Coronavirus Mass Changes - Communion in Hand?

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OurLadyofSorrows said:
My Diocese has made the peace greeting a bow to each other rather then a handshake
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A bow? Are you in Far East Asia?

Personally, if I was the bishop or pastor, I would simply skip the Sign of Peace until the outbreak is over. The SoP is optional afterall.
 
phil19034 said:
A bow? Are you in Far East Asia?
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There are Asians in the Philly archdiocese who bow. It’s more like a nod here in US but it’s what they do.

I believe Our Lady of Sorrows is in Australia which has a large Asian population in certain areas.

I think the main reason priests here are just omitting it is because there’s a certain percentage of people who will continue to insist on handshaking or running around hugging their friends or whatever, even if the recipient of the gesture is not comfortable. Getting rid of it entirely eliminates risk caused by people who insist on doing it, and doesn’t put anyone on the spot who would rather not shake hands but gets pressured into it.
 
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We are just a friendly people who has greeting each other as a custom, I think bowing to each other will be the new norm, or a head nod and wave. Some like the more formal bow though. Lots of cultures attend my mass, the largest being Indian and Filipinos
 
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I keep my missal firmly in hand at the sign of peace, and just nod my head, smile or say peace be with you.
As another poster said, it is optional. Doesn’t occur in the EF. As I attend the EF, I’ll be making spiritual communions if I can’t receive on the tongue. Hopefully these measures can be relaxed by the time Easter comes around.
 
I only receive in the hand. I was invited to an EF Mass and was told I had to receive on the tongue. I decided not to go and to stick to the OF so I could receive in the hand.

I only receive in the hand.
 
We officially have the virus in my county as of today. The stores are running out of weird things people’s shouldn’t be stockpiling that won’t even help them. So although my sense of alarm isn’t quite as bad as some of those people, I’m inspired to behave as noninfectiously as possible.
 
JoeShlabotnik said:
Why can’t The Church just let us take responsibility for our own health and continue to receive on the tongue?
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We also have to think about the priest. If I were in an outbreak area, I’d not want to touch someone else’s tongue. Every priest will tell you that they do touch some tongues and some lips each time they give COTT.

Yes, they also touch hands with COTH.
JoeShlabotnik said:
My feeling is that touching Communion with my hands is a sinning. I am desecrating the Bread of Life by touching Jesus with my hands.
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However, this is not the teaching of the Church.

ETA

Now, if parishes started requiring use of the premade tiny cup of grape juice and wafer that more and more Protestants are using, that would be something contrary to Church teachings.
 
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The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has a 4 March 2020 document National advice on liturgical implications in light of coronavirus (COVID-19) (at https://www.catholic.org.au/acbc-me...iturgical-advice-on-coronavirus-covid-19/file ). It includes:

“The coronavirus is easily spread through saliva. In celebrations of the Ordinary Form of the Latin Rite, it is therefore recommended that the Body of Christ only be administered in the hand because of the high risk of transmission if people continue to receive on the tongue. Ministers should seek to avoid contact with the communicant’s hands.”
 
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TheDumbFox said:
but it seems like they’re mandating communion be received in the hand and not on the tongue. Can they do this?
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Yes, they can do it. It is probably the right thing to do too as it is a safer, more sanitary way to commune
 
My city has practically sold out of hand sanitizing gel. So that by doing so, and everyobody having extra hand sanitizing gel, for their 10 fingers and 2 Palma … there are even more people who cannot sanitize their hands, because others have stockpiled the very thing that can stop other people infecting them.

The human race is clearly not a race of geniuses.
 
Yeah we’ve been out of that in stores for over a week. Today I was hoping to find a tiny bottle for my daughter’s lunchbox, since she lost hers. I was able to buy an empty plastic bottle.

I accidentally stockpiled hand sanitizer a few years back when my kids got the hand foot and mouth disease and we didn’t know what it was but knew it seemed gross and infectious.

I’m more worried about the people stockpiling toilet paper, baby wipes, flushable wipes. There’s going to be some kind of worse sanitation problem if all the things people wipe butts with cannot be purchased. I saw a man at walmart with a cart entirely full of rubbing alcohol.

Their level of alarm has me a little worried about supplies in general. I plan to go shopping for meats and dry goods tomorrow incase all this hoarding starts to make food supplies an issue.
 
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If people know how to receive COTT properly, then the priests’ fingers should not come into contact with a persons’ tongue. This was reiterated at my parish within the past month as a reminder of how to receive properly.
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JoeShlabotnik said:
My feeling is that touching Communion with my hands is a sinning. I am desecrating the Bread of Life by touching Jesus with my hands.
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I wonder if this comes from the fact that a priests’ hands are anointed and ours are not. Yes, in the past, only a priest could touch the Blessed Sacrament that is true and the laity didn’t. But that is not the case anymore as you know by your comment regarding EMHCs.

Holy Mother Church has authorized communion in the hand.

So whilst you are not a Deacon or EMHC, be at peace - by receiving communion in the hand you are not sinning or profaning the Blessed Sacrament in any way. Just make a throne of your hands to receive Communion as is proper.
 
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I recall The Sign of Peace suspended in the local parish when Bird Flu was a worry. We were to bow to one another instead. In fact, the Vatican only specifies a sober wave.
 
peter26 said:
“We consulted with two physicians regarding this issue, one of which is a specialist in immunology for the State of Oregon. They agreed that done properly the reception of Holy Communion on the tongue or in the hand pose a more or less equal risk".

Interesting.
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It makes sense to me. If someone has the coronavirus, their hands are likely just as infectious as their mouth. If the germs are on their hand and mouth it doesn’t matter what you touch.

While it isn’t wrong to be prudent about spreading disease, if only our bishops were as concerned about the spiritual health of their flock as they seem to be about their physical health. People will probably hear at every mass for the next several months about rules on how to receive communion without spreading disease, but most parishes will go the whole year never hearing a word about how one shouldn’t receive communion while in a state of mortal sin.
 
Are you speaking of Australia? I’m in Queensland and we haven’t been able to get toilet paper for 3 days. I was in Aldi this afternoon and the toilet paper aisle was empty but there were a number of Asian people just standing in front of it waiting in case they get restocked even though I asked one of the employees was any out back and he said no. I have no idea what we are going to do when we run out of loo rolls around early next week!
 
Emeraldlady said:
Are you speaking of Australia? I’m in Queensland and we haven’t been able to get toilet paper for 3 days. I was in Aldi this afternoon and the toilet paper aisle was empty but there were a number of Asian people just standing in front of it waiting in case they get restocked even though I asked one of the employees was any out back and he said no. I have no idea what we are going to do when we run out of loo rolls around early next week!
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Amazon Prime?
 
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