by the Cardinal Archbishop, in the face of grave abuses that have been confirmed in this regard. In particular, the Cardinal has ordered that in the Cathedral of St. Peter, in the Basilica of San Petronio and in the Shrine of the Madonna di San Luca, Communion must be distributed to the faithful only on the tongue.
The possibility to receive the consecrated Host in the hand that was granted may, in fact, give rise to "grave abuses", because there are those "who take away the Sacred Species to keep them as souvenirs", "who sell them", or even worse "who take them way to desecrate them in Satanic rituals." [This is a real situation in Italy! Some areas of Italy have high occurances of activity by manifestly Satanic groups. They break into churches and desecrate cemetaries and other holy places.] Thus writes Provicar General, Msgr. Gabriele Cavina in the letter to the priests which accompanies the provisions of the Cardinal, citing a text of [Archbishop] Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
"We must take cognizance", Caffarra Cardinal writes,"that unfortunately there have been repeated cases of profanation of the Eucharist, taking advantage of the possibility to receive the consecrated Bread on the palm of the hand, above all, but not exclusively, on the occasion of large celebrations or in large churches subject to the passage of numerous faithful.
From the Swindon Advertiser: Holy Rood Church in Groundwell Road has stopped offering communion wine and has asked worshippers to take communion by hand.
The move has been taken in a bid to improve hygiene standards at the church following recent Government guidelines following the swine flu outbreak.
Although there have been no confirmed cases of the virus in Swindon or Wiltshire, Monsignor Richard Twomey, pictured, is taking no chances.
The move has been taken in a bid to improve hygiene standards at the church following recent Government guidelines following the swine flu outbreak.
Although there have been no confirmed cases of the virus in Swindon or Wiltshire, Monsignor Richard Twomey, pictured, is taking no chances.
See the full story.
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