Is anyone changing the way they receive communion because of the swine flu?

[Another_Mary]

It was announced at Mass this morning that here in the Archdiocese of San Francisco all communicants were asked to take communion in the hand. No cup was to be offered, either.

We were also asked not to shake hands (or kiss) at the sign of peace. Of course that didn’t stop people from holding hands during the Our Father.

 

[benedictgal]

Even though our bishop has not made any formal declaration or notification, the parishes are taking it upon themselves to refrain from administering the Precious Blood, requesting that we receive Holy Communion in the hand (did not like the idea, but, had to do it or pastor would be upset ) and no hand-shaking. The only good thing was that no one held hands during the Pater Noster.

Now, across the Rio Grande, our sister-city, Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, suspended Mass this weekend throughout the Diocese of Nuevo Laredo. Now, bear in mind that neither Laredo, Texas nor Nuevo Laredo, Mexico has any confirmed reports of Swine Flu.

Unfortunately, the labs in Austin, Texas, are backed up and the 24 test cases that our health department sent for further examination will probably not come back anytime soon.

 

[whatevergirl]

***Interesting observation at mass today, from what I could tell, hardly anyone received the Precious Blood today…I think dd and I might have been two of the few…

Our parish didn’t say anything about it today, but I noticed also less people shaking hands when offering a sign of peace. ***

 

[mlouise007]

It was announced at Mass this morning that here in the Archdiocese of San Francisco all communicants were asked to take communion in the hand. No cup was to be offered, either.

We were also asked not to shake hands (or kiss) at the sign of peace. Of course that didn’t stop people from holding hands during the Our Father.

I didn’t see hand holding during the Our Father where I was. Plenty of people did shake hands for the Peace at my Diocese of Oakland parish but not at the SF Mass. The SF parish is small and with many elderly so that might have been an influence for more people following the admonition.

Announced in my parish Diocese of Oakland this weekend:

• Asked parishioners to not shake hands in welcoming before the start of Mass, to not hold hands during the Our Father and to not shake hands at the exchange of peace.
• Asked parishioners to, as always, not take the cup if they had any concerns about their health

At Mass today in Archdiocese of San Francisco the priest announced

• we should not hold hands during the Our Father and not shake hands at the exchange of peace.
• Holy Communion in the hand and not on the tongue.
• Holy Communion under the one species of BREAD, exclusively; did not offer the Chalice for parishioners to receive the Precious Blood. (Concelebrating priests shared the cup.)

see also: usccb.org/liturgy/swineflu.shtml

 

[quiet52]

Beginning this week in my parish, our pastor has said that we will skip the sign of peace, that we will not hold hands during the Lord’s Prayer, that we will receive Holy Communion under one species (the Body of Christ), and that we will receive in the hand.

 

[RobbyS]

Risky or not, I will continue to receive communion on the tongue. I think this whole thing about swine flu has been severely exaggerated- like so many things the mainstream media gets ahold of.

The panic is caused by the location of the epicenter of it beibng Mexico, and the fact that the Mexican border is so open. The administration would not close the border even if the death toll there increased ten-fold.

 

[bluerose]

This is what happened in El Paso, TX this weekend:

My sister’s daughter received her First Holy Communion on Saturday (amid rumors that the ceremony had been cancelled due to the swine flu concern) and the pastor announced that they would NOT be distributing communion AT ALL during the Sunday Masses and no sign of peace either. My sister was stunned. No communion AT ALL? The pastor went on to say that the only reason communion was being distributed that day was because of the occasion, but there would be no communion on Sunday. At all.

Same city, different parish (or actually diocese, if we want to be perfectly clear): we attended Mass on Sunday at the hospital chapel of Wm. Beaumont Army Medical Center, which we always do, since our son is an altar server there. Now this is not under the diocese of El Paso, but under the diocese of the U.S. armed forces. Not one word was said about how we should receive communion (everyone received the way they normally do, on the tongue or in the hand) and nothing was said about refraining from offering the sign of peace. The ONLY thing different was that, after Mass, Father did not shake hands with the congregation, although he did greet them after Mass and chat with them like he usually does, but he kept his hands under his vestments.

Now I would have thought that if anyone had good reason to refrain from distributing communion, it would have been the hospital chaplain who has to come in contact with people who are ill or whose health is weakened or somehow compromised. Maybe the local pastor misunderstood the bishop’s recommendations, but this isn’t the first time there’s been problems with this pastor (reference my thread on my niece’s First Communion); in fact, he was very reluctant to have his photo taken with the First Communicants and didn’t want to have his arm around them or stand too close to them.

I understand doing away with reception from the chalice during the time of this health concern, but I can’t understand why any priest would think that this illness is communicable enough to warrant doing away with distributing communion at all (if it was THAT contaigious, wouldn’t everyone be sick by now or be quarantined?)

 

[pray4peace]

We did not shake or hold hands Sunday, and everyone received in the hand. The priest said we will do this for a few weeks and see. People in Mass seemed to take it pretty good, there was a lot of nodding, smiling, and a few comments during sign of peace. We are not creatures of change it seems.

Our city (north of Dallas) closed 2 more public schools until May 18. We have 48 confirmed cases in Texas. We have a lot of people from Mexico who come, work, and live in Texas.

I am not sure if closing a school because of one or two having it is overboard or not, only time will tell. Hopefully this flu is mild and won’t change into something more later on.

I do nursing home ministry on Thursday and so far, we are still going there to give Communion to the patients. They said that it was up to the nursing home whether or not they were taking outside visitors and such. We are still going so far as I know.

Our parish did have First Communion and they did give Communion in the hand. They also had a reception afterwards. I think every parish will do what it seems appropriate depending on how many people in the city have it and how close to Mexico they are.

Blessings

 

[buttons]

I’m not too concerned about it. I’ve never gotten sick before, and I don’t think I would now. My husband made a profound statement the other day concerning spreading germs through communion…He said if you truly believe it’s the Body & Blood of Christ, why would you even be concerned about it?

I am having mixed feeling about this. I will do of course what the Church is telling us, where is our faith. Has there ever been an outbreak of illness from THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. When it was introduce years ago, I did not partake in the Blood for this reason. I prayed about this & through my prayers & a Deacon was convinced if this is truly the Blood of Christ it will not harm you. I really missed take the Blood of Christ yesterday. But to reassure people, you are still receiving the FULL Body & Blood of Christ in the Host. That is Jesus fully! You can’t have a living body without blood & you can’t have living blood without a body.

 

[Maverick]

Same thing in Baltimore, no more taking host with open mouth, no more shaking hands during sign of peace, no more blood of Christ from shared cup.

I’m wondering if these changes might be made permanent. I mean how will they know when the danger is over? President Obama said the flu may return next flu season in a more virulent form.

 

[whatevergirl]

***I think this might all be about to change for the Diocese of St Pete here…I am speculating, but there was a reported/confirmed case of swine/hybrid flu in Pinellas County this morning…

Praying over this…***

 

[mlouise007]

This is what happened in El Paso, TX this weekend:

…and the pastor announced that they would NOT be distributing communion AT ALL during the Sunday Masses and no sign of peace either. My sister was stunned. No communion AT ALL? The pastor went on to say that the only reason communion was being distributed that day was because of the occasion, but there would be no communion on Sunday. At all.

… Maybe the local pastor misunderstood the bishop’s recommendations, but this isn’t the first time there’s been problems with this pastor (reference my thread on my niece’s First Communion);

Maybe your sister misunderstood, or the priest was unclear in his communication. Did they indeed not distribute the Precious Body yesterday?

I see nothing there on the web site for your diocese at the moment pertaining to this elpasodiocese.org/

The US Bishops directive is here, especially #7-10. usccb.org/liturgy/swineflu.shtml

 

[bluerose]

Maybe your sister misunderstood, or the priest was unclear in his communication. Did they indeed not distribute the Precious Body yesterday?

I see nothing there on the web site for your diocese at the moment pertaining to this elpasodiocese.org/

The US Bishops directive is here, especially #7-10. usccb.org/liturgy/swineflu.shtml

The first thing we did was check the website, but my sister said the priest announced this at the end of the First Communion Mass on Saturday, something to the effect that “I know some of you will be here tomorrow for Mass and I’m letting you know we will not be giving communion at all tomorrow because of the swine flu. We only did it today because of the occasion.” Some people questioned him after Mass, but he just shook his head and said, No communion tomorrow. I assume it was not offered under either species at that parish, I don’t know about others. The WBAMC chapel community only offers the host.

 

[rpp]

The first thing we did was check the website, but my sister said the priest announced this at the end of the First Communion Mass on Saturday, something to the effect that “I know some of you will be here tomorrow for Mass and I’m letting you know we will not be giving communion at all tomorrow because of the swine flu. We only did it today because of the occasion.” Some people questioned him after Mass, but he just shook his head and said, No communion tomorrow. I assume it was not offered under either species at that parish, I don’t know about others. The WBAMC chapel community only offers the host.

Perhaps the priest believes he has been exposed and does not want to spread it.

 

[mlouise007]

The first thing we did was check the website, but my sister said the priest announced this at the end of the First Communion Mass on Saturday, something to the effect that “I know some of you will be here tomorrow for Mass and I’m letting you know we will not be giving communion at all tomorrow because of the swine flu. We only did it today because of the occasion.” Some people questioned him after Mass, but he just shook his head and said, No communion tomorrow. I assume it was not offered under either species at that parish, I don’t know about others. The WBAMC chapel community only offers the host.

In that case I would contact the chancery and see what the Bishop has instructed his priests to do.

There may be something that priest did not wish to reveal that is behind his decision. Hopefully the chancery can be helpful.

I’m so sorry for this distress for you. It would be nice if they posted something on the diocese web site that could instruct and comfort the faithful there. My own diocese web site has nothing yet posted but web site for San Francisco Archdiocese next door does have something.

I’m sure the priests must be feeling a great deal of stress at this time, and need our love and our prayers.

 

[EasterJoy]

No I am still receiving on the tongue, and will continue to do so, Flu or no Flu. Under no circumstances whatsoever will I receive on the hand and I have never received under both Species in my life (not offered here anyway) so I can’t change that.

That is your right: we are not morally required to receive Our Lord at every Sunday Mass. Just keep in mind that the bishops may temporarily suspend even the public offering of the Mass itself, for sufficiently grave reasons. The right to receive on the tongue may likewise also be temporarily suspended, if the local ordinary finds the reasons sufficiently grave.

Let’s hope this blows over quickly, with no more deaths than have been suffered already.

AND PLEASE, EVERYONE…IF YOU HAVE ANY FLU SYMPTOMS, STAY HOME, ESPECIALLY FROM MASS!!

There should be no one who might have the flu attending Mass right now. If the faithful are stubbornly ignoring the charitable demands of common sense, it will take that much less for the bishops to conclude that Mass itself must be suspended entirely in order to save lives. No one wants that.

 

[lizaanne]

No I am still receiving on the tongue, and will continue to do so, Flu or no Flu. Under no circumstances whatsoever will I receive on the hand…

Yep - me too. Either I receive on the tongue, or not at all.

We receive via intinction anyway, so the cup is not an issue at our parish.

~Liza

 

[rpp]

That is your right: we are not morally required to receive Our Lord at every Sunday Mass. Just keep in mind that the bishops may temporarily suspend even the public offering of the Mass itself, for sufficiently grave reasons. The right to receive on the tongue may likewise also be temporarily suspended, if the local ordinary finds the reasons sufficiently grave.

Let’s hope this blows over quickly, with no more deaths than have been suffered already.
**
AND PLEASE, EVERYONE…IF YOU HAVE ANY FLU SYMPTOMS, STAY HOME, ESPECIALLY** FROM MASS!!

There should be no one who might have the flu attending Mass right now. If the faithful are stubbornly ignoring the charitable demands of common sense, it will take that much less for the bishops to conclude that Mass itself must be suspended entirely in order to save lives. No one wants that.

Not only you, but everyone in your household, please stay home!

 

[hayjay2396]

Oh ye of so little faith… If we believe (and Holy Mother Church says we must,as Catholics) that the host is the Actual Body and the wine is the Actual Blood of Jesus, how could we also believe that anything could contaminate that most Holy Sacrament and be harmful to us. If the threat of catching the swine flu has stopped us from partaking in the Body and Blood, we need to reevaluate our beliefs as Christians Catholics. All too often I see disrespect and disregard going on in the pews of our Catholic churches so it does not surprise me that this topic become an issue for many. I will never stop participating in this beautiful Sacrament that God instituted for His children and my husband and 7 children will continue to do the same (not all of my children are of the proper age to receive Communion yet). I have total confidence that if a person were to contract the swine flu after receiving Communion that the infestation would have taken place in a different manner and NOT thru the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[pnewton]

Oh ye of so little faith… If we believe (and Holy Mother Church says we must,as Catholics) that the host is the Actual Body and the wine is the Actual Blood of Jesus, how could we also believe that anything could contaminate that most Holy Sacrament and be harmful to us. If the threat of catching the swine flu has stopped us from partaking in the Body and Blood, we need to reevaluate our beliefs as Christians Catholics.

Because we do believe what the Church teaches and do not** add** superstition to the teaching of the Church. The Catholic Church teaches that the doctrine of transubstantiation. The elements change in substance, but not in appearance. The host can still gain mold or the chalice transmit disease. The accidents do not change.

Because some are willing to believe this type of superstition, the Church is forced to withdraw the chalice in such times. Relying on individual self-restraint does not seem to work.