Hand Sanitizing during Mass

[water]

Bringing the sanitizer onto the altar by the extraordinary ministers of HC makes it a public act in the middle of the liturgy (and since this is the Liturgy & Sacraments board the more pertinent objection). There is no reason for them not to sanitize their hands prior to leaving their pews.

At our parish, they do it while being at their pews. I don’t think doing that at the altar is right.

 

[Ruthie]

Well, I am a “middle” hygiene person - I wash my hands after the usual things.

Right now, I’m sitting here wishing that whoever it was who had the strep throat had used a hand sanitizer before they touched whatever it was I touched. (I find out for sure whether it’s strep tomorrow at the Dr’s.)

After reading this thread, I might just call DH at work and ask him to bring some hand sanitizer home, to help me not give it to him…

Personally, I just wish people would stay home if they’re germy! It’s not a mortal sin to miss Mass for that reason!

Grumpy, sick Ruthie

 

[nightwalker]

At our parish, they do it while being at their pews. I don’t think doing that at the altar is right.

Well, I am a “middle” hygiene person - I wash my hands after the usual things.

Right now, I’m sitting here wishing that whoever it was who had the strep throat had used a hand sanitizer before they touched whatever it was I touched. (I find out for sure whether it’s strep tomorrow at the Dr’s.)

After reading this thread, I might just call DH at work and ask him to bring some hand sanitizer home, to help me not give it to him…

Personally, I just wish people would stay home if they’re germy! It’s not a mortal sin to miss Mass for that reason!

Grumpy, sick Ruthie

You mean I’m not going crazy?!

It is definitely a different case when you know that you are sick (you definitely should not be an EMHC!)

I’ll keep you in my prayers, Ruthie!

 

[EasterJoy]

I suggest we all stop arguing and read the article referred to above. Here is another excerpt:

" ‘The immune system is there for a reason, said Dr. Kugathasan. "It’s there to recognize ‘the bad guys.’ The immune system allows your body to kill those bad guys and allows you to survive. In order to harden the immune system, the immune system requests some kind of stimuli all the time.’

" ‘The hygiene hypothesis suggests that the more hygienic one becomes, the more susceptible one is to various autoimmune diseases. The autoimmune diseases, the diseases that result from all the activation of your immune system, are increasing. The hygiene hypothesis - and we don’t yet have a proof of it - acknowledges that the maturation of the immune system needs some kind of hardening, some kind of resistance. Put another way, you cannot really build up good muscles without doing exercise.’

"From Pet Dander to Pig Worms
The common belief that has driven medicine, as well as public perception and hygiene practices, is that when we get sick it is because of something we ate, or inhaled, or were exposed to in other ways. The hygiene hypothesis points in a different direction, proposing that in many diseases it is a lack of exposure to the ‘bad guys’ that causes harm.

While the evidence was by no means clear-cut, one study indicated that in some cases contact with certain pet dander in the home actually decreases a child’s risk of wheezing from asthma later in life. Other studies show that children who lived on farms when they were very young have reduced incidence of asthma, which has led several researchers to conclude that organisms in cattle dust and manure may be the stimuli that their immune systems needed to fight off asthma."

If children wash their hands immediately upon arriving and immediately before departing from daycare, the infection rate drops by about 50%. Excessive environmental cleanliness is one thing…it might have drawbacks, we don’t know. Simple hygiene is another. It prevents the spread of colds and flu, and that we do know.

There are people who are immune-compromised or who just get sick easily who don’t get better by letting them play in the dirt. Others just can’t afford to come down with the latest nasty bug. Of course they should be allowed to use hand santizers whenever they touch strangers.

Of all professionals, the hands and workspaces of teachers have the most germs. (This has been tested.) Little kids have a habit of touching their noses every time those noses itch or drip…and then touch every surface even remotely near to them. They also love to shake hands. It isn’t offensive for someone to use a hand santizer between the time they have been touching people who have been touching children and the pews and when they eat.

 

[jdmcke]

My wife and I use hand sanitizers at mass. I wish everyone else would too.

May the peace of our Lord shine upon you with our without dirty hands.

 

[rwillenborg]

At my old church EVERYONE did that. It was rather distracting to tell you the truth.
I’m trying to focus on God, but I see these wipes flying out of purses everywhere.
I go to a different church now (for many reasons unrelated to hand sanitizer)
No one uses it.
And it’s kind of funny, my babies, who are, let’s be honest here, ALWAYS kind of slimy and sticky, everyone LOVES to shake their hands, and I’m like ‘Seriously, you don’t know where those hands have been. I don’t know where those hands have been. They don’t know about hygeine yet’ and they’re like ‘Oh, that’s okay! We love the babies!’
Besides, we all drink from the same cup when we receive the precious blood, right?
I don’t know, I figure Jesus held lepers. So did alot of the saints.
Besides, when I go to church I’m worried about my dirty mouth, my dirty heart and my dirty soul. The LEAST of my worries are someone else’s dirty hands.

,

 

[LaLucia]

TO: tjfitz… it may be easy to take antibiotics to get rid of a bacterial infection but you can never ever get rid of a VIRUS. It stays in your body forever. I have never heard of any cures for the Herpes virus that are really cold sores on your mouth. If the virus is active in a person and they touch the cold sore virus and then shake your hand then you may inherit that virus for ever or until a cure is found.

I have decided to carry a hand sanitizer in my purse from now on.
The cold sore virus can be passed from drinking glasses too.

Sorry… but I don’t agree with you. I pray that you and your family stay in good health. I really mean it.

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

This thread is just hilariously ridiculous? I can’t believe someone would get their feelings hurt from HAND SANITIZER after the giving of peace! Get a life! lol…

People on this thread are trying to figure out WHY the woman used h.s. and trying to come up with “what-ifs” and scenarios, etc…

Who cares? The lady can use h.s. all she wants without a reason! Maybe she doesn’t want to get sick! Geez…

People use it all the time day in day out and I use it all the time at work. What’s wrong with wanting to avoid a cold?

This is just hilarious!!

 

[tjfitz]

I think we are protected from viruses by things like vaccines or if there is no vaccine, by our immune system, which kills our cells which have been infected by viruses. When the infected cell is killed, the infecting virus inside that cell is also “killed”.

If we never get exposed to a virus by means of vaccine or exposure to someone’s dirty hand, our immune system doesn’t “learn” defenses.

In the case of the common cold and influenza (flu), the virus changes so often in the world outside us that we probably don’t get to see the same virus more than twice, so we get knocked-down every time until our immune system develops a defense against that particular virus.

 

[EasterJoy]

Sometimes, when we come into contact with disease-causing organisms, our immune systems learn. Sometimes, we die. Sometimes, though, the fight goes to a draw.

In spite of “modern medicine”, it is possible to die of influenza or pneumonia. People with compromised immune systems, the elderly, and those in their households need to be extra careful, and that is a matter of life and death. We can’t know just by looking who is in this high-risk group.

Also, as those of us who have had shingles can attest, viruses are not necessarily killed just because the symptomatic manifestation has passed. You will carry some viruses for the rest of your life.

Those who feel a need to disinfect more often than we do should just be left alone. Unless they are responding to our habit of wiping our noses with our palms prior to the sign of peace, their need to disinfect is about them, not us, don’t you think?

 

[Salonika]

At our parish, they do it while being at their pews. I don’t think doing that at the altar is right.

Agree with this - however I do remember the almost audible sigh of relief from many in the congregation (including me) recently when the priest, who had a very bad cold, very discretely used hand sanitizer after the consecration.

 

[Phemie]

Agree with this - however I do remember the almost audible sigh of relief from many in the congregation (including me) recently when the priest, who had a very bad cold, very discretely used hand sanitizer after the consecration.

I noted that in the parish where I attended Mass last Sunday all the EMHCs washed their hands in a bowl by the tabernacle. IOW, they spread all their germs to each other by cross-contamination so instead of receiving only one person’s germs we got a smorgasbord of them.

 

[CarolAnnSFO]

Those who feel a need to disinfect more often than we do should just be left alone. Unless they are responding to our habit of wiping our noses with our palms prior to the sign of peace, their need to disinfect is about them, not us, don’t you think?

I think so! And if they are reacting to someone else’s habit of wiping one’s nose with the palm of one’s hand, or sneezing or blowing one’s nose repeatedly with the same snotty tissue/hanky all through Mass, then I think they are entitled to use the hand sanitizer!

 

[EasterJoy]

I think so! And if they are reacting to someone else’s habit of wiping one’s nose with the palm of one’s hand, or sneezing or blowing one’s nose repeatedly with the same snotty tissue/hanky all through Mass, then I think they are entitled to use the hand sanitizer!

And lots of it!

Seriously, though, I think that if we pay attention to our own hygiene habits at Mass and do not find them wanting, we should not concern ourselves if someone still finds a need to sanitize after touching us. That’s their issue, and we needn’t worry ourselves about it.

SOAPBOX TIME: If you find that you have a sniffly nose or feel that you are maybe coming down with something, PLEASE refrain from receiving the Precious Blood. There are people who suffer greatly when they get these “little” bugs, and they don’t always know who they are before that bug hits them.

For that matter, if you’re really actually sick…STAY HOME!!!

 

[CB_Catholic]

I have been reading this thread with interest because antibiotic-resistant bacteria has become a major health problem these days, and I am an RN and have been caring for patients with MRSA and VRE for many years, plus my healthy 38 year old son-in-law almost died from MRSA this past April, from an ingrown hair on his thigh, and he had not been anywhere or done anything (like go to a gym) to contact this bug.

We are our own worst enemies in this matter, because we have created it. The overuse of antibiotics have caused this problem, and the overuse of antibacterial soaps have also contributed to it, according to what I have been reading in my journals. We have demanded antibiotics for just about anything, and the medical profession has complied, plus we have sanitized ourselves to the point where resistant strains of bacteria have developed where they should never be–in our own homes. Unless you are immunocompromised, you should be resistant to the ordinary bacteria in your homes. We do not need to be using antibacterial hand cleansers rountinely at home and hand sanitizers should not be used in our homes as a substitute for washing our hands. Yet we do it all the time thinking it will be making us healthier. It does not. Big bucks are being made over this, to the detriment of public health.

The best and most effective way to get rid of germs on your hands is to wash them thoroughly with soap and running water, including around and under your fingernails for 15-20 seconds, then rinse thoroughly. You do not need antibacterial soaps to do this. It is the mechanical action of washing your hands, with the soap, that dislodges the bacteria from your hands. And using hand sanitizers is not a substitute for this. Ok for occasional use if you are in a public place and can’t wash them right away, but be sure to wash your hands and not rely on them. And the expensive antibacterial soaps go right down the drain with your money and the germs that would be dislodged by just using regular soap.

I am serious about this–we have created a monster in our communities.

 

[fix]

Failure of most people to wash their hands spreads disease in and out of the hospitals. Handshaking certainly can spread germs.

There seems to be two separate issues in play here. One is the concept of misuse of antibiotics and over use of anti bacterial cleansers. The other issue is proper hygiene including cleaning one’s hands after shaking another’s hand.

Folks who use some type of sanitizer, when water and soap are not available, are not the problem. Failure to wash hands when we ought to is the problem.