Communion on the tongue at Spanish Masses

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HomeschoolDad said:
I just thought it could look like I was not Hispanic and that I did not want to receive from a Hispanic layperson…

I don’t particularly care for the sign of peace either, but one reason I exchange it is that it could appear racist for a white person not to want to shake hands with a person of color.
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I think these two concerns are just in your head. I can’t imagine that most people would think along these lines. Consider that there are lots of other things people could assume - maybe you are not shaking hands because you are sick, and you are not receiving from that EMHC because as you yourself pointed out, you just don’t agree with the practice. There are many things people could assume, if they notice or care in the first place, which most do not.

For those who do, what goes on in someone else’s head is not your responsibility. It’s a common thing for us to worry about what others will think or how something might look, but unless you deliberately do something to offend or hurt someone, they are the only ones responsible for their feelings.
 
LisaB said:
I just thought it could look like I was not Hispanic and that I did not want to receive from a Hispanic layperson…

I don’t particularly care for the sign of peace either, but one reason I exchange it is that it could appear racist for a white person not to want to shake hands with a person of color.
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I can only speak for myself, but I was raised to be concerned with “how something comes across”, and in my part of the country (the southeastern US), courtesy, manners, and politeness are everything. And I can tell you that among some ethnic groups, something that you might not intend as racial, is taken as precisely that. I managed retail for some time and I saw this quite often. I have been taken to task, admittedly more so 20-30+ years than now, for behaviors that were incorrectly seen as racially motivated (inadvertently interrupting someone, asking someone to move out of a parking space, etc.). In those cases, it was all in their heads — not mine.
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There is a big difference between common courtesy and worrying about what others might think. For example, if I slam a door in your face, that’s rude, regardless if you take offense or not. If you assume that I slammed that door in your face because I don’t like people of your race (or your height, or your color hair), that’s your problem, not mine. Of course I should still avoid slamming doors in people’s faces, but not because they might attach a motive to it, but simply because it’s good manners. For actions that are in themselves neutral (deciding who to receive Communion from), worrying about what others might think is not common courtesy or manners, it’s just you worrying about something you can’t control. When people have incorrectly attributed racial motives to your actions in the past, that’s on them, not you. That’s why they should learn not to assume. Worrying about what others might think is one of the first things they explore in cognitive behavioral therapy, because it’s such a common issue that causes unnecessary anxiety in people.
 
LisaB said:
For actions that are in themselves neutral (deciding who to receive Communion from), worrying about what others might think is not common courtesy or manners, it’s just you worrying about something you can’t control.
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I suppose we will just have to agree to disagree on this one. What is neutral to me might not be neutral to the other guy. If I see circumstances where I might not mean anything by a certain act, I then consider how it will be received — looking at it through their eyes, so to speak. Or I try to, anyway. I find that this makes human relations much, much more smooth and pleasant.
 
I think it was a horrible decision to allow EMHCs. I am not saying that the Church exceeded its authority in so doing, I just think it was a mistake. Same with communion in the hand. Mother Teresa said that the latter is “the worst problem in the world”. .
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Actually, no, she said no such thing. If you go to the Missionaries of Charity website, you will see that this is categorically denied.

I, for one, was relieved to see this denial ,as the supposed quote had lessened my respect for her.
 
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